Effective Advising

Suggestions from CMA

Develop a position

statement Do you have a written job description? What are your responsibilities to the students? What are your responsibilities to the

university? What are your rights? What are the rights of the students you

represent?

What are your personal goals?

• Why are you an adviser?

• How much time and energy do you want to put into being an adviser?

• What do you want to gain from being an adviser?

Set challenges for the student

staff Meeting deadlines Better photos and design Developing a beat system Creating voice on the editorial page Meeting an advertising quota Get internships Win more awards at next

conference Don’t be afraid to set the bar high

Don’t forget to teach

Provide training and orientation at the beginning of each semester

Ask for a teaching moment at the staff meetings

Bring in speakers, from on campus and off campus

Use your critique to teach

Use reinforcement

Complement a good job Create in-house awards for good

work Don’t shy away from constructive

criticism when necessary Be a mentor

Enlist the support of your department

• Know who is with you and who is not

• Know why they are

• Educate, educate, educate

• Communicate, and use your editors during this process

Become a pack rat

Collect anything and everything that can be useful to the student media Stylebooks Handbooks from other papers Newspapers, student and professional Reference books How to guides Textbooks Websites

You are not alone

Join the related organizations (CMA, ACP, SCJ, SPJ, state organizations)

Attend as many conferences and workshops as financially possible

Use your colleagues across the country Listservs Forums

Don’t sweat the small stuff

The small stuff will be the most frustrating part of your job

It can potentially consume all of your time

Don’t ignore these problems, but don’t take them home

Students move on “This too shall pass.”

You must be non-threatening• Create trust

• Be available

• Remain low key

• Never say “when I was editor”

• Don’t hover

• Dress professionally during the day, casually after normal working hours

Define your boundaries

What are your journalistic strengths?

What are your technical strengths? When are you accessible to the

student staff? How much personal time are you

willing to devote? How much personal space do you

need?

Publicly support the staff

First allegiance should be to the editor-in-chief

Support the editorial board decisions (you are supporting their right to an opinion, not necessarily the opinion itself)

Disagreements should be discussed privately

Encourage the staff to set goals

& policies Constitution Employment

eligibility Ad rate sheet Advertising

policies Editorial policies

Letters to the editor policies

Columnist policies Staff discipline

policies Layout style guide Editorial style

guide

Recruit attitude• Attitudes are impossible to teach

• Encourage staff hiring that focuses on:– Work ethic

– Team players

– Willing to learn and accepting of criticism

– Enthusiasm for the media

– Professionalism

It’s okay to feed the animals Reward the staff with food Trade outs with advertisers Pizza on production night Donuts and cookies Coffee maker