Rebecca Pollard, MJE, discusses how to empower students at the 2017 Journalism Education Association Advisers Institute at the Linq Hotel in Las Vegas. Photo by Bradley Wilson, MJE
LESSONS LEARNED AT THE JEA ADVISERS INSTITUTE
Going onward and upward By Patrick R. Johnson, MJE
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Journalism Education Association
JEA Advisers Institute 2017 — 1
The 2017 JEA Advisers Institute was held in Las Vegas, July 10-13. THE SESSION ONWARD AND UPWARD Is your goal each year to survive the school year? Or make it to the publish or air date? It is easy to get lost in survival mode, but you can do more with less. Devise an action plan where everyone buys in, feels they have a place to belong and their voice is heard. Hop off the struggle bus and create direction with your team. Rebecca Pollard, MJE, Lovejoy High School, Lucas, Texas
hen love comes first, getting “the job” done is exponentially easier. And that is exactly what Rebecca Pollard, MJE, JEA curriculum leader and Journalist of the Year committee chair, firmly endorses in her staff’s program. I have found that what comes of that love are those “adviser heart happy” moments: When a student says, “I’ll just starve today because I have too much to do,” or when the editor gets on a soapbox, my soapbox, and I don’t have to lift a finger. One of my students set her personal social connections aside because the work she was doing on the publication was more important. My students were thinking about me when they say, “It’s not good enough until it’s great.” Yeah, those moments, the one’s that make an adviser’s heart melt, make every bit of the job worthwhile. For Pollard, MJE, she sees these moments necessary to being happy and healthy throughout the year and one’s career. She knows this is how to go “onward and upward.” In her JEA Advisers Institute session, “Onward and Upward,” Pollard provided a number of takeaways, all of which challenge advisers to focus their attention on leadership and team building in their programs. TAMING THE MONSTER Instead of “excuses,” or the “victim persona” as Pollard calls it, advisers need to “accept their circumstances for what they are and make [their] situation work for [them].” Improvements can be relatively easy by following a number of quick tips: • Establish norms and expectations: communicate what
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makes the adviser mad because students need to know these things ahead of time. They also need to know what makes the adviser happy as well as what helps take care of their faculty leader. Reflect on last year’s progress. Set goals for this year and revisit them. Facilitate a personality test that will lead to self-discovery. Train leaders to be leaders. Create job descriptions that fit the people rather than force the people to fit the jobs. “There may be static jobs that don’t change from year to year. However, I’m going to encourage you to abandon that ship and make the leadership work for the group you have,” Pollard said. Make the students feel valued. Force fun.
CRAFTING THE FUTURE After recognizing who and what your program is and was, it becomes more important to focus attention on what’s coming and the why -- the purpose, mission and identity of the program and the people in it. For Pollard, a few quick steps and moments of reflection will guide that process and refocus the program’s attention on the future: Use previous experience as a place to start: What worked well and what did not. As the adviser, steer the conversation in a productive manner, but let the students have the discussion. Define what a good staffer, leader and adviser look like. By bringing the job to light, the adviser will be able to make sure everyone has mutual respect and common ground to be successful. FALL 2017