Promising Practices: A Founding NACADA Member Discusses Core Competencies

Submitted by Dr. Tom Grites, Founding NACADA Member 

Introduction 

I advocate for the practicality of the NACADA Core Competencies to achieve student learning outcomes - specifically a "flipped" advising approach. Early in my career, I used the Informational, Relational and Conceptual approaches in my own advising before NACADA identified them as Core Competencies and believe that these are also skills that need to be developed in our students. When often asked about what selection criteria I would use for hiring academic advisors (primary-role and faculty advisors), I created this description: knowledge of the college (Informational); dealing with feeling (Relational); and yearning for learning (Conceptual). Below are some examples and anecdotes.

Promising Practice: A Flipped Advising Approach; Core Competencies at Work 

Informational Competency 

Students typically seek academic advisors for answers, thus the importance of the Informational competency for advisors is obvious. However, as individual students return multiple times with similar questions, I try to ‘flip” the conversation. Example: the student asks, “What do I need to graduate?” For a first-year student, I answer the question directly; but for others my response might be “You tell me,” but in a nice way, so that they will also learn to reciprocate the Relational competency. If a student inquires as to whether I will write a letter of recommendation for a scholarship, an internship, a job, graduate school admission, etc., my response is not a simple “Yes” or “Sure,” but first “Why me?” These are certainly conditions for which others might be more appropriate references, especially faculty in their major. Admittedly, I do not think I’ve ever said “No,” but I always require that they provide a resume, and I always explain to them that I want to be able to comment on more than simply being their academic advisor or their instructor. This (forces) enables them to update, reflect, (or sometimes) create a document that they will use many more times, hence they further develop their Informational competency. 

Relational Competency 

As academic advisors develop and learn to demonstrate their own Relational competency, the approach is often non-verbal. Example: a student with whom I’ve built some rapport and trust drops in “for just a minute… with a quick question; are you busy?” - we know how that goes. If I am available and have time, I always invite them in. Otherwise, I never shortchange other people of the time they expect to have with me. The walk-in student must wait and, hopefully, learn to respect and appreciate (Relational competency) my time and expertise, and the other person’s time. Here is another (true) example of the Relational competency: a student came to me as a referral with several questions. I was preparing materials for a workshop; I responded to her questions very accurately (Informational competency). At one point she stopped and said, “I think I need to make an appointment; you seem very busy.” There I was, preparing materials to advocate for advisors to build relationships with their advisees and demonstrating exactly how NOT to achieve that relationship. Advisors should expect a certain kind of respect from their students; conversely, we need to demonstrate our Relational competency, hoping that they will learn from it. A lesson learned for me from this experience was that not all students are willing to challenge us, thus we must demonstrate the Relational competency for them to learn it as well.

Conceptual Competency 

The Conceptual competency is the one that I think has often been overlooked; the other two consume much of our time. Ironically, this competency might be more important/useful, namely in challenging students to think. Example: the student asks, “What can I do with a major in ____ ?” Instead of reciting a textbook response, I might say “What do you want to do with your major?” Response: “Get a good job.” My reply: “What is a ‘good’ job’?” Whatever the answer, my response is “What skills will you need to perform well in that job?” The conversation can then take many turns, but I prompt them to identify the skills that employers seek. Then I ask: “Which major enables you to do that?” The answer I’m seeking is “All/Any of them.” Now I can embark on a whole new set of strategies for selecting a major and courses, which extends the Informational competency into the Conceptual realm, i.e., getting the students to think about the relative value of specific majors, which courses enhance their (work) skills, how to parlay their writing, speaking, organizational, collaborative, etc. skills into a variety of jobs - even careers. A similar example is how we describe General Education requirements, i.e., how we respond to the question: “Why do I have to take all those ‘extra’ courses?” The textbook response would be “To be well-rounded,” but what does that mean? I heard it often, but I admit I never could explain that phrase very well. A corollary advisor response might be “To get them out of the way.” I’ll bet every one of us has been guilty of giving this response, myself included…UNTIL I began to understand the value and opportunities within that portion of the curriculum. Here is the opportunity to explore majors for sure, but more importantly to embark on honing the skills noted above. After all, these courses cost the same amount as those in the major, and most students only sample a very small amount of the courses offered by the institution to earn a degree (c. 10% at best). Encouraging students to think and understand more about the institution’s entire curriculum requires them to develop and use a Conceptual competency that certainly correlates with the Informational one and is achieved through the Relational one. 

Practical Considerations 

The above descriptions reflect my personal approach to the variety of examples shared. My approach also includes a developmental philosophy within each competency and for each student. For me, I have been able to analyze my own advising strategies and gauge how well they seem to work. This combination has also enabled me to be a better academic advising administrator when designing programs, developing policies, providing professional development, and every other aspect I have encountered in my career. I hope that other advisors will consider these competencies as outcomes of the advising process for themselves and for their advisees. Perhaps this approach might also identify student success outcomes in the assessment process. I think I’ve been able to achieve this approach by keeping a few guiding principles in mind: advising is teaching (every student I encounter is an opportunity to teach them something - I never know for sure what that is going to be, but I will always seek that outcome); the best academic advisors ask more questions than give answers; and my all-time favorite… Everyone’s entitled to my opinion. 

Bio 

I retired as Assistant Provost after serving 43 years at Stockton University (NJ). I was a founding member and President of NACADA and am still Senior Editor of the NACADA Journal. I have contributed over 50 publications, 125 conference presentations, and workshops or program reviews on over 100 campuses. I earned my B.S. and M.S. degrees from Illinois State University, where I was inducted into the College of Education Hall of Fame. My Ph.D. is from the University of Maryland; I was recognized as a Transfer Champion by NISTS; I will receive the 2021 NACADA Region 2 award for Outstanding Contribution to Scholarship; and the Service to Region 2 award will be given in my name for the first time.