Programs for Leadership and Service Education

Advisor and Student Leader Starter Kit

The success and effectiveness of your organization can be improved a great deal through a good relationship between advisor and student leader. In the advisor/student leader pairing, a general understand and a concerted effort to develop the relationship is essential. Too often we take relationships for granted and think things will automatically fall in place. As in all relationships, it is important to learn about one another's expectations, goals, wants, needs, strengths, and weaknesses. To help you do just that, we have provided you with the following list of questions.

We encourage you to sit down together and discuss your answers to the questions provided.

Advisor and Student Leader Starter Questions (PDF)

Questions

  1. What motivated you to assume your position (as advisor or leader)?
  2. What are you most excited about as we begin this year?
  3. What are you most anxious about as we begin this year?
  4. What personal and/or professional goals have you made for this year?
  5. When you think about your skills and abilities, what would you list as your strong points in relations to this position?
  6. What are you hoping to learn from this experience?
  7. When you think about your skills and abilities, in what areas would you like to improve?
  8. Which of your personal qualities do you admire most?
  9. What kind of relationship would you like to have with me?
  10. What kind of relationship would you like to have with the other officers?
  11. How would you describe your advising/leadership style?
  12. What techniques do you use to motivate yourself and others?
  13. When you are upset or disappointed about someone's behavior or performance, how do you typically respond?
  14. When people meet or exceed your expectations, how do you respond?
  15. How do you feel about confronting others?
  16. What are some of the things you think we should do in training officers and members?
  17. How do you view our roles in the organization as alike and how do you view our roles as different?
  18. When considering your position, in what areas do you feel confident or comfortable? In what areas are you least comfortable?
  19. How do you typically handle conflict between yourselves and others?
  20. What are you thoughts about helping others resolve conflict?
  21. What types of situations do you find particularly difficult and stressful?
  22. How do you deal with stress?
  23. When you are in over your head, what do you do?
  24. If, at the end of the year, there were a banquet in your honor, what are some of the things you would want to be said about you and your performance in this position?

Adapted from "Advisor/Undergraduate Assistant Starter Kit," Office of Residence Life, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio