At some point in your time as a student leader, you may get a different supervisor. Sometimes this happens because you are put on a different community/building team at the start of a new school year, while other times it is because a supervisor has left and a new supervisor is hired in their place. Let’s explore the best ways to respond when you find yourself working with a new supervisor in your live in student leader role.
If you aren’t sure how to handle a supervisor leaving, be sure to check out this article.
First Impressions Matter!
The first time you connect with your new supervisor matters. This is their first impression of you. Do you want to be perceived as someone who is ready to be a great member of your team? Do you want to be seen as an intimidating person? A kind person? The personality hire? Take a moment to consider how you want to be perceived at the start of your working relationship together and act accordingly.
Give them a chance.
Your new supervisor might be awesome or they might just be another run of the mill supervisor. One thing is for sure, you won’t be able to determine that just from your first interaction with them. Yes, first impressions matter, but that doesn’t mean you know whether or not you can work together from your first hello. You’ll want your supervisor to get to know you based on more than just your first interaction together, offer them that same opportunity.
Get to know them.
They are a supervisor with experiences, a person who cares about things, and someone who may end up being your biggest ally. Get to know your new supervisor, find out what they like and dislike, and maybe even ask if you can pet their dog next time you see them on a walk around campus.
Clarify Expectations together.
Your new supervisor may want to set working expectations for how you will all work together as a team. For example, “Be Kind”, “Respond to emails”, and “Communicate”. These examples are really open to interpretation as what one person finds to be kind is different from the next. I had folks email me at 7pm and then again at 7am feeling frustrated that I hadn’t responded to emails, when from my perspective, zero business hours had passed since they last emailed me, given that business hours are 8:30-4:30pm at this institution. From this experience I learned that it is important to be clear in our expectations of one another, both from the supervisor to supervisee and vice versa.
Remember that they are learning a new role!
When I first started in one of my Hall Director roles, I was coming from a role in another state where Residence Life looked a lot different from the school I was working at now. I went from having a really large student leader team to a super small one. Everything felt unexpectedly new. I say unexpectedly because I was coming in with previous Hall Director experience, so I mistakenly assumed the job would be the same as my previous role. Wow, was I wrong! I was learning about a new university, a new culture, a new type of institution, and a new type of student that dominated the population of the school. There were so many things that I felt RAs could do within their roles that they actually weren’t permitted to do at this university. This surprised me, but also led me to tell RAs that things might be possible for them to do in their roles that the department actually wouldn’t ever allow (for example, at this university putting door decs on the doors was not allowed, due to potential damage to the doors), which lead some of the RAs to believe that I didn’t know anything and discredit my supervision altogether. While it’s true that I wasn’t aware of the expectations at this specific university and how they differed from previous institutions I had been a Hall Director at, it was disappointing to see how little the new staff team that I was hired to supervise listened to me or valued my perspective. I share this to help you understand that your new supervisor will take some time to learn their new role. It’s often said that it takes one full calendar year to truly understand a job, so expecting them to know everything from day one is not realistic. Give grace when you are able.
Share your knowledge and previous experience.
Because you have been working at the university already as a student staff member, you may have insight that a new supervisor doesn’t have. Here are some potential examples of this: Maybe you know that food can only be ordered through catering and your new supervisor is planning an event with outside food. This would be a great time to share your knowledge about university policies. Maybe you recall from previous RA experience that a 2am round is not required during Winter Break, but your supervisor says you need to do the 2am rounds. It would be totally appropriate to kindly share that last year the 2am round wasn’t required during Winter Break and request that they double check that it has changed for this year’s break. Obviously, you don’t want to be seen as a “know it all” RA, but the truth is, you may know some things that your supervisor doesn’t (though it is also possible that something has changed, as things do change year to year!)
Tell the truth! Don’t try to see “how much you can get away with”.
It isn’t a good look for you, could lead to you being relieved from your RA duties, and is generally not a kind thing to do. For example, in one Hall Director role when I first started, I noticed one student leader logging paid hours at the desk, which didn’t make sense to me based on the schedule. When it came time to approve time cards, I asked for clarification on their logged hours. They shared that they are compensated for their time at the desk while they are on duty. That seemed a bit fishy to me, so I inquired with my supervisor. It turns out, the student leader was trying to see if they could get away with logging unapproved hours with a new supervisor. They knew better and were trying to push the bounds of their role, to see what they could get away with. If they had been compensated for hours they weren’t permitted to enter, it could have led to them being terminated from their role. Intentionally doing things wrong isn’t okay and lying about it later is only going to make your supervisor doubt your abilities.
Be helpful & Be kind.
Unfortunately, I have heard of student leaders intentionally trying to make the lives of their new supervisors “as hard as possible”. That’s not helpful or kind, and it really isn’t funny. If you know of your teammates doing something like this, address it with them to the best of your ability, and share with your supervisor so that that kind of energy is addressed and corrected as soon as possible.
While this list of advice on working with a new supervisor in Residence Life is not all encompassing, I hope the quick tidbits with real life examples helps guide you when you start working with a new supervisor. At the end of the day, follow the “golden rule”…treat them the way you would want to be treated, and everything should be just fine.
