I am a major fan of both Hamilton: The Musical and utilizing a curricular approach, and recently presented these topics at the Western Association of College and University Housing Officers (WACUHO) annual conference. My fabulous colleague and I had the opportunity to share a few of the ways utilizing elements of a curriculum can help us bring people together, streamline complex processes, and find purpose in our work.
People, process, purpose. These are the elements that I believe can provide harmony in solving various complex challenges within housing and student affairs. The curricular approach reminds us to focus on building relationships to support the work we do, have clear goals and aims, and be intentional with our ways of getting there.When these pieces come together, the work not only becomes more effective, but also more meaningful for the people doing it and the students we serve.
“I want to be.. in the room where it happens.”
Before we begin, take a pause and consider what is within your locus of control in your current position. No matter your role, whether you are a graduate student, hall director, or senior housing officer, you have the ability to influence change. At the same time, it’s critical to have the self-awareness to recognize where your efforts should be best placed.
The “room where it happens” is not always a literal room. It is the space where you have the most capacity to influence outcomes and move work forward. Is it in providing a new schedule for key audits? Is it in providing new virtual learning ideas for student staff training? Dream big, but be flexible in the way you get there. If you don’t know where to start, chat with your supervisor or trusted colleagues to find smaller challenges before tackling complex system-wide challenges. Ask questions with curiosity, share current student needs and trends on your campus, and be open to gaining clarity on the “why” behind where these decisions came from. Being in “the room where it happens” is less about having power and more about using your role to create more intentional and purpose-driven experiences for our students and staff. On my campus, so many of our strongest initiatives come from an idea shared at the right place at the right time with the right people willing to put in the work to make these ideas into reality.
And if you are someone in the literal room where it happens, how are you using your power to create space for others and reimagine a long standing process? As senior leaders, the impact of your role is not just in what you decide, but in how you create opportunities for folks to come together and not being afraid of trying something new in the efforts of meeting our students where they are at.
People: “Here comes the General… and his right-hand man.”
(Right Hand Man)
The curricular approach reminds us that no one person should be the expert on everything. It’s important to take inventory of the people on your team or within your institution who can help you meet your goals. For example, if you are noticing a higher number of students being medically transported due to alcohol, it might be a good time to connect with staff in the health and well-being department on your campus and think critically about initiatives within the residence halls that can support preventative education.
Beyond campus partners, do you have trusted teammates you can bounce ideas off of? These folks might include your supervisor, colleagues, or your broader professional network. I think of these individuals as “thought partners,” people you can speak openly with, who engage in honest dialogue and collaborate with you on ideas. I take a lot of pride in having colleagues I can collaborate with and find joy in our work in Residence Life. With my team of Associate Directors, we bring together our different skills and areas of influence,and work on addressing larger departmental challenges. A recent example was improving our resident’s onboarding experience and reimagining our Move In processes through a residential education lens that is efficient from a customer service lens, welcoming from a belonging standpoint, and educational in truly understanding the expectations of their new living environment.
Collaboration also helps us avoid working in silos or reinventing the wheel, allowing us to build on what already exists. When we are intentional about who we involve, the work becomes more organized, impactful, and fun!
Process: “How do you write like you’re running out of time?”
(Non-Stop)
Take a moment to reflect on a complex process in your department. What does the project management side of this process look like? The curricular approach describes that learning strategies are sequenced and scaffolded to follow time-based development, but are we utilizing these principles when it comes to our own work? Essentialism, a core element of the curricular approach, asks us to focus on what truly matters and helps us avoid taking on too much at once. At their core, both essentialism and task management emphasize intentional design, prioritizing what matters most and organizing it in ways that make things easier for our students and staff.
Each institution and department has its own ways of staying organized, managing large-scale projects, and communicating. There is no one size fits all approach to project management, but within your current role, take time to assess how projects are managed and review the task management tools when it comes to complex work. Even a well-organized spreadsheet can be a strong tool used to outline key steps, assign collaborators, and include clear deadlines can make a major difference in the experience of all involved. When everyone can clearly see where a project stands and understand their role, the work becomes more aligned and efficient.
When we apply an essentialist approach to our own work, we are being pushed to ask different questions. Are we expecting too much at once from staff or students? Are the steps clear enough for our students and staff to understand? Are we creating timelines that make sense, or are we simply rushing to meet deadlines or completing tasks the way we always have?
Purpose: “I am inimitable. I am an original.”
(Wait for It)
Being purpose-driven means taking time to understand your “why” and collaborating with the right people to figure out the “how.” It can be as simple as writing learning outcomes before creating a student training session, to ensure that they are being trained on what is most important in this topic. It can look like taking a moment before a staff meeting to think about what the purpose of the meeting is, and why you are bringing people together to gather. These small moments of reflection help keep the work grounded and intentional instead of reactive. This is the core of what the curricular approach emphasizes: having purpose.
There are many moments where we get caught up in the day-to-day of our roles and don’t always pause to recognize our own efforts or the role we play in shaping our residents’ experiences. We are educators! We are more than roommate conflicts and social programs, we help students learn skills they will take with them for the rest of their lives. At this moment, “take a break,” and reflect on the reasons you do what you do. You chose this field for a reason, and your students and staff are “waiting for it” to watch you truly step into your potential to be a purpose-driven educator.
“Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”
(Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story)
There are so many stories I could share about lessons I’ve learned through “people, process, purpose,” but the next time you have a challenge, consider the elements in this framework. Each of us is a part of something bigger than who we are, and when we approach our work with intention, we are not just completing tasks, we are creating meaningful experiences that have a lasting impact on students beyond our time in this work.
