Lose weight. Save money. Spend more time with family. We all think of ways to improve ourselves at this time of year. Let’s also take that energy and focus it on our staffs.
Take a day and reflect on the fall semester. Discuss what worked well and what could be improved. Ask students to share how they could individually make things run smoother. Here are some suggestions:
- Start each day with a 5-minute catch up. Let staffers share good news or what they’re looking forward to this week.
- Meet with editors to go over individual responsibilities and expectations. Praise what they’ve done well. Encourage them in the areas that need work.
- Assign a staffer to doublecheck name spellings and grades. It’s easy to mess up names, a sore spot for buyers. Having an extra set of eyes ensures there’s less mistakes.
- Update the list of who has been in the book and how many times. Post it in the room. Compare it to who has bought a book. Encourage staffers to use students not on the list first and be wary of choosing a student who has already been included multiple times.
- Rearrange seating or pair different students. If you’ve noticed some staffers distract each other, now is the time to play musical chairs. Also, create new pairings of students on spread assignments. They can share the workload and working with a different staffer helps them get to know each other and bond.
- Don’t put off club pictures, team photos or index planning. It’s never too early to start thinking about those pages. Start doing the math and sketching ideas on paper to make these sections run smoother.
Bonus tip: Weekly self-evaluations make students accountable for their work, track spread progress and provide an additional grade.
