Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3 - 72

Most RLPs shared that they did not have specific
requirements from their departments mandating
placing RAs by identity, but the value to have a
representative team was widely shared.
concretely. Most RLPs reported they do not
directly gather personality information aside
from what they might glean from the interview questions; however, RLPs who used a
personality measure most commonly used the
True Colors personality assessment (Keirsey &
Lowry, 1978). One RLP explored True Colors
to understand RAs' strengths, recommending, " Looking at the true colors assessment to
have a balance of all the colors...I think that
can kind of get a sense from the True Colors,
what people may be, in terms of strengths. "
Otherwise, personality was gauged based on
the reactions and responses of the student
throughout the interview process.
Teamwork
In addition to selecting diverse teams with a
variety of personalities and skills, RLPs wanted to select teams of RAs that would work
well together and minimize team conflicts.
One RLP said, " I don't expect them to be all
100% buddies... [but they] have to be able to
work together. " While a desire for the team
to work well together was universal among
the RLPs we interviewed, there were varied
opinions on whether different personalities
would help or hinder the team dynamic. One
RLP, who prioritized different personalities
on their RA team, shared how they sought
RAs with different interests, comfort levels
in dealing with situations, and areas of expertise. Another RLP specifically said, " We
obviously don't want to put all the extroverts
together, or, for lack of a better term, all the
Type A personalities together, " acknowledging how an RA team with all of the same personalities may be less versatile.

Other RLPs provided another perspective, acknowledging how RAs with different
personalities and working styles may make
team cohesion more challenging. In the
words of one RLP, " We can do all the development we want, but if you have people that
have different-incredibly different-working styles or personality styles, they're just
never going to get along. " A few RLPs shared
that team progress and growth may be impeded if they had RAs with irreconcilable
differences or specific personality traits that
made it difficult to get along with others.

RLPs reported three primary ways team
dynamics were measured: interview questions, group process, and previous experience with RA candidates. Most RLPs have
some version of an interview question that
asks about how the candidate works on
a team or the role that they take in teams.
RLPs noted that a limitation of measuring
teamwork in an interview question is that
the response is self-reported, with accuracy
relying, at least in part, on the candidate's
self-awareness. As noted previously, many
of the RLPs in this study were moving away
from using group process interviews, but
RLPs who had group process interviews took
the opportunity to learn how candidates interacted with others. Watching candidates
interact could also reveal concerning team
behavior. In a hypothetical example, an RLP
shared a possible interview note where the
RA candidates in a group interview " were
very, very stressed and bickering the whole
time...that's not really something we want as
a team. "

Volume 47, No. 3 * 2021

Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of College & University Student Housing Vol. 47 No. 3