Talking Stick - March/April 2015 - 40

REGROUP
community members. Beyond quickly
moving through lines of vehicles,
receiving a key, or collecting emergency
contact information, the team must
co-create and share what students will
experience from start to finish.
Building a shared vision is
impossible without the ability to
communicate successfully. When the
University of Kansas recently renovated
student study space in a first-year
residence hall, the goal was clear: create
an academically oriented environment
that would allow residents to both
study and engage with each other. But
how do residence life professionals
communicate that goal to contractors?
And how do contractors relay project
needs and realities to residence life
professionals? In this case, the student
housing department created an
operations team dedicated to working
with both areas and bridging the
communication gap. This meant that

the operations team needed to translate
project goals (an open study space) that
also considered construction realities
(e.g., fire codes, electrical needs, and
furniture selection).
Managers must always remember
where accountability resides. While
they will be accountable to their
supervisor, teams, and institution, in
campus housing they are ultimately
accountable to the students they
serve, and involving students early in
a project shows genuine investment.
Most projects will likely involve student
dollars, either directly or indirectly.
Even if the project is programmatic
and doesn't require funding, staff time
is just as valuable a resource. Utilizing
departmental and campus assessment
data allows teams to understand how
they hope their project improves the
student experience. Readily available
data also allow project managers to save
time, energy, and money.

It is easy to believe, mistakenly,
that managing a project means
being an expert in all areas. This is
understandable given the diversity
of work that occurs in a housing unit,
but a leader needn't be an expert to
successfully manage a group working
towards a common goal. Consider
a project where campus housing
professionals are collaborating with the
information technology department
to select conference management
software. Though a manager may feel
compelled to learn as many details as
possible about the complex, back-end
technological nuances, they don't really
need to know intricate details in this
case so long as they're learning the
essentials and trusting the expertise of
those at the table.
Once an individual relinquishes the
pressure to learn it all, they are far more
 CONTINUeS  65

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20

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TALkIng STICk

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Talking Stick - March/April 2015

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