Ethics,

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Ethics, Professionalism Being a Role Model
RA Training 19Aug03 Presented by Justin Daniel
Meyer
Please set all beepers cell phones to silent.
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Overview

• Professionalism Who?
• Role Modeling How?
• Ethics What / when?

P
E
R
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Who is professional?

• Name names! Why do you regard each as such?
• What is professionalism?

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Who is professional?

• Name names! Why do you regard each as such?
• Justin, Trina
• Bill Clinton / GWB, Jr. / the President
• Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumble
• What is professionalism?
• How a person performs in a position of
  responsibility
• (inherent) not the outcome but the approach
• Actions and preparedness

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What is Professionalism?

• The way you dress
• How one approaches others (not offending others
  with appearance, attitude, or dress)
• Living up to your word
• Following through on commitments
• Preparing for responsibilities
• Demanding more of yourself and those around you
  (striving)

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Characteristics Required

• Genteel not using profanity
• Consistency
• Polish appearance and enunciation
• Education application of knowledge
• Experience the ability to learn from it
• Trust others the foundation of all long-term
  relationships
• Credibility so others will listen to you
• Preparation chance favors the prepared mind
• Respect treating others as they desire (or at
  least equal to you
• Teamwork Communication

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Role Modeling

• Working definitions?

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Role Modeling

• Working definition?
• Leading by example
• Being visible
• Visible consistency

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Role Modeling

• My working definition exemplifying through
  action those characteristics to which you expect
  others to live up.
• At least 2 required attributes in this dynamic
• The desire to better oneself (your resident)
• Follow through in leading by example (you)
• Examples?
• First, is imitation is the sincerest form of
  flattery?
• Examples of obvious influence former residents
  on whom you made an impression?

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Common Role Models in our Society

• Parents and other senior family members
• Political, religious and social leaders
• Professional colleagues / mentors, teachers
• Coaches, team captains
• Friends
• Celebrities and other public figures
• Who are your role models and why? (5 examples)
• All these people have something in commonwhat is
  the common element?

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Role Models Have Something We Want!

• Dignity
• Selflessness
• Goals and Aspirations
• Accomplishments
• Respect
• Power / Authority
• Ambition
• Principles (strong)
• Leadership
• Motivation

• Decision-making power
• Honesty
• Influence
• Courage
• Love
• Charisma
• Success
• Altruism
• Accountability
• Responsibility

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Exercise Picking a New Role Model for Yourself

• Imagine for a moment that you are traveling
  abroad and are planning on stopping in one
  country for a few years. Since you wish to enter
  this society, how do you figure out how to pick a
  mentor or guide (who may not know they are being
  scrutinized) to emulate?

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How One Might Go About It

• Someone who is respected by others
• Someone who is where you want to be
• Someone who reaches his/her goals fairly quickly
• Look for social infrastructure

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What About Residents Who Dont Want to Improve

• So you have what they want or need (at least for
  now)now what?
• Without a drive for self-improvement in your
  residents, it will be very difficult to reach
  them through your actions alone.
• How can we reach these residents (they may be
  few but the squeaky wheels are the most noticed
  and the most likely to get an RA feeling down)?
  Ideas?

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What About Residents Who Dont Want to Improve

• How can we reach these residents (few but the
  squeaky wheels are the most noticed and the most
  likely to cause oneself consternation)? Ideas?
• Use a roommate or someone else on the inside to
  find out what they need (asking others for help
  often leads to success)
• Get them involved in what you are doing
• Be reasonably supportive (dont commit all your
  time to one resident)
• Delegate small tasks increase responsibilities
  over time to inspire by challenges
• Persevere
• Demonstrate potential negative consequences
• Being feared vs. being loved (Machiavelli)
• If you are not the right role model help them
  find someone else!

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You Are Not Setting Yourself up to Fail!

• You need to reach them on a different level than
  that on which you have been trying intellect,
  sports, classes, hobbies, et cetera.
• You will not reach everybody keep your
  perspective.
• As a voluntary role model, you are willingly
  jumping into your very own fish bowl, however
  small.

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The Fish Bowl Effect (living under a microscope)

• You are
• An RA first, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Held to a higher standard (though we follow the
  same policies).
• Expected to help RSOs / others at a moments
  notice.
• Directly responsible for the condition of the
  hall.
• Recognized by non-ORL staff only when a
  need/incident arises. Expected to know
  everything.
• Assumed to be always available.
• Continually imposed upon from many directions and
  people!
• How do you deal with all this?

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Coping with Your Responsibilities

• Compartmentalize your personal life and the RA
  job as possible
• People are always observing and unconsciously
  judging you residents, peers (on and off staff),
  administrators, and even family friends.
• Make sure you provide yourself some downtime
  from all
• Never compromise your values, what you believe in
• Maintain a sense of professional
  self-accountability
• Always remain loyal to your residents and
  confidentiality reqs.
• To thine own self be true and then it follows as
  night the day, thou canst be false to no man.
  -W. Shakespeare

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What is Ethical?

• Working definition

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What is Ethical?

• Working definition
• Doing what you consider good
• Upholding the (societal?) code of conduct
• Believing in and standing up for your beliefs
• By definition not always logical or common sense
• Set of standards on which individuals build
• Ethics go beyond the law they are not a
  mandatory element as in the law non-choice.
  When there is a choiceno law/policy/etcethics
  come into play.

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Application of Values to Voluntary Behavior
Ethics!

• My working definition the application of ones
  values to determine right wrong action in a
  given situation.
• This requires either judging others or responding
  to ones environment.
• Draw upon your frames of reference
• Religion
• Family
• Culture
• Country
• Previous experience

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Ethical RAs

• Respectful
• Trustworthy
• Judgmental (reservedly?)
• Full of integrity
• Consistent and Fair
• Honest
• Compassionate
• Firm
• Willing to admit fault and take corrective steps.
• Fair and consistent in policy enforcement ?
  training info

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Teach Your Residents About Your Position

• Set clear expectations at your first meeting
  (take suggestions!)
• Show NO favoritism
• Maintain confidentiality as required by law
  Stevens policy
• Always be honest, never hedge
• THINK before you answer a residents question
  (they tell 4)
• Be available when feasible (non-duty night
  open-door hours)

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Common Scenarios

• Some of your residents invite you to go out to a
  bar.
• You observe students cheating on a test.
• You overhear freshmen planning to go drinking at
  a fraternity.
• You observe a non-burnt candle in another RAs
  room.
• A friend asks to borrow a CD so s/he can copy/rip
  it.

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Wrap-up

• Carry yourself in the manner you expect your
  residents to act.
• Provide your residents with your best qualities
  and work from there.
• Remember to keep your perspective when dealing
  with a situation
• Questions?

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• Additional slides

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Discussion Questions

• Who are your top 3 role models? Why?
• What makes an effective role model?
• Whom do you respect, professionally?
• How do you define your ethics?
• What makes you an ethical person? What about
  someone else?

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Common Scenarios

• You are over 21. Your friends invite you to go
  out drinking and dancing. Earlier you overheard
  some of your underage residents making plans for
  the same venue. What do you do?
• The RA on duty knocks on your door to investigate
  marijuana odors. The police have been called.
  You find a room, knock, and the door is answered.
  Then the officers arrive and tae over. One of
  the officers seems to know one of the residents
  and steps into the room for a few minutes. When
  the officer emerges, it has been taken care of
  is the only response you receive.
• One of your residents comes to talk to you about
  an experience they had last night. Their
  description suggests attempted date rape. The
  resident does not want to do anything. When you
  learn the alleged perpetrators name, it is
  someone who has been accused of similar
  aggressions before. How do you proceed.
• At the next staff meeting, your RD instructs you
  that the Institute is implementing a new policy.
  Despite your strong objections, no compromise is
  possible. How do you reconcile your job with
  your belief that the Institutes policy is wrong,
  possibly morally so?

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Further Thoughts

• Separating yourself from others due to
  responsibility conflict of interest. (this is
  what makes you human!) If you didnt do it, you
  would have to be an emotional amoeba in order to
  avoid breaking down!
• The Tipping Point How Little Things Can Make a
  Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell (examples of
  social epidemics which started small and grew
  quickly)
• Truth
• Credibility the reputation you come in with
  will work for or maybe against you, you build
  from there no illusions, here.
• Consistenty
• ICFs in fairness/consistency, etc
• Pronoun selection one for we, s/he for they,
  etc