Service-Learning Coaching Tips

This page will focus on (1) Approaching organizations, (2) Planning contingencies when seeking out an organization, (3) Observations you could make while working with the organization, and (4) Contents of the weekly memo.

1.  Selling yourself.  If you have five people in your group, and you each will be volunteering 10 hours each, then as a group you are able to offer the organization 50 person-hours.  Approach them with this idea: you have some willing help to offer, 50 clock hours of volunteerism.  This lets them know the benefit right away.

2.  Identify yourself.  Be sure to explain who you are, and where you attend college.  MPC has a good reputation in the community, and you can use that to open the door of conversation about possible ways to help them.

3.  Openness and honesty.  Be open and up-front with them from the very beginning regarding exactly how much time you have to offer: just 10 hours per person, and that as a group (the group needs to stick together).  This will prevent unrealistic expectations down the road.

4.  Be proportional with the service.  If some orientation and training is required, be sure that it is proportional to the total amount of time you are giving to them.  As a rule, it is best not to spend more than an hour in that preparation phase; it just isn't fair to them to give so much time to training when you will only be there for 10 hours.  Communicate that to them as well; it will further indicate your sincere desire to help and not hinder their efforts.  Remember to be a greater plus than minus to them.  Make your contribution count in spite of the effort it will take to facilitate your being there.

5.  Mention the need for a contact person.  You will need a person there, when the entire project is complete, to write a memo on their letterhead confirming that your group has completed the project.  That memo will be written to Dr. Fox at MPC.  Begin with the end in mind.

1.  Watch out for Mr. Murphy.  That is, Mr. Murphy of Murphy's Law: if anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.  You should plan on him rearing his head somewhere along the way, creating problem or complicating an issue.  Prepare for it, and plan around it.

2.  Waiting for returned calls.  This is a moment in the project when lots of time can burn-up, and that unnecessarily.  Do your best to get back to them quickly.  Explain your need for a prompt response; include the need for a confirmation by an exact date.  Be professional and curteous. But if they don't get back to you soon, have a Plan B ready, that is, another possible organization.  Keeping Mr. Murphy in mind, you may even line up a Plan C organization.

1.  Observation skills.  While working at the organization, put yourself on high-alert as an observer.  Put your best observational skills to work by watching how they do their work, how they get along (or fail to), what systems they use (or fail to use), and how they solve problems (or don't).  It is the content of these sorts of observations that will be used in your group paper. 

2.  Questions to ask:  Given what you know about group and organizational communication, what inferences can be made about what you saw?  Given your level of knowledge about group communication, what sorts of recommendations can your group make for the benefit of that organization?

3.  Think like a consultant.  Your group has already examined a case of a small company that had leadership and communication problems which led to decreased performance.  Put yourself into that same observational mode, into the role of a consultant, and both observe and evaluate what you see while volunteering there.

4.  Warning:  Don't give advice to them.  Save that for your group paper and presentation in class.  You aren't there for that purpose, and it is too easy to make them defensive.  That doesn't meet your goals.  Tuck away your observations and critiques in your head, synthesize them with your team members later, then share them in the paper and with that class when you present.

Due: the first class meeting of the week.

Grading:  These memos will be considered as part of the written component of the project (that is, they will be graded).

Contact person:  The memo should be submitted by one person from the group who is to be designated a contact person; it is this person who will have regular meetings with Dr. Fox re: the project and who will be responsible for giving the memo to the professor each week.  (This person does not necessarily have to be the leader of the group; it is simply a function that needs to be fulfilled.)

Length and style:  The memo must be typed and limited to one page.

Format:  standard memo format, including:

+  Date:

+  To:  Dr. Fox

+  From: (include all group members here)

+  Sub: Progress Report

1.  In numbered paragraphs include information about:

(a) all meetings, specifying their dates, days, time and location;

(b) include the names of all members absent;

(c) what was done/accomplished at each meeting (i.e., decisions made); and 

(d) your next step(s).