More Morale

One major thing my mentor has taught me so far is the importance of morale. If people don't like what they're doing and how they're being treated, they won't want to put effort into their work. I've also found a significant amount of research supported the idea that staff morale is one of the most important aspects of a successful... anything (crazy, huh?). She showed me a decent list of ways that I could raise morale in my own staff, but one of the most basic (and important) is to use icebreakers. 

“But Elijah, what’s an icebreaker?” I’m glad you asked, reader.

An icebreaker is what it sounds like... something to break the ice. They may or may not involve puns. Even though they sound relatively simple and unimportant, icebreakers are necessary to establish an early connection between you, your editors, and your staff. They’re especially effective when you gain new staff members. Every year in yearbook, we get a small group of freshmen who don’t exactly have the best idea of what to expect in the class. The icebreakers are a fun way to ease their nerves, and get them to bond with the experienced members. It’s always good to strengthen the bond of your current staff, too.

This is an example of one of the icebreakers we did on the first day of Yearbook (we adapted the colors a bit, but this is the gist):

Note: I'll be applying the lessons I learn in mentorship to Yearbook

Blog 4: Interview Preparation

1. I plan to interview my mentor, Rebecca Chai, the adviser of Walnut High School's publications class. The Walnut yearbooks have been respected and admired for a number of years for several reasons, and their publications class is run like a tight ship.

2. Required Questions:

• I'm interested in studying editorial publishing management. What can you tell me about it?
• From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant?
• Who else would you recommend I talk to?
• What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?
• What books should I read in this field?

Additional Questions:

• What led you to become the adviser of the publications class?
• What’s one quality that a good manager/Editor-in-Chief must display every day to his/her staff? Why?
• In your experience, what have past Editors-in-Chief gone to do in college? Using the skills they learned from managing the staff.

Blog 3: Topic Choice and Working EQ

1. Managing an Editorial Publication

2. Working EQ:  How best can one manage an editorial staff, so as to promote efficiency and inspiration?

3. Yes, the WB is on the right hand side of this blog.

Summer Mentorship Component

Literal

1. The log of specific hours and description of my duties

2. What is the contact name & number of where you volunteered?       

Rebecca Chai

(909) 594-1333, ext. 34251

3. (Need to know) What questions were raised because of the 10 hours of experience?  List them.     

• What careers can one branch off towards, using skills learned in editorial publishing?
• How can I best handle difficult staff members?
• How do I balance being a strict leader and being a fun one?
• When do I transition the staff from training to working?

Interpretive

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?

The most important thing I gained from my summer mentorship is how to handle leadership. I received advice from my mentor, as well as others who are in the same situation as me. They all showed me how not to abuse my authority, how to handle conflict resolution, and how to build up rapport with my peers, all of which can be taken and applied to my life in the future.

Applied

5. What is your senior project topic going to be?  How did what you did help you choose a topic?  Please explain.

My senior project topic is going to be Editorial Publishing. Since running a yearbook is basically like running a magazine or other print publication, there are many similarities as far as management, design, and content. This topic will be much less stress than what I previously wanted to do (Biomedical Engineering with a focus on Prosthetics), because I’ll be able to complete assignments as I work on the yearbook, since I’m the Editor-in-Chief. It was difficult to find a mentor in the biomedical field, which I wish to pursue as a career, and by choosing a yearbook-related topic I’ll be killing two birds with one stone this year.