If possible use a recorder or have someone else take notes. It is almost impossible to facilitate a meeting and take notes too.
Sharon asks her first question. One tutor explains how she figures out her schedule. The hours she is in class are obviously unavailable. But she also looks at the meeting times for the classes she is tutoring. It doesn’t make much sense to schedule tutoring sessions for when the students would be in class. Then
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she decides how many hours she can do based on her own class work and other activities. The other tutors nod in agreement. “That’s pretty well how we do it too.”
Terry chimes in: “Tutors can work any number of hours up to the maximum of 15 a week.”
Sharon looks at the students. “Jason, Sandy, how do you sign up for a session and what would make the process easier?”
Jason looks a Sandy, she nods so he answers first. “I go into the computer lab and look at the signup sheets, First I see what time slots are available, then I look at who the tutor is. If I can I choose a tutor I know and like. It can be really hard sometimes to see what is available. The sheets can get pretty messy and it’s can be really hard to read some tutor’s handwriting.”
Sandy adds. “It would be nice if there were some easy way to search for all the sessions that go with a class and see the time and tutors. It would be really nice if you could look ahead too. I would love to schedule a series of sessions for a month or more, but the sheets don’t go out that far.”
“The next question is for the tutors and it is pretty specific. I’ve seen the report forms you are supposed to fill out for each session and I was wondering what exactly you put in the box labeled “Materials covered?”
A female tutor, Sharon glanced at the list to recall her name—Ann, replies: “It varies, sometimes I put a subject in like ‘quadratic equations’, or ‘ratios’, sometimes I put in a specific lesson number.” Another tutor replies, “I teach English. I usually put down things like ‘paragraphing,’ or ‘agreement’ or ‘sentence fragments’. We don’t put down everything in detail, just the gist of what we covered.”
Sharon thinks of a quick follow up question for Terry. “Is that enough? Do you get the information you need?”
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Terry nods, “Yes, I really only need a general sense of what was covered.”
Sharon looks at her list of questions. “This one is for the tutors again.
How do you check to see if a student is registered in the class they are requesting tutoring in? How about you, Nathan?”
She has noticed that Nathan, one of the tutors, seems to be a bit reluctant. He is sitting with his arms crossed in a protective stance, and his expression is not as friendly as most of the others. He takes a few seconds before he answers. “I usually don’t check. I generally trust the students. We really don’t have a good way to check anyway. We don’t have rosters for the classes, and we can’t really look it up.” He pauses again for a moment and then adds, “I like the current system. It’s flexible and easy to understand. Everybody is familiar with it. I am afraid that changing things will just make it all more complicated”
Sharon smiles and says, “That’s good to know. I really hope that, in the end, this database will make everyone’s life easier, but you can help keep me honest. If something makes things more complicated as we develop this, let me know and we will see if we can fix it.”
Sharon proceeds with the rest of the interview questions. She finds out that StudentIDs are missed because the form is filled out after the session and sometimes the tutor forgot to ask for it before the student left. Also, Mary tells her that the forms can be turned in a couple of different ways. They can be left after each session at the desk for Terry to pick up. They also can be kept by the tutor and turned in directly to Terry at the end of the pay period. Sharon also realizes, hearing the discussion, that canceling Things to Think About
Change, such as creating an new database, affect people’s lives at work. It means a change in the way they have always done things.
Some people anticipate change with excitement, looking forward to a new and hopefully better way to do things. Others are less enthusiastic. Some are actually resentful or see it as a threat.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss the negative attitudes. They may well have valid reasons for feeling as they do.
What would be the best way to handle such resistance in an interview? Do you think it would help to try to anticipate some of the objections before hand?
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sessions was going to be a complicated matter, one that she was going to have to follow up on. The two students present are willing to enter their demographic information and don’t have any concerns, but Sharon isn’t sure everyone will feel the same. The one thing everyone would like to see changed is the scheduling process. And, the one thing everyone liked about the current system was it flexibility.
When the interview is over, Sharon glances at the clock. Three minutes to spare. She thanks everyone for their participation, turns off her digital recorder. Before she leaves the meeting to Terry she asks if any of the tutors would be willing to let her shadow them as they go through a couple of tutoring sessions. Mary Lewis said that would be fine. “When would you like to do it?”
“When is your next session?”
“Tomorrow at 11:00 A.M. in the computer lab.”
“OK, I’ll meet you there.
Things to Watch Out for
Go over your notes or recording within twenty four hours. It is important to review them while the memory of the interview is still fresh.