Advising Using Outcomes Directed Thinking and Creativity in Student Development: Meeting
Students at the Terminal and Preparing Them for Flight.
Although as varied in approaches and methods as there are colleges, universities and professionals in the field,
Advising remains integral to students success. Colleges and Universities increasingly look to Advising services, and
Advisors themselves as resources to better prepare students for their educational journeys overall, while still
supporting each student’s individual growth along the way.
These are big demands. As our profession has moved to a place of recognition and placed at the forefront to serve
as leaders and innovators in the promotion of student development, and as our profession continues to gain
recognition at a national level through research and organizations like our beloved NACADA, we are increasingly
being asked to come up with more answers and solutions. And, let’s take a moment to acknowledge that while
the spotlight is on us as key individuals at our institutions, to provide means, or venues, for student growth – which
includes a certain amount of human/student development as well as a quantifiable educational achievement - the
pace can only be set to a speed that can be matched by our students.
I couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it.
Jonathan Winters
We support our students’ progression, but we cannot rush them through the process. We know that students are
humans, and as human beings, student development is not set in a simple, predictable way (Weimer, 175).
And let’s just say it: the funding is stretched thin and our individual availability lessens as our student populations
swell, in our brick and mortar hallways, as well as our virtual ones. We do not live in ideal worlds where funding is
abundant and that the fit between the student’s values, goals, and attitudes are well matched or fitted to those of
the institution, thereby increasing the likelihood of persistence (Tinto). We work with what we have before us.
So, the spotlight remains on Advising and Advisors, and our institutions - hopefully - ask “What do we do?” We
turn to each other and ask, “What do you do?”
Regardless of the degree of support for us, the Advisors, the very root of our mission remains present in all that we
do: Supporting our students as they move, sometimes forward, sometimes regressing a bit, through the Seven
Stages of Student Development (Chickering). Perhaps you employ a different lens, but the ultimate destination is
the same: a student functioning independently, confident in themselves and their journey, and capable of
performing interdependently with their colleagues and in each facet of society. As advisors, there is the added
pressure of attempting this in a timely way, because as each student progresses, another two, three, or more
students are waiting to occupy that same place. They are arriving at that same gate, or place on the tarmac.
Outcomes Directed Thinking: A Transformative Tool
In hallways, at meetings, over coffee, in regional and national conferences and Advisors look for methods to help
us grow along with - preferably ahead of - our students. We attempt to discover meaningful ways of introducing a
student’s existing knowledge and experience to higher expectations. We search for learning centered activities
that result in transformative experiences. We search for methods within these experiences that become
accessible, therefore portable, tools that students take with them as they go through their lives and our campuses.
Transformative: A big word filled with implications. At its basic, verb nature it means:
1. To change in form, appearance, or structure; metamorphose.
2. To change in condition, nature, or character; convert.
(Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary).
Not wanting to be outdated, I also went to the Urban Dictionary to search for a more “earthy” meaning for
transformative. After eliminating the socially inappropriate definitions (at least for this setting), I was left with a
one word definition: awesome.
That works, for surely it is awesome when we see a student move from:
Insecure > Competent
Distresses/Overwhelmed > Managing Emotions
Needy > Developing Autonomy
Vague Self-Image > Establishing Identity
Immature (Possibly Destructive Relationships) > Respectful, Empathetic Relationships
Unfocused > Developing Purpose
External Values > Personal, Humanized Values
From the start of their journey to arriving; truly, how much better than that can it get? However, for advising to
serve as a transformative learning experience, it must meet and work in the “active contexts of student’s lives”
(Learning Reconsidered 2: Implementing a Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience, 2006).
Here is where Outcomes Directed Thinking becomes a useful method or tool that meets students where they are,
at their level of experience in each situation, and facilitates the creation of their outcomes as well as their
approaches to solutions.
If individual lenses filter experience, and experience can change perspectives – and therefore lenses - then the
role of Advisors as Facilitators of Learning experiences becomes very important. The benefit of the approach I will
discuss here today, Outcomes Directed Thinking, becomes an effective means for both experiential learning and
cognitive processing in a safe environment, whether that environment is your classroom, your office, a hallway. It
also provides a “record” that can be accessed for review as often as needed.
Outcomes Directed Thinking, Appreciative Advising and Goal Setting
Outcomes Directed Thinking is used in a variety of fields. In a business environment it could be used to increase
the level of vested interest by vendors and clients to create a mutually beneficial result. It reframes the question of
cost by establishing a mutually agreed upon outcome; instead of a cost associated for a product or service, the
product or service is delivered, then payment, with eve the possibility of reduced cost or a greater ROI if the
outcome surpasses expectations. It creates a vesting of interest and energy.
The Outcomes Directed Thinking language is also being used in health care to define an achievable “what”; for
example health care for everyone which is where most of the debating, conversation, and polarization occurs,
versus seeking a higher level of motivation such as ensuring good health for everyone (Groves, Outcomes Based
Thinking and the Health Care Debate, 2009).
For those of us in the business or service of Student Development, particularly in Academic Advising, Outcomes
Directed Thinking serves as a means to encourage student ownership of existing situations, as well as improving
the possibility of student ownership, self-vesting, in plans and solutions. Outcomes Directed Thinking also
encourages creativity in the development of multiple solutions which include the participation of key supports –
including people – is each student’s life, and the uses of resources.
Outcomes Directed Thinking is not a replacement for Appreciative Advising, or for Goal Setting. Appreciative
Advising establishes a safe environment for student development. Through open-ended, positively worded
questions, students are welcomed to the Advising setting and supported in an effort to reduce anxiety that blocks
communication. Advisors work with Appreciative Advising to maximize the opportunity for communication, and to
guide the student through the process of articulating some vision for their well-being, which (in a school setting)
includes their education.
Goal Setting is more directive activity. Through specific (S), measureable (M), Achievable (A), Realistic (R), and
Timely (T) goals, efforts are targeted or directed; energy is channeled towards things that are relevant to
achievement of the stated SMART goal.
Outcomes Directed Thinking serves in partnership with these techniques. It is an additional method to enhance
student learning. It is a problem-solving tool that identifies the impetus behind stated outcomes, encourages
ownership of the objective, and helps break through road blocks to success. It promotes all of this by interjecting
something similar to a “procedural pause” before action and reaction. Because:
Never bring the problem solving stage into the decision making stage. Otherwise, you surrender yourself to the
problem rather than the solution.
Robert H. Schuller
Therefore, as Advisors, we set the stage and build a relationship through Appreciative Advising, and we help
students establish their destinations through Goals Setting. Through Outcomes Directed Thinking, we facilitate the
student’s creation an approach to their destination, by establishing the motivations behind the desired outcome,
providing a process identifying potential challenges as well as resources, and setting this all within a format that
can be accessed and refined prior to committing to a plan of action.
Why Outcomes Directed Thinking Makes a Difference: – A Practical Application
When setting goals, “what” and “how” are addressed. Goals need to be addressed. But the “what’ and the “how”
are often the exact places where the details and barriers arise. Thoughts and energy move from a positive focus to
an overwhelmed sense and a negative experience. Even setting the path to a goal is an emotional risk: the goals
themselves can become the “inflection point or reference point for satisfaction versus dissatisfaction” (Locke &
Latham 2002). This can pose a very real experience, a very physically and mentally felt stressor for anyone.
However, for students already feeling vulnerable and at a disadvantage (whether articulated or not), the emotional
risk is extremely high and even overwhelming enough to dissuade a student from continuing their educational
journey.
Outcomes Directed Thinking helps students remain in a more positive frame through a process of “flipping” from a
statement of the problem (that which “is”), to what is desired instead. It can also be used to “flip” from “This is
what I want…” to a newly framed outcomes focused question of, “What will it take to achieve
______________________ (enter goal here.)”
Problem/Existing Situation:
What is the
present
situation? Taking
prerequisites
courses for Rad
Sci.
Desired Outcome/Goal:
What do I want
instead? Be a strong
applicant for
Admission to the Rad
Sci program in Fall
2012.
Outcomes Directed Thinking as a Course Setter and Barrier-Buster
Outcomes Directed Thinking really starts working at a practical, relevant, course setting tool and at a “barrierbusting level” when moving up or down an “Outcomes Space Map”; it can leverage a student from stuck to
progress from non-committal to vested in an outcome and the means to achieving the outcome.
When the barriers arise, so should a new set of questions. For if no problem can be solved from the same level of
consciousness that created it (Einstein), then it makes sense to look at a problem or challenge from a new
perspective. In an Outcomes Directed Thinking model, that perspective moves up or down an Outcomes Space
Map.
When barriers to a desired outcome arise, a new question can be used to move up one or more motivational
levels. In a visual way, the student identifies each motivational reason or motivational level that supports the
achievement of an outcome. In the above example asking “What will achieving this outcome do for me?” is a
motivational question with a lot of impact that also provides insight on situation for each student. It might even
lead to a possibly higher level outcome. In the scenario just given, answers might be entrance into a desired
career, greatly improved financial stability for self and family, an opportunity for service, a sense of
accomplishment, and more.
It would look like this:
I could be a role model for someone else.
It would make me feel really good/successful.
Improved Finances for myself and my family.
Entrance to desired career.
Established Outcome: Become a strong applicant for admission to the Rad Sci Program in the fall 2012 application cycle.
The question “What will this do for me?” is not a selfish question at all, but the foundation or support for
becoming vested in and breaking through barriers. Moving up a level gets to the importance behind the outcome.
And it is self-defined. Remember the premise that in order for learning to be transformative for each student, it
must come from the context of each student’s life. It must be relevant; for, “A man cannot be comfortable without
his own approval. “ - Mark Twain
Even if the ultimate motivational reason is world peace, it must have relevance for the person creating the
outcome. If no self-relevant motivational reason can be ascertained, then a re-evaluation of the purported
outcome is appropriate.
Moving “down” the outcomes map is highly effective in that this is where the identification of needs and resources
is honed. Moving down outcome levels gets to the work of, and the choices made, for the achievement of a stated
outcome.
Once the Outcome is described in a meaningful and motivationally supported way, then a series of reflective
moments, or procedural pauses, are used to pin-point barriers. “Flipping” is used once again (at a very simple
basic level) from an identified barrier to what is desired instead. This brings the student from becoming mired in
perceived impossibilities and stuck in overwhelmed, to creating alternatives and achieving the doable. Moving
down the Map is a way to identify distractions and avoid costly (time and money), wasted efforts. Through this
process, progress is achieved through smaller strategies that are supported by the established, clarified motivation
(s). Example:
Established Outcome: Become a strong applicant for admission to the Rad Sci Program in the fall 2012 application cycle.
What stops me from getting this outcome? A competitive Math and Science GPA.
What Do I want instead? A GPA of at least 3.5 in Math, A & P, and Chem.
Barrier? Feels like I’m always out of time.
Want instead? Sufficient focused time for study.
Feasibility/In my control? Yes
Resources/Approaches? Better use of planner,
Extreme Academic Makeover, do all difficult subjects
In skills labs, reserve Sat. mornings for study…
Barrier: Computer Sucks
Want instead? New computer!
Feasibility/In my control? Not yet.
Resources/Approaches? Do most homework/study on campus
using campus labs, use flash drives to transport work…
Summary
As Advisors, we develop as professionals through reading, conferences, practice, continuing our own education.
We are in what I believe to be in a unique, possibly charmed position, of not being strictly tied to one approach or
theory. We have the freedom to draw from any number of carefully considered tactics to assist our students. By
accessing from a variety of best practices in many different fields, we tap into a wide breadth of resources and
theories to serve as our inspiration and our guides. We get to pick from those we consider to be the best that we
can employ where we are and use them to help us serve at the level we strive to reach.
I believe Outcomes Directed Thinking is one of those practices that we can incorporate into our own professional
tool kit. It is a method that can evolve as the student evolves. The process can grow larger with the complexity of
the situation, yet makes it possible to break difficult situations down into doable items. It is a transformative
experience because it meets a student at their existing level of awareness and experience, introduces a new
problem-solving experience that remains relevant to them, and Outcomes Directed Thinking can be used long after
a class is over or an advising session ends.
References:
Groves, Richard. 2009. Outcomes Based Thinking and the Healthcare Debate. Mission Measurement, LLC.
Edwin A. Locke & Gary P. Latham. 2002. Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation. American Psychologist Journal.
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education. 2008. The Role of Academic Advising. CAS Standards Contextual Statement.
Vicki Clawson and Bob Bostrom. 2003. Outcome Directed Thinking: Questions that Turn Things Around.
Learning Reconsidered 2, 2006: Implementing a Campus-Wide Focus on the Student Experience.
Advising Using Outcomes Directed Thinking and Creativity in Student Development Presentation - os