The Five-Minute Catalyst: A Residence Hall Manager's Quest for Change

By: Kyra DeLoach

"Question Mark Background" by PXFUEL is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.

When my pen hit the small pieces of paper I cut out for my Quickfire, I felt a lot of emotions. Defeat, frustration, and even anger all came out on those papers. For me, the hardest part was stopping to turn off the 5-minute timer. With questions ranging from “How can students be more engaged?” to “How can I get people to see past my gender and listen to me as a human?” I knew I was holding in some emotions that needed to come out in this activity.

In my position as a Residence Hall Manager, I am asked questions each day that result in decision fatigue. “Can I bring a bow in my room without the arrows?” “Would I get kicked out of housing if…?” “Where is my mail?” “Do you want to try pigeon?” …It can be hard at times to be a resource for so many developing students.

I took small pieces of paper, set the time for 5 minutes, and started writing questions about problems in my practice. At my institution, it feels like a lot of responsibility falls on me and my colleagues instead of students, their families, or other staff. This can be a lot of pressure and often makes me feel like I need to ‘fix’ things for others so this is where a lot of my questions started.

In the introduction of A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger I learned that a beautiful question is defined as ‘an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something– and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change.’ (Berger, pp. 8, 2014). This frame-change of thinking at the beginning of the book set me up for the next two chapters to follow.

While doing this activity and reading the book, I realized that I ask about just as many questions daily – I just don’t get as many answers. I tend to ask questions to others that I hope will do something about it. What made me realize this, was in chapter one Berger talks about Van Phillips and how when asking questions he ‘had to make a change of pronouns: Specifically he had to replace they with I.’ (Berger, pp. 14, 2014). I am always saying ‘someone’ needs to fix this, ‘they’ need to work on this when I can fix it or I can work on it.

Another piece that resonated with me was in chapter two when Berger talks about kids asking adults questions. ‘The adult, in this case, becomes exasperated, insecure, aware of his ignorance, and reminded of his insignificance” (Berger, pp. 40, 2014) When I started my first year in my position, my student staff would question me constantly. The questions did make me feel exasperated, insecure, and aware of my ignorance. I had just gotten out of undergraduate school, I was a few years older than my staff, and I had no idea what I was doing. I took these questions as defiance or questioning of ME rather than questioning the way things had always been done.

I realized through most of my life I had been told “That’s just the way we do it” and as I grew up I started to respond to questions the same way until about the last year– that phrase is now unacceptable to me in my practice. In my opinion that is not a good enough reason to not change something – if anything it’s a greater reason to change it.

The introduction and first two chapters of A More Beautiful Question have left me wanting more and feeling inspired. The stories in these two chapters alone are enough to help me continue taking steps to becoming ‘exceptionally good at asking questions’ (Berger, pp. 1, 2014). I have a long way to go but am so ready to continue this journey!

Reference

Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. Bloomsbury.