I’ve found it to be incredibly important to outline certain expectations for the groups I advise.  I recently crafted a brand new set of student expectations that covers both the programming boards and student media groups I advise. This is the first set of expectations that I’ve designed to be vague in nature, I tend t0 fall into the trap of being overly specific. I submit them here to you in hopes of feedback and wisdom from the community:

Remember your service to students
You’ve been granted the privilege of using your peer’s resources to create community on campus, which means this isn’t about you or what you like. It isn’t about what connections you have or what strings you can pull. It’s about serving your peers by using their money in the best way possible. Your expertise earned you the position, now your actions must make the community better.

Be passionate and do remarkable work
Passion means you love what you do. It means you come in everyday excited to tackle the next challenge and achieve the next goal. Passion shows in the work you produce because you care so deeply about it that doing anything less than remarkable is a disservice to yourself.

Tell the stories no one else can
You are lucky to have resources and influence to create experiences for the community. Use this opportunity to open other student’s eyes to something new, or offer a different perspective on something they’ve seen before.

Take time to admire
The work you do will be unlike any other. It will become a blend of your unique personality and experiences. The work you do will take months of preparation, countless meetings, and tedious processes.  When it’s all said and done remember to take a moment to admire what you have brought to life.

Respect my life beyond this University
I strive to balance both my work and personal life.  I am dedicated to supporting you and I will spend countless hours working to that end.  At the same time I need time to decompress and reflect as well.  I will respect your other commitments beyond this organization and I hope you will do the same for me beyond my advisor role.

If it loses meaning, walk away
The moment you stop caring about your work and you realize it has fallen on your priority list, I want you to reassess, talk to your peers and advisor, then decide if it is still something that has meaning. I want you to know it’s okay to walk away if you don’t feel you can adequately support your role and organization any longer. I want other students to have an opportunity to make an impact, so prepare your transition and pass along your legacy to the next student who wants to give back.

Any tweaks that you think would be effective? How do you hold students accountable to vague expectations?