Accountability

Although student employees in a green living program (GLP) should have flexibility in terms of when and how they do their work, they must also be accountable to the program and its other participants, including the coordinator, captains and steering group members. This section provides suggestions on how to ensure your reps are staying on track with their responsibilities.

Meetings and Updates

Setting a consistent meeting time for reps will help keep them accountable to the program. Meet at the beginning of each checklist period to pass out the checklists, discuss the work at hand and provide any additional information to help the reps with their tasks.

Update the reps between the meetings, especially if you meet every two weeks or less, with emails about anything that arises. Update items can range from additional details on campaigns, to campus events that relate to GLP activities, to personal announcements about reps’ work.

Regular meetings between the coordinator and steering group and between the coordinator and host manager will also be key.

Hours and Responsibilities

Be explicit about the hours and duties you expect the reps to fulfill when you hire them. This will help them stay accountable throughout the year because they will have committed to set expectations. Be sure to set realistic tasks that meet the hours and responsibilities you have laid out for the reps at the beginning of the year.

Communication

Staying in communication with reps as a group and individually will help keep them accountable to the program. Consider sending email updates to the group and personal feedback emails to reps about their checklists. The more personal the communication between the captains, coordinator and reps, the more invested and committed everyone will be.

Quality of Work

Periodically visiting reps' eco-boards and touching base with residential advisors will help ensure the quality of reps’ work. Of course, the best way to do this is to have them send their work, such as samples of posters they have created and photos of themselves in action, directly to you.

Ongoing Management

Going back to the checklist, you will need to be flexible from week to week, in order to remove tasks and obstacles from reps that may arise between meetings. You will also need to respond to reps not getting the work done because, for example, they had a busy week. Revise expectations when necessary. It is better to encourage reps and to show them understanding with their schedule than it is to have reps fall behind and become upset with their lack of progress. Empower students by involving them in the planning of activities. This way they will know what is coming earlier on in the process.

GLP Contract

You can consider crafting a contract for reps to sign at the beginning of the year. By noting their expectations and guidelines, the contract will remind the reps throughout the year of their commitment to the program.

Pay

Reps are, after all, paid employees. They should be accountable to the program in exchange for their salary. While on one hand it is helpful to be sympathetic to a rep's personal and academic needs, you may have to decide at some point whether he or she is meeting the requirements of the program and should continue in the job.