Once a month, a dedicated group of Collegewisers publishes an internal newsletter, Inside the Hive (“The Hive” is our term for our collective of Collegewise counselors). Each issue focuses on answering four questions for every Collegewise counselor:
1. What should you be doing for each grade level of your Collegewise families this month?
2. What should you be doing to improve your office and your counseling this month?
3. Do we have any helpful materials or guides to help you accomplish these things?
4. Any relevant timely tips from Collegewise veterans?
For example, here’s a screenshot from one edition.
Inside the Hive has become one of the most vital tools we use in our work. College counseling can be a complex business. It’s not always obvious where to focus our time, how to adopt the techniques of the greats, or what resources are already available so we don’t create a new version unnecessarily. And our counselors don’t sit in the same building. Collegewisers in Los Angeles, Austin, Columbus, New York, etc. don’t always know what their far-flung colleagues are up to like we would if we all worked in the same building together. But once a month, we put all the most vital and useful information in one place. Do what Inside the Hive recommends, and no counselor has to wonder if they’re focusing on the wrong things or somehow missing something.
What would a company, school, club, or organization’s version of Inside the Hive look like? What if you committed to sharing the most important to-dos, advice, resources, etc.? In the ensuing years, you can revise and update it. But you’ll probably only need to write each issue from scratch once.
And if you’re having trouble getting started, or if you work as a solo independent counselor and don’t necessarily have a hive to share it with, here’s a tip—write retroactively. Look back at the last 2-4 months and ask yourself:
- What were the most important things I did each month?
- What specific monthly advice would I give someone (or myself) next year, knowing what I know now?
- What resources or other helpful information did I use, and what else would have been helpful to have on hand?
Repeat that a few times throughout the year and you’ll have retroactive issues for every month. Then next year, just unearth the appropriate issues at the appropriate times.
Big or small, everyone in the group gets better when you carve out time to advise your hive.