As a school counselor–as with many other jobs–hundreds of decisions are typically made in each workday. Big decisions; little decisions; largely inconsequential decisions; and consequential decisions–and everything in-between.

How can a school counselor approach the decision-making process? In this article I will talk about the approach that I like to take for myself, offering some tips and things to think about, along the way.

When it comes to making decisions, I like to funnel things through four different categories: What’s best for the student; what’s best for the school; what’s best for the department; and what’s best for me.

Now that I have named for us the four categories, let’s look at each one, individually, and see how all four fit together into the larger scope, and role, as a school counselor.

1. What’s Best for the Student?

Before making any decisions that affects a student (or students), this is primarily my starting–and often ending–point. When I am working with a student–and if I have different options to choose from–what is ultimately best for them?  What does my experience say? What does the data say? What does my gut or intuition tell me? Knowing what I know about a particular student, what is going to help them out the most? If I know some (or all) of those things, I feel like I am, more often than not, on the right track. If I am acting in the best interests of students, then I am more likely to have a solid grip on the holistic decision-making process for helping students. What is more, oftentimes, I do not need to put a ton of consideration the other three categories. I can often stop at this first category because everything else typically tends to find a way to work itself out.

I don’t claim to always get it right, though, either–trust me. But I have found that if I start by always asking myself: “what’s best for_________(my student, or students),” then the natural and correctly-based decision usually follows suit, as I go through my typical thought-processes. Additionally, if you start to gain a reputation for doing what is best for students, you can build up for yourself some serious social capital in the form of trust and confidence–and the benefit of the doubt when you do make a mistake–that other staff members and stakeholders will hold in you (and in the most important individuals of all: the students, themselves). Even if you are an rather inexperienced counselor, just starting with this category, alone, of decision-making, usually can see you through the toughest parts of the early stages of a career as a school counselor.

2. What’s Best for the School Community?

Just like in our first category, what is often best for a student is also often what is best for the school community (but not always). In my role as a school counselor, I do not exist in a vacuum. Parts of my roles and responsibilities are grounded in supporting the mission and goals of the larger school community (oftentimes, even working up to the district-level). I may be in a crunch for time, or I may have to switch gears and help support other more urgent efforts around the school; or I may have to even clear out my entire calendar (and my pre-scheduled work with individual students) on certain days. So I know that I can’t be rigid and always stop at Category #1. Sometimes, due to limited time and resources, I have to stop what I am doing to then do what’s best for things outside of–or beyond–my own caseload; preferences; goals; wishes; to-do lists; or preferential desires–it’s just that simple. Doesn’t always mean I excel at this, either.

 I am very task-oriented and intrinsically-driven–and also someone that generally prefers cohesion and predictable stability–so, sometimes, I have to take a step back and shift gears rather quickly (even when I would often rather prefer to not have to do so). Yet, when a person is working with different individuals, teams, or units, there has to be a certain level of flexibility and open-mindedness, I am learning. So, I find it helpful to approach the decision-making process by first starting–or narrowing-in–as small as possible (what’s best for the student) then immediately thinking about that in terms of scaling-up, or expanding, to the largest level (what’s best for the school community?). In other words, first zooming in all the way on the individual(s), then, at the next moment, zooming-out all the way–just like if you were carefully studying a particularly hard-to-see image or photograph–same idea.

I think that when we can see that our own vocational efforts are, in fact, not randomly isolated, and that, individually, we are merely part of the larger whole, we can understand that the decision-making process of a school counselor should also always strongly consider what’s also best for the school community. This then means that we should perhaps ask ourselves this particular question: “How can I support the goals, missions, and efforts of my school community, as I also am striving and attempting to do what’s best for my own students.”

3. What’s Best for the My Department?

Going from fully zooming-in (the smallest level–Category #1) to fully zooming-out (the largest level–Category #2), I then think about scaling-down one level to the second largest category: What’s best for the Counseling Department. Because members in my department share many of the same roles, duties, and responsibilities, it’s natural to have some different preferences or opinions on the way things look–and get done–within the larger framework of the department. The bigger the team, sometimes the longer it takes to reach consensus (also usually natural).

So, while I may have my own preferences for how I would like to see things be done–or how I would like to see decisions being made–I am only one of eight (occasionally, more) voices at the table. Sometimes it helps to pull people over to your side (consensus-building) or to take a more agreeable, genial approach (if it’s not a big decision, or if multiple decision-based options have the potential to work out just fine), but I am also not afraid to speak up if I want to advocate for certain things, though, either (as I go back to asking myself–and sometimes others–what’s best for students?, and, also, what’s best for the school community?).

Again, what is often best in the first two categories is often what is best in this third category–but not always. As part of a department, individuals have to work together as a team, and that sometimes means decisions will be made that aren’t always everyone’s favorite–and that’s OK. Sometimes, as individuals, we get exactly what we want and sometimes we don’t, but the mission and objective should always remain the same though: How can I, or we, do what’s best for students? How can we support the larger school community? How can we support each other in supporting those objectives and efforts?

4. What’s Best for Me?

If everything checks-out in the first three categories of the decision-making process, I then may be able to zoom-in some more and ask: What’s best for me? I happen to really like mutually-beneficial decisions; agreements; trades–anything. I love when good deals can be made, and when everyone can walk away from the table, so to speak, at least partially satisfied. That’s good business–and good for social cohesion and generally good morale, as both (or all) sides stand to gain something. It’s one reason why I am a building representative for my Union, and why I am also involved in district-level Education Association work and representation (and also one reason that I likely will try to run for some level of political office in the future). I just really like working with a wide-range of different groups; stakeholders; and representatives.

But sometimes, I also have to choose me, though, and factor in my own mental health; energy levels; set well-defined boundaries; and prioritize what gets done in a particular day, week, or time period. If I do that, then I am more likely to make good decisions; be more effective; accomplish more of my goals; and am more likely able to find myself circling back to my primary objective all along: What’s best for my student(s)?

I want to close with this little jingle to help us remember this one particular approach to the decision-making process:

Zoom all-in;

Zoom all-out;

Zoom back in;

and zoom-in again

so that you leave no doubt!

–The Blue-Collar Counselor