The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 617 Approaches to Advising The dissertation chairperson has a number of roles to help a doctoral candidate be successful. According to Garcia et al., (1988), a lack of chairperson supervision or mentorship contributes to delayed completion or non-completion of the dissertation process. Given the importance of the dissertation chairperson, understanding chairpersons’ approaches to advising and feedback is critical. Previous literature indicates three important elements of chairperson–student interactions in the dissertation process: (a) transparent and supportive feedback, (b) collaborative interactions, and (c) established communication expectations. These will be discussed below. Transparent and Supportive Feedback Hilliard (2013) provided a number of recommendations regarding transparent and supportive feedback to doctoral students. First, according to Hilliard, because chairpersons hold a major responsibility to ensure the student receives specific feedback for accepting improvements from other committee members, it is incumbent upon chairpersons to maintain positivity and professionalism when working with students. Second, chairpersons should demonstrate an ability to understand students’ needs in the context of their current dissertation stage. Lastly, Hilliard advises chairpersons to make consistent efforts to provide appropriate and useful feedback to students that informs them of their progress toward dissertation completion. Nevertheless, there are a number of additional challenges in addressing feedback, including the strategies and ideas provided through feedback. Giving and receiving feedback can be challenging. Questions regarding when, where, and how feedback should be given further complicates the feedback process (Purgason et al., 2016). The complication in the feedback process occurs largely because both parties, chairperson and doctoral candidate, have a responsibility to provide and share feedback and oftentimes expectations are not established. However, in general, the chairperson has the added responsibility of initially broaching feedback, as well as establishing norms and expectations around how and when feedback can occur (Purgason et al, 2016). Finally, faculty provide critical feedback in a supportive manner. Learning is most likely to occur when feedback is critical yet supportive, provided in a timely manner, and given with time for the advisee to receive and respond (Dollarhide et al., 2013; Idrus et al., 2018). The challenge faculty members face in following this structure of providing and receiving feedback is that it can create growth but may lead to feelings of frustration experienced by both individuals (Idrus et al., 2018; Waring, 2017). A response to address this challenge is to consider the whole person (i.e., professional identity and social and emotional wellness beyond academics) and educate students on the usefulness of giving and receiving feedback (Idrus et al., 2018). Collaborative Interactions Neale-McFall and Ward (2015) found that CES doctoral students were most satisfied when working with chairpersons who they perceived to be collaborative. This was a significant contributor to doctoral student satisfaction with the dissertation process. Additionally, Hilliard (2013) recommended that chairpersons work collaboratively by utilizing dissertation committee members’ expertise. Established Communication Expectations Hilliard (2013) noted that students are more likely to move successfully through the dissertation process if there are clear expectations communicated, written, and agreed upon with the faculty. Expectations that include each of these elements provide a foundation for the way feedback will be given and received. Moreover, clear communication expectations can help the doctoral candidate with
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