Floor Visioning provides an opportunity for residents of the halls to speak into the floor’s vision and community expectations of the year, giving your residents a voice in establishing norms and group expectations. There is no perfect or right strategy for carrying out a floor visioning meeting. Different RAs have had successful (and unsuccessful) meetings using a variety of methods. No matter how well it goes, more than likely, you’ll want to revisit this conversation at several points throughout the school year. A central principle of student life is that students support what they help build. Give your residents a voice and you’ll be amazed at the results.
Clarify with your residents that some things that are non-negotiable are policy-based, these rules are outlined in the Student Handbook. This includes and is not limited to: drug/alcohol use, sex, visitation hours, quiet hours, open flames, pets, etc. These items are not up for debate during the floor visioning process. Negotiable items are the issues the residents can set some parameters on themselves, like acceptable noise levels, respect, hall activities, floor participation and floor dinners, social media accountability, Bible studies, food in the fridge, kitchen cleanliness, etc.
A floor vision will take time and patience to establish, but it will save you time and energy later in the year when residents are able to mediate their own problems. If your floor vision becomes a living and active part of the floor culture, you can refer back to this vision often, and help residents learn how to work out their own problems.
Be sure to have snacks at your meeting! Open with prayer and share a verse or favorite quote about community. Communicate to your residents the purpose of the meeting, and that you desire that all of them have input and feel a sense of ownership over the community in which they live – both practically and relationally.
Reflect
Jot down some notes about what you remember during floor visioning times that you have participated in as a resident. If you did not attend/cannot remember, then discuss this tradition with other staff members. Make sure to take note of elements you like or did not like.
Prepare
Decide what style of meeting you will hold to complete your floor vision. Below are several options for how to run your floor visioning:
Hang several large sticky notes around the space where you host your meeting. On each note, write a category that should be discussed (for example, language). Have your residents walk around and write their preferences for this category. When they are finished writing, use their comments to guide discussion and make a decision on how the floor will approach each one.
Break your floor into groups of 4-5 students. Give them about 5 minutes to discuss each category, and have one student take notes. After about 20 minutes, gather the group back together and ask for themes from each group. Using these themes, create your community expectations.
Share with your residents the goal of the meeting ahead of time (via email), telling them the topics you will be covering so that they can come prepared with ideas and input. Share categories and ask residents to jot down their ideas on notecards and hand them in. Have one of your SET members organize the input and write large themes for each category on a whiteboard or large sticky note.
Read through the categories and prompting questions below. Incorporate these topics into your conversation.
Create an outline or agenda for yourself and anyone who will be assisting you.
Acquire any necessary supplies. Don’t forget snacks! Your residents will enjoy it.
Advertise the upcoming meeting. Facebook, text messages, emails and signs are all helpful ways to get the word out.
*See the next page for the Floor Visioning Resource with detailed questions and more examples.
Floor Vision Meeting
Have fun leading your community through floor visioning! Be sure to take good notes as you will put together a final floor charter that you give to residents and post on the floor.
Floor Charter
Review your floor visioning meeting with your AC or RD. Complete a physical copy of the final floor vision and give copies to residents and post on the floor. Some ways you might make a physical copy of your floor charter include: poster board and markers (then snap a photo of it and email floor) or ask a creative person in your community to make something on Canva or Piktochart.
Follow-Up
Throughout the year revisit and revise your floor vision as needed.
Consider borrowing from the following questions and challenging the floor in the following ways:
Language:
How can we focus on language that is life giving or encouraging?
How can we build each other up with the way we talk/communicate on the floor?
Are we comfortable with swearing? If so, in what regard?
What crosses a line?
How can we speak in ways that are God-honoring?
Space:
How can we fairly utilize the coffee kitchen?
If food is unlabled is it fair game?
Do we want to share supplies/ dishes/ coffee makers?
How can we respect one another in the process of sharing space?
How can we be considerate of cleaning crew and the work they need to do on the floor?
How can we best use/take care of the CJ?
Noise:
What’s a noise level you are comfortable with?
What does appropriate noise mean to you?
What’s a middle ground we can agree on as a floor?
How can we show care and respect for floors above us and below us?
Community Expectations:
Will people on our floor commit to attending events, Bible study, having doors open?
Do we hope for people to stick around on the weekends?
What should that look like?
Do we want to eat dinner as a floor? How often? When/where?
Faith:
How will our floor model Christ-centered living?
How can we visibly show our Christian commitment?
Is our faith an aspect of our floor identity and what should that look like?
How can we create space for those that are struggling with faith and doubt questions?