Throughout college, you may be asked or will apply for leadership roles in different clubs or extracurricular activities. This past semester I held my first leadership positions as the President of Her Campus at Ohio U, as well as accepting a position as a Resident Assistant on campus. With these roles came a lot of new responsibilities. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into, but wow was I wrong! Here is what I’ve learned about leadership to help you when you decide to take a new position:
1. You need a supportive team
If you are starting a new role and leading a team, make sure this is a supportive team. If your executive board can’t help you or support you in decisions or work, then you may need to find new members to place into your executive board. This may cause issues within your club or team, but finding members who can support you will make the overall experience of the club and leadership role even better!
2. You must trust people
Trusting people to do their own responsibilities can take a lot of work to get to. However, trusting people will make your life easier because you won’t have to constantly check up on others work.
3. Your priorities will change
Not only will you have schoolwork, but you’ll also have responsibilities related to your new leadership position. On a rare occasion, these responsibilities will become the most urgent priority. But be sure to remember that academics must come first in order to stay on track.
4. You will get less sleep
More work throughout the day means less sleep at night. This is inevitable but this makes breaks and nights you can go to bed early so much more amazing.
5. There will be problems, but that’s okay
Problems will come up for anyone who has a leadership position. It will be okay, I promise. Problems come up but so will resolutions. Things will clear up and you will get through it.
6. Some weeks will be harder than others
There is going to be weeks that seem to never end with meetings, schoolwork and leadership responsibilities, while some weeks are going to fly by. Keep your head up and get through those hard weeks because you will reach those easy weeks too.
7. It’s okay to ask for help
Many clubs have advisors. Ask for help. If you have a supervisor, advisor, boss, professor, etc., that you can talk to for help, do it. It’s okay to reach out for help when things are not going well. Don’t feel bad if you reach out to these mentors, friends or other executive board members for help.
With a new semester upon us, I hope that this will assist you in new leadership positions you will be holding. Don’t let what I learned scare you, but let it help you prepare and know what to expect for new roles in the future.