10 Key Questions Student Leaders Must Answer At The Beginning Of The Year

It's the start of the school year and everyone is excited (not necessarily about homework).

As a student leader, it's time to get going. Time to make things happen. Time to move from the season of anticipation to the season of implementation.

To help you determine how ready you are, I want to share 10 questions that need your attention and an answer RIGHT NOW.

1. Do you know what you're supposed to be doing?
Hopefully you already have your plan in place. You know your job description. You've got a vision for what you want to accomplish. You are moving forward.

2. Who's on your team?
What?!? You don't have a team yet? Well...get out there and get some people together to be on your team. Invest in them. Give them meaningful and significant tasks. Help them grow and develop under your leadership.

3. What are your goals?
If you aren't aiming for something, then you'll probably hit nothing. Write your goals down for the year. Put them on a post-it note and stick it to your bathroom mirror or computer monitor. Tell everyone about your goals.

4. What are your priorities?
You have to decide what is most important. If you only react to the urgent things in your life, you'll never have enough time to do what really matters. Set your priorities and incorporate them into your calendar.

5. How will you keep growing?
Hopefully you won't be the same person at the end of the year that you are now. You will have grown, learned some things, developed and matured in your perspectives. That doesn't just happen automatically. You need to plan for your growth. What will you read? Who will you talk to? What will you listen to?

6. What's your organization strategy?
You need ONE calendar and you need to put everything on it. Then you need to look at it on a regular (if not DAILY) basis. You need a place for your ideas, your notes, and your stuff. When things get crazy and hectic and stressful, you need a system that you can rely on.

7. Where do you anticipate your first hurdle will be?
A student leadership year never goes smoothly. If it did, then we wouldn't need student leaders. There will always be something that needs to be fixed, changed, cleaned up, solved, resolved, explained, redone, done right, or done away with. If you can see it coming, you'll be better prepared for it.

8. Who can you talk to?
You must have someone that you can share your heart, your hurts, and your hopes with. You need someone to be an objective sounding board for your ideas and your predicaments.

9. What kind of attitude will you have?
You get to choose your attitude. Every time. Decide today to have a positive attitude no matter what your circumstances bring your way. Your attitude is contagious. Positive gives birth to positive. Negative attitudes spread like wildfires.

10. Who will you add value to today?
Everyday is chance to come alongside others and equip them, encourage them, and help them succeed. If you help others be their best, then you will discover that you have more opportunities to be your best. The best student leaders make the people around them better.

Take a moment (or moments) to answer these questions with REAL answers. Don't just think about these questions...act on them and implement your answers. At the start of a new year, these questions will guide you in establishing your leadership.

Flickr Credit: CellPhoneSusie

The iMac Moral Dilemma

I have a moral dilemma. I have two brand new iMacs.

Let me tell you what happened.

I ordered a new iMac for our school's yearbook office. iMacs are beautiful computers at an extremely reasonable price. I ordered ONE iMac. It came yesterday - much to the excitement of our yearbook editor.

Then another one arrived today.

I received a call from our campus post office this morning. "You got another package just like the one you got yesterday." So I went down there, saw the box, and wondered why I now had another iMac.

When I looked at the packing slip on the side of the box, it confirmed what I thought - Apple had accidently sent me an extra iMac.

At this point, I had a decision to make.

I started telling the people I work with that I now had an iMac in my possession that was probably unaccounted for at Apple HQ. That's when the bidding began.

After about 20 minutes, I decided to call Apple. I knew I had to do the right thing. I just wanted to hear what they had to say.

When I got a customer service agent on the phone, he apologized to me for Apple's mistake and said the following:

"We admit that it was our mistake in sending you an extra iMac. We would appreciate it if you would return it to us, but you are under no obligation to do so."

That response didn't help me. "You mean, I can keep this iMac, even though you know about it now, and Apple won't charge me for it?" I asked. "No sir. It's our mistake. We'd like it back, but it's up to you."

Now...doing the right thing just got a little muddier. Apple put the choice on me.

I told my co-workers about the conversation. They all had a good time sharing what they would do or what they thought I should do (we talked about how it is easier to make a moral choice for someone else, but much harder when your name is on the box). One of my office mates said, "Just think of all the good you could do if you kept the iMac? You could donate it to someone." I responded with, "What happens if the iMac were to get "stolen" between now and the time I return it?" It's funny how easy it is to come up with a good answer on both sides of the situation.

What would you do?

So here's where I stand at the moment. Apple is going to email me some return shipping labels. The iMac sits unopened in my office. I plan on putting the shipping labels on it, taking it back down to the campus post office and leaving it there.

Somebody at Apple HQ is probably getting their behind chewed out because of this oversight. I hope that this return makes things right for them. I am actually impressed with Apple's response. They didn't demand it back. They only asked for it back. They relied on my sense of character and honesty to simply return something that I didn't pay for. They admitted their mistake and apologized (even though I could have had a free iMac from their mistake) for making me have to take the time to mail it back. Good job Apple!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no hero in this thing. I mulled over keeping it all afternoon. Apple even said I could. But it wouldn't be right. Nobody would know...but I'd know. It's interesting how much this situation tested my character. I could use an iMac, but I'd rather go about it the right way.

Are Your Team Members On Target?

At the beginning of the student leadership year, most everyone is excited to be a part of things. People like to get involved.

Calendars aren't full yet.
Assignments aren't due yet.
Priorities aren't screwed up yet.

As the student leader year continues on, there seems to be an increasing need for...well...leadership.

That's because the people on your team start to fade away, pull away, or find a way to get less involved. It just happens. So be prepared.

The goal for any team is to have it's members live in the center of the target - to be engaged and active. When they live here, they are thinking about the team and working hard within their role and responsibilities. They are a "team player."

But something may happen that causes the team member to start to move out of the center. It may be barely noticeable, but it's happening. They move into the interested and sporadic area. This means that it appears that they're still invested in the team, but it's hit-and-miss. They don't seem as dependable as they once were. They're a little more quiet and it feels like they're sitting on the second row of the circle.

If left unchecked, a team member can continue to pull away and move farther from the team and what it's trying to accomplish. Communication is virtually absent from this person. They are becoming a team member that is merely watching and inactive. This team member starts to offer all kinds of reasons why he can't participate, why he's absent from meetings, and why he can't fulfill his obligations. He is still on the team...but in name only.

Finally, a team member will make a complete break from the team. This person moves into the absent and apathetic space completely outside the target. This former team member no longer wants to be a part of the team or involved in what the team is doing. She has checked out completely and has moved on to something else. At this point, it is very rare that this person will ever return to the team.

It's important to realize that a team member rarely jumps from "engaged and active" to "absent and apathetic" overnight. A student leader must keep a watchful eye on her team members to notice the little signs that point to them moving off target.

A student leader can keep her team members on target by continually...
1. Touching base with team members on an individual and regular basis.
2. Getting to know team members personally.
3. Helping team members engage in significant and meaningful work.
4. Celebrating the small successes with team members.
5. Following up after any conflicts or passionate disagreements.

There's A Difference Between Asking For Help And Being Helpless

     "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." - Yogi Berra

While this quote may not make sense, it does encourage the reader to do one thing...keep moving. As a student leader, you will have a lot of decisions to make and many opportunities to get other people involved. When a situation or decision becomes overwhelming you might want to consider seeking advice and guidance. Getting the assistance of others may be just the thing you need to keep moving forward.

It's okay to ask for help. I highly recommend it.

There is a difference between asking for help and being helpless. The difference is in your attitude and perspective. Look at this comparison chart

Ask For Help: Seeking resources
Helpless: Has no resources

Ask For Help: Intentional
Helpless: Reactive

Ask For Help: Draw people to you
Helpless: Pushes people away

Ask For Help: Leader
Helpless: Victim

Ask For Help: Better because others do help
Helpless: Bitter because others don't help

Ask For Help: Focus on strengths of others
Helpless: Focus on own weakness

Ask For Help: Hopeful
Helpless: Hopeless

I think the last comparison says it all. When you are willing to ask someone else for help, it will provide a sense of hope. Hope that you aren't in this thing alone, hope that you can rely on someone else, and hope that your work will be better because of the strengths of someone else.

A helpless person is a hopeless person. Doesn't that just sound sad?

There's a lot going through my mind on this issue. I've seen too many student leaders squander their opportunities because they felt like they had to do everything themselves. Unfortunately, if you are doing it by yourself...you're not leading.

I think I need a part two to this post....

Fred's Surefire Ways To Identify Potential Leaders

Fred Smith is an icon in the world of leadership development. I came across an article that he wrote for Leadership Journal and was recently published on the Building Small Groups website.

He lists 10 things one should look for when attempting to identify someone as a potential leader. That's a task that many would consider one half mystical, one half practical, and the other half lucky.

Here's his list with my thoughts added as it lends itself to student leadership selection.

1. Leadership in the past. As we get closer to the time of selecting and electing new student leaders for next year, it is helpful to look at a person's track record. This is especially true if someone is campaigning for a position with greater responsibility, like Student Body President. I realize that people can overcome their past, but a person's past is good indicator of the type of momentum they're building - positively or negatively.

2. The capacity to create or catch vision. A person with a vision is able to perceive a different future. And that's vital for leadership. If someone wants things to stay the same and can't see a better future, they will struggle in the role of leader.

3. A constructive spirit of discontent. Closely tied to #2, a person exhibits leadership potential when she can walk into a room and notice ways that things could be better. Perhaps an event has run it's course or there is a system in place that is clearly outdated. This person will voice her concerns and seek to make changes in a positive direction.

4. Practical ideas. It's one thing to be creative (and those people tend to be labeled as leaders), but it's another thing to have good, practical ideas. A person may have the ability to think outside of the box, but will that person be able to implement any of the ideas that he comes up with? Look for students who are realistic in the ideas they come up.

5. A willingness to take responsibility. Students may want to be in a leadership position because of the perks...but the real test is whether or not they're willing to pay the price. With leadership comes responsibility. Look to see if the student has taken on responsibility in the past. Watch for their reaction to failure and mistakes - did they take ownership or cast blame?

6. A completion factor. Look for students who can actually get something done. This will demonstrate perseverance and dedication. There are many who will be good at starting something. Some of them may even stay excited for a week or two into it. But successful leaders have the ability to finish what they start.

7. Mental toughness. I tend to look for people that are solid mentally. They have a clear view of what they're capable of and don't allow the distractions that come with leadership to derail them. I want people who are self-confident enough to handle criticism. Watch out for those who are overly emotional. While passion for something is a plus, moodiness and emotional outbursts will kill a team.

8. Peer respect. I want to know what their friends think about them. Peers are usually pretty good at identifying who is leadership material amongst themselves. If a student has earned the respect of her friends and doesn't burn bridges, then she will have an easier time leading them.

9. Family respect. In most situations involving student leadership selection, a student's family won't play a huge role. But it may be important to find out what kind of values a potential student leader was raised with. Also, listen to how a student talks about her family. If she is disrespectful to her parents, that may flow into her other relationships with authority figures.

10. A quality that makes people listen to them. Some students just naturally have the ear of their fellow students. People listen to them and respect what they have to say. If a student is well-received and has influence over his peers, he is already leading - whether he has a position or not.

Fred adds four more questions to consider:
What will this person do to be liked?
Does this person have a destructive weakness?
Can this person accept reasonable mistakes?
Can I provide this person the environment to succeed?
These four questions will give even greater insight into the emotional and mental well-being of a potential student leader.

One of the ways that this list can be helpful to you in the coming weeks is to place specific names of students next to each item on the list. These will be students who exhibit that characteristic. Or, if you have a certain student in mind, use the list as an evaluation tool. Mark each item with a 1-5 rating on how well the student does in that category.

Read the entire article here.
Hat tip: The Practice of Leadership
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Do you need to train your student leaders but it's usually hit or miss?
You can download practical and easy to use/adapt student leadership lessons right now and be ready to go for tonight's meeting. Whether you have 10 minutes or an hour, each training module will make you look like you studied all week.

Long Term Influence

A student leader who wants to have any type of long-term influence in their organization will have to learn how to implement change.

This is because change is necessary for any organization or team to grow.

If a student leader seeks to simply maintain what's already in place, that person will soon lose their influence to lead. A leader is one who takes people somewhere. A vision is NOT something that tells everyone how they'll be in the same place they are when it's completed.

A vision tells a story, paints a picture of a different future.

How can a student leader develop long-term influence?

1. Make improvements.
2. Help others accomplish their goals.
3. Take people on a journey.
4. Attempt to accomplish something that will take longer than a year.
5. Don't be satisfied with the status quo.

You get the idea. Leadership is necessary when there is change. If there's nothing to change in your organization...do they really need you?

Weekly Schedule Task Planner Updated For 2008

Since I've had to start writing "2008" on my checks (yes, I still write those every now and then), I figured I needed to update my weekly organizational tool - the WSTP!

Thus, I've updated the links and you can access the newly formatted organization tool through this post.

Download the Weekly Schedule Task Planner 2008 [pdf-82KB]

There are some slight tweaks to the last design. I added some lines to the calendar portion because it helps me to better track my schedule. I've also added some COLOR.

Let me know if you have any questions or leave your comments below.

90 Day Plan - Smart Goals Worksheet Download

It's almost 2008. Most people are reflective of 2007. Some are anticipating what the new year will bring. I'm doing my best not to fall into the resolution trap. It's the temptation to make changes that I won't follow through on. It's the disappointment that many people feel around January 21, when they failed to form a new habit and fall back into old patterns.

So I'm leaving the  language behind and I'm focusing on creating SMART goals for the next 90 days. If you aren't familiar with the term SMART, here's a quick refresher:

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timely

The 90 Day Plan - A SMART Goals Worksheet
Here's a simple worksheet that I've designed to help me through this process. I wanted to create something that would give me a Big Picture view, but then help me break everything down to be able to daily implement my plan. This worksheet lets me...

1. Write down my goals. If I don't get it on paper it doesn't get done. I want to have these goals in clear view and view them on a daily basis.
2. Calendar my plan and progress. I believe that calendaring is the key to accomplishment. If it doesn't get on my calendar, I don't make time for it.
3. Break my goals down. I use a simple number system to identify goals and the sub-goals that go with them.

The Breakdown
+ 90 Days
I may want to work on something for the entirety of 2008. But I won't have a clear plan unless I break it down. I like 90 days. It's 3 months. One quarter of the year. It's helps me to celebrate small successes which create the momentum to move forward.

Mark your start and end date on the worksheet. While a goal may extend past the 90 day mark, think about what you can realistically accomplish during this block of time.

+ List Goals
There is space to list up to 10 goals. That may be too many for some. That's okay. Don't feel like you have to use up every space. Instead of numbering my goals 1 - 10, I choose to use 10.0 - 00.0. With this numbering system, I can organize them a little better.

For example, my third goal (30.0) is to be able to bench press 310 lbs. I'm currently at 285 lbs. But I want to be able to break the goal down. So I will mark my steps to accomplishment like this: 30.1 - 290 lbs; 30.2 - 295 lbs; 30.3 - 300 lbs; and so on. These are the numbers I'll use on the calendar portion of the worksheet.

Also, let's say that I want to add a goal that relates to this goal. For instance, I want to be able to do a certain number of reps at a certain weight. I can add a goal in this category by numbering it 31.0, 32.0, 33.0, etc.

+ The Weeks
When you move to the calendar section, there is a space on the left column for marking the date of the week or numbering the weeks. I tend to work in weekly chunks with most of my appointments and planning. I use a revised version of the GTD weekly review to reflect and plan ahead.

+ The Calendar
The Calendar is my target. I want to put the goals or the broken down pieces of each goal on the calendar. If it's not on the calendar, then I'm not working on it. I want to achieve certain steps along the way.

The calendar consists of 7 squares across. I begin with Monday because that's how I view my week. I will go through and mark the date for each square in the upper left portion. I tend to write small, so the writing the date doesn't take up much room. You can also use the Date|# column to write down the dates for the week (ie.,1/1/08-1/8/08).

I will write the number of the goal (like 30.1) on the day that I hope to achieve the goal and circle it. When I've done this with all of my goals, it will give me a bird's eye view of my goal accomplishing plan over the next 90 days. Then I'll simply add these dates into my calendar (Google Calendar!) during my weekly review.

+ Notes
Over one quarter of the worksheet is for notes that I will make. I may draw a line from a certain goal and make a note describing what the number means. I may jot down progress made. It is an open space to write down whatever is helpful toward my goal's accomplishment.
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As with any of the tools/worksheets I create, I am always open to suggestions. One of these days I'd like to figure out how to put these things into an online, editable form that one can type into. But for now, it remains a single sheet of paper that you can download.

Download The 90 Day Plan - Smart Goals Worksheet v1.3[pdf.52kb]

 

Weekly Schedule Task Planner UPDATED

I recently updated the Weekly STP with some changes that increase it's usability. I have tried using a daily sheet for my organizational tool and felt like it was too redundant for my needs. With this recent edit, I've done the following:

· Moved the schedule boxes from a vertical view down the left side of the page to a horizontal view across the top.

· Reorganized the task lists into three columns instead of two.

· Removed the squares at the end of each task line to create more space for writing down each task.

· Switched the alphabet letters with rounded squares to help organize the free space (notes, ideas, space).

I've enjoyed working with this worksheet a little bit more after making these changes. I continue to offer it as a FREE download to my readers. Enjoy!

Download the Weekly Schedule Task Planner (WSTP)

Will You Please Make Your Meeting Meaningful?

If it's not meaningful, I'd rather do something productive.

I've discovered that poorly-conducted meetings are common. Well-run, effective meetings are rare. Does anyone else have a problem with this?

First off...determine if you really need to have a meeting.
We've got so many other options these days - email, phone calls, IM, one-on-one's, etc.

Second off (okay...that doesn't make sense)...if we must meet, only invite the necessary people.
Translated: If I'm not really necessary, then I won't be offended if I'm not invited.

Third...let us know IN ADVANCE what the purpose of the meeting is.
I want to know what I'm going to talk about in case I need to study up on something.

Fourthly...don't run every meeting the same way.
Create the meeting to effectively meet the purpose (see point "third).

Five...create an agenda and figure out how much time the meeting will take.
The shorter the better!

Six...send all of us necessary people the agenda.
Once again, I want to be prepared and I want to know that you are prepared.

Once the meeting begins to draw to a close, let's take a moment and do a couple of things before we all get up to leave.
    - Let's summarize what we've decided.
    - Let's go over our action items, who's responsible, and what the deadlines are.

And one more thing, since you called the meeting, I don't mind if you follow up with me and everyone else to make sure we're on top of the things we agreed to do. Sometimes we all need a swift kick to the back side to get it done.

Okay, I lied above (not about the swift kick...). There's ONE more thing. I've got a super great TOOL to make you a whole lot better at planning, preparing, organizing, and running a meeting. It's called the MPOW and it's a free, downloadable, one-page PDF.

Check out the MPOW - Meeting Planner Organizing Worksheet

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT: What does a successful meeting look like to you?

SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT: What other ideas can you share that make meetings meaningful?

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Tim Milburn
Student Leadership Consultant & Speaker
www.studentlinc.net