As the fall semester comes to a close, many organizations are either changing leadership or beginning to consider their successors. Newly elected student leaders are left floundering in the wake, wondering where they should turn.
“I think that an issue with a lot of campus organizations is that your position is only a year long, where it goes by in a blink of an eye,” Mary Kavanaugh, former Panhellenic Council president, said.
Kavanaugh said many executive board members don’t realize how much there is to do once elections come up and many new leaders are left to learn on the job.
“Looking back on it, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.” Kavanaugh, a chemistry pre-professional major, said. “[Even though] I was talking to the [president] before me, she was my friend and everything, so I thought I was going to learn the ropes a little bit easier.”
Charlie Cohen, who was elected Interfraternity Council president on Oct. 20 and is Alpha Epsilon Pi’s current president, said he had a smooth transition taking the reins in the organizations he’s been in, mostly because of the communication between past and present leaders.
“I know some people have had that issue where they just get thrown in and there’s no communication, but personally the organizations I’ve been a part of have done a really strong job of preparing me ahead of time,” Cohen said.
However, Cohen said there are many challenges that come into play when transitioning student organization leadership.
“Some common challenges are, of course, communication,” Cohen said. “[It’s] really who’s doing what, when. I think that’s always going to be an issue, though, just that transition to who’s actually in charge and communicating that. Another [challenge] would be written documentation being passed over.”
Kavanaugh agreed communication, whether it’s before or after a new leader comes in, is a big challenge. However, she said preparing and having those discussions beforehand are ways to avoid difficulties.
“Self-reflection is going to really be the best way to see how to further your position because sometimes people fall in that trap where you’re just giving them the same stuff the person before you gave them,” Kavanaugh said. “Passing on a binder isn’t going to be effective because they’re not going to be able to learn from things you did well or things you didn’t, so transitions are always something that pretty much everyone struggles with.”
Kavanaugh said students are guilty of not thinking about who will succeed them and how they will continue their organization’s goals.
“Another thing we do is we have sit down meetings, one-on-one meetings where [exec members] go through the mistakes they made, issues they had and really discuss those,” Cohen said.
Kavanaugh said it is essential to show incoming leaders the everyday processes involved in coordinating the organization.
“At least for me specifically, once I got someone new I put her under my wing because with bigger roles it’s going to take a lot to adjust, and so I’ve been [doing] my best to show her the ropes and, come time for actual transitions, not just giving her a binder, but having an actual conversation and things like that,” Kavanaugh said.
Leadership checklist
– Schedule a face-to-face meeting with new executive members
– Discuss previous struggles and successes.
– Discuss goals for the next year.
– Discuss financials and how to handle them properly.
– Prepare a fact sheet for new exec.
– Introduce them to the organization adviser.
– Provide passwords and usernames for all organization social media accounts.
– Clue them in on what the Student Activities Budget Review Committee is and how to apply for funding.
– Remind them to renew the organization at the end of the academic year.
– Show them where the Student Activities Office is.
