I Lead, the first of four in a series of interactive leadership workshops, starts Tuesday.
All four leadership sessions will be available on-demand to any student organization at VandalSync. The workshop will focus on core values, said student engagement coordinator Lynsie Clott.
“Your core values are one of the key foundations to your leadership growth,” Clott said.
The Department of Student Involvement will hold the workshops to develop students’ personal leadership skills. Clott said they identified personal rather than interpersonal or societal leadership as the most important.
“You’ll always be working with others, but it starts with you first,” Clott said.
The department is offering the opportunity to win a free giveaway at the end of the semester if a student completes all four workshops. Clott, who has about six years of experience teaching leadership skills, said she will teach the second and fourth workshop while Assistant Director of Student Involvement Katie Dahlinger will teach the first and third. Clott said the three workshops will be held Feb. 28, Mar. 28 and Apr. 25 to focus on identifying strengths, conflict styles and overall leadership style, respectively.
“Leadership isn’t something we’re trying to change you into, there’s not like a typical type or characteristic that’s the best leadership style,” Clott said.
She said she hopes to expand the workshops next semester to include another series on group leadership, tentatively called Vandals Lead. She said the two series would run concurrently. Clott said a community leadership series may eventually be available as well. Ultimately, all workshops would be student-run, she said. Clott said when a person develops all three, they can create change.
“It’s like dropping a little pebble into water and it ripples out from there,” she said.
I Lead will replace Lunches With Leaders, which had low attendance fall semester, Clott said. She said while Lunches with Leaders may come back, the department is focusing on I Lead. She said the program may or may not continue depending on students’ responses through the semester.
“We’d love that feedback, because then we can tailor our programs to their leadership development,” she said.
She said a survey available on VandalSync in March will also impact their future programming.
Clott said this is part of the department making leadership accessible.
The purpose of the workshops is for students to develop their dominant style, but also versatility when in homogeneous groups.
“The most successful groups have somebody from all those different four typologies,” she said.
Clott said everyone is a leader, regardless of title or position. She said those with extensive experience in leadership positions should also seek further development.
“Sometimes some students think ‘Well I am already president of two clubs so why would I need leadership development?’” she said.
Skills learned in the workshops could be applied every day, she said. She said students should consistently refer to their core values, the foundation for leading when making decisions.
“We’re really trying to promote integrity and ethical leadership,” she said.
Nina Rydalch can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NinaRobin7