My Leadership Experince
What?
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Since summer 2019, I have been working as a Community/Resident Advisor in the residential halls. I worked and lived in three different residential communities. While working in each residential community, I had a team of 16 people with whom I planned and organized weekly events and programs for the students. We had many academic, student success, social and interactive programs with an attendance of about 200 students. In addition to this, my mission as a CA/RA is to create a diverse and inclusive environment in the community. I make sure to get to know my students, their values, and interests and host events that they enjoy. My floor events help students to be successful both academically and personally as I make sure to promote the awareness of available resources on campus. Some of my floor events are: "Discover Your Diverse Personality," "Sex Trivia," "Game Night," "Condoms & Donuts Party," etc. In addition to events and teamwork, I have a duty to report a policy violation. I make sure that every community is not being disturbed and everything is orderly on the floors. In cases when residents are breaking policy, my duty partner and I have to document the policy violation in a confidential manner. If needed, I work with Campus Security or the Hall Director on duty to resolve the policy violations. Finally, being CA/RA means attending the staff meetings to discuss updates and sometimes interviewing a new CA/RA candidate.
So what?
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Being a CA taught me a lot, but mostly I have learned to work with a team and execute successful events. All the CA/RAs are responsible for the particular task during the event, so communicating and cooperating were vital for the success. I have great teammates with different skills and knowledge, so I assigned tasks according to their preferences and strengths during my events. For example, I was primarily responsible for the sports events like Dodgeball and Volleyball as I love sports and understand the organizational aspect of it. So, I work with my team and distribute tasks among the team to efficiently set up and run the event. And when I am unsure or have a question about certain things, I talk to my teammate or supervisor. However, previously we also had an unsuccessful event where we had to do last moment changes because of weather conditions. We forgot to check the weather and were going to host our "Yard Game Night" event outdoors. Unfortunately, it started raining, so we decided a few hours before the event to change it to "Disney and Marvel Trivia Night." We failed to check the weather, but it was a good lesson that everyone learned. While working with a team and executing all of these events, I realized that I had developed a leadership philosophy that resonates with the "Democratic Leadership Style" because making decisions as a team was most efficient for us. For example, deciding what events we want to organize, what supplies we need, how much budget we will use, and how we want to set up the event.
In addition to events, I focus on being a role model and a leader to help students on my floor to be engaged on campus and on the floor. Based on my leadership philosophy, I always include my residents in the decision-making regarding the floor events and floor improvements. I listen to my residents' ideas and preferences and make a decision and changes on the floor. I use the same leadership philosophy with my team as we all participate in the decision-making process. I have learned that when a team or community makes a decision, it helps everyone feel included and appreciated. All opinions and ideas matter, so my leadership philosophy was fundamentally based on the Democratic Leadership style, which benefited me the most in my professional journey.
Now what?
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Down the road, in my professional career, I will keep using the Democratic Leadership style while working on team projects. I love when everyone contributes to the decision-making process. I understand that sometimes it might slow down the decision-making and might not be the best for emergencies. However, based on my experiences, it is best for creative and diversified ideas, a good working environment, and practical solutions.
