Outside of getting them in a classroom and teaching them directly, how do we develop our students into effective leaders?  One of the easiest ways to do this is to take the students on our campus who are already in leadership positions and develop their leadership potential.  I find that this is where Sanford’s challenge and support theory comes in handy.  Then the question becomes how much do we challenge our students and how much do we support them?  When is it okay to let them fall flat on their faces and when do we need to step in and take over for them?  What is the balance between these two polar opposites?  I would like to spend this next blog exploring these questions and others.

 

How do we get them in leadership positions in the first place?

Often we as professionals see leadership potential in our students and struggle with how to tap into that potential and get them into those key leadership positions.  Each student is different in how you should approach them about taking on leadership roles.  Many students will take the initiative on their own to pursue leadership positions on campus.  Others however, need a little push.  I have found that with some students all it takes is simply mentioning some of the leadership opportunities available.  These students will usually take this and run with it.  Often these may be the students who did not know about the opportunities or just needed a small amount of support from an external force to push them to pursue leadership opportunities.  Many students on the other hand need a lot more support than just a mere mention.  I have found that some of my students need me to directly tell them that they should pursue a position because I think they would be successful at it.  Then I have to stay on them repeatedly reminding them and reassuring them that they can successfully fill that position.  The problem with this is that the student can mistakenly think that simply because I told them they should pursue a position they will automatically be placed in that position.  This is where you have to find balance between supporting a particular student in his or her endeavors and making sure they understand that just because you encourage them to pursue a position or opportunity does not ensure they will be granted that opportunity.  I try to make sure that when I encourage a student to pursue a leadership opportunity I remind them that my support does not ensure their placement in that opportunity. 

 

I have found that many of my students don’t pursue an opportunity simply because they have a fear of rejection.  When students tell me this, I use these opportunities as teachable moments.  We all know that our students are going to have to face rejection at some point or another in the future.  Whether it be when they start applying for jobs after college or in their personal life, at some point they are going to be told no.  It is part of our job as educators in the field of higher education to prepare our students for this rejection.  This is when we can step in and challenge them to stick their necks out there a little.  I find myself often telling these students that the worst thing that can happen is they’ll be told no.  Then they’re no worse off than they were before they pursued the leadership opportunity.  I try to be honest with my students about the fact that they are guaranteed nothing in life and life will be a lot easier if they learn to handle rejection sooner than later.

 

Once they’re in place what do we do with them?

Once we’ve gotten our students with leadership potential into those leadership roles that we knew they could learn and grow from what do we do to develop that leadership potential?  I have learned from experience that you can challenge a student too much and cause a huge blow-up at an inopportune moment.  I had a student a few years ago who I knew had great leadership potential and was going to be a great leader.  I often pushed her to think outside of herself and her social circle.  I was constantly challenging her and asking her questions with the simple intention of trying to help her see the bigger picture.  Unfortunately, I did this a little too much and in the middle of an event she broke down and tried to start a yelling match between the two of us in front of her committee.  I quickly realized that I had been pushing her way too hard.  While I knew that she had amazing leadership potential and was going to be a great leader, I was trying to get that leader out of her way to quickly and before she was ready.  Two years later she graduated one of the finest leaders at our university and ended up being one of the best students I ever worked with.  Had I not realized (with the help of my supervisor) that I was pushing her too hard to quickly she could have shut down completely and things could have turned out very differently.

 

On the other hand, we cannot provide too much support for our students causing them to get lazy and too comfortable either.  My first year as a new professional I learned this lesson the hard way.  I had a committee chair who often did things the easy way.  Because I was new to the field and the university I was afraid to push her too much because I wasn’t yet sure of the campus culture and I didn’t want to upset the pot my first semester at work.  This committee quickly went downhill however.  The events weren’t well attended and the committee became non-existent.  By the time I realized that simply supporting this student’s ideas and endeavors wasn’t enough, it was too late to save the committee for that year.  I have spent the last couple of years working with the new committee coordinator trying to rebuild the committee and its programs.  Due to my lack of challenging one student coordinator for a semester the committee suffered a huge hit and has taken twice as long to recover.

 

Finding Balance

How do we find the balance between challenging and supporting our students?  We don’t want to push our students so hard that they simply shut down but we don’t want to support them so much that they don’t try to do better either.  I have found that posing simple questions that plant seeds into their minds helps a lot.  One, you are not telling the student directly that what they’re doing is right or wrong.  Two, once they ponder the question for a little while they’ll most likely come up with an answer similar to what you would have suggested but because they’ve come up with it on their own and it’s their idea they’ll be more accepting of it.  The key is to pose the question so that you have a slight push in the right direction.  Questions like: Do you think you should check with the rest of your committee about this first?  Have you considered A, B, and C?  What if you did such and such instead?  These questions are non-threatening but challenging.  Each student is going to respond differently, and the key is to learn what works with your students and tailor your style to them. 

 

It is often hard to find out what does and doesn’t work with our students.  Some students need and like more challenge than others.  Some students need a lot more support in the beginning until they get comfortable with their leadership role.  It is up to us as professionals to get to know our students and learn what’s going to work best for them.  Each student is going to be different; it’s simply a matter of us adjusting our advising/supervising style to be most beneficial for our students.

 

Angel