The Student Leader Blog

Top Down vs Bottom Up: two very different approaches to organizational structure.

So there's the classical boss that kind of looks like this:

And then there's the new agey-listen-to-your-feelings boss that looks sort of like this:

Well, not quite, but I though it was a funny comparison.
Boss #1 is probably a managing "top down" believer, whereas boss #2 is most likely into "bottom up" or team-based philosophy. In a nutshell, #1 is a centralized leadership style in which all orders come from the "top," and #2 involves all the players and comes up with ideas together. In this age of Wiki, style #1 has a pretty bad rep, but I think there are pros and cons on both sides. #1 gets things done quickly but leaves out others and often overlooks great new ideas, whereas #2 functions like a true team but often gets stuck in the discussion stage. I haven't done the research but my feeling is that being too far to either extreme causes some pretty major team member dissatisfaction. People need strong, dependable leadership and they need their voices to be heard too... is that too much to ask?

In terms of student organization, I'm a firm believer that organizations should be primarily bottom-up. The main point is not to make money or attract investors; the point here is to create an amazing experience for the team and give everyone leadership opportunities (i.e. a voice). However, I do think that a good dose of top down is needed on occasion. To work this in, it's important to ascertain from the beginning who has what role and responsibility. Who is responsible for keeping conversations on track? Making sure deadlines are met? Complying with college rules? As long as this is clear, ruling with a firm hand every once in a while usually works out well.

And in conclusion, here is just one more illustration of this topic:

In with the new, in with the old: remembering to re-recruit current team members.

It's important to put loads of resources into recruiting new members and making their transition into your organization as smooth and enjoyable as possible, but very often this happens at the expense of paying attention to current members.

"No one ever threw a welcome party for meeee," someone may grumble, and if they do, then the deeper issue is probably a feeling of being unappreciated. As I mentioned in a previous post, one solution may be giving random, unexpected praise and rewards.

Another may be to get members more involved in doing things they really care about and can excel in, then giving them the opportunity to discuss their contributions and get feedback from the group. Try to keep visible records of people's progress (think Reach for the Stars charts, but perhaps more age appropriate) and celebrate milestones such as getting X amount at a fund raiser or getting Y number of attendees at an event. Not only can this be motivational, but it will show your members that you acknowledge their importance.

And lastly, make sure to get everyone involved in the recruitment and initiation process. Growing and/or developing the organization should be everyone's responsibility and always a cause for celebration.

Jott: A personal secretary for your organization.

My new favorite toy is Jott.com. In case you're not familiar with it, it's a web tool that functions like a digital personal secretary. You can call it in the middle of the night (or while running from one class to another) and tell it to add an event to your calendar, an item to your to do list, an update to your twitter, or a reminder. It transcribes the message and sends to your group, yourself, or anywhere your busy heart desires. Jott has been saving me tons of time and sticky notes, and it's really fun pretending to have a secretary.

P.S. If you don't get the photo reference, ask Wikipedia about it.

New Non Profit Helps Students Pay Back Loans for Service

My name is Jonathon Lunardi and I am the director of a new non profit called Charity for Debt. I am 29 years old and have always been involved helping student communities from my time running the Sooner Information Network at OU to building tools for Student Government’s across the nation. Recently, a buddy of mine and I came up with an innovative non profit model that we hope will also help students, Charity for Debt.

Charity for Debt is simple, we pay you $20/hour to work for a charity / non profit in your local community. Sounds great right? You get to help a worthy cause by volunteering and get paid, but there is one catch, we don’t pay you directly so you can buy movies and itunes, we help protect your financial future by paying off your student loan. So, you give charity, for debt paid off. Student loan debt can be a major cause of financial debt and can hurt your potential to purchase investments, houses, or wedding rings in the future. Paying off the principal loan debt with money from Charity for Debt can save you thousands of dollars of interest, plus you get to feel good about what you are doing instead of flipping burgers on the side.

If you are interested in this opportunity, Charity for Debt is taking applications for the first pilot program. We have already raised $8,000 of the $10,000 needed to begin. So, log on (http://www.charityfordebt.org) and add your application today, it only takes a second. It doesn’t matter where you live as long as it is in the U.S. and you can be a current student or recent grad, as long as you have over $5,000 in student loan debt.

Sign up and help us spread the word! The more applications we have submitted, the easier it is for us to raise awareness and ultimately money to pay off student loan debt!

To view the website, visit us at: http://www.charityfordebt.org

Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25714165653

Mosio, Mosio, wherefore art thou so wonderful?

I've just discovered this thing called Mosio, and I'm very excited about it. It's a web 2.0 tool for getting answers to any question from real people who are part of the Mosio community. All you have to do in turn is answer some question from others when you have time.
So (A) This is just cool in and of itself and
(B) it is particularly cool for student orientation.

I'm thinking you can build a Mosio sub-community consisting of new students (and maybe toss in some student mentors), and you get a free 24/7 support system just a text message away. Drop the student government into the mix, and you get a truly connected bunch of people, text messaging bills notwithstanding.

What do you think?

(Sorry for the terribly cliche stock photo, by the way. In the marketing world, they're supposed to represent the hip, connected "youth" that texts one another even when they're in the same room. Come on now. I only do that sometimes.)

The unexpected effects of unexpected praise

Okay, so first and foremost, I want to apologize for my blogging slothfulness lately. I've had a crazy two weeks, but things have balanced out once more, so I'm officially back in action.

One of the things that has been keeping me from blogging is the research I've been doing in the area of Flow State. A LOT of it applies to student leadership, but the first thing that jumped out at me is the data showing that unexpected positive praise or results lead to enhanced performance, motivation, enjoyment, and concentration. All pretty cool stuff to enhance, if you ask me.

So what does this mean for us? It means that an unanticipated thank you note, present, or surprise member appreciation bash will probably be a much better morale booster than an officially announced recognition ceremony. It also means that if we want to get the most out of this psychological effect, we should work our "unexpected praise" into our everyday routines rather than treating rewards and recognition as a separate category.

Oh, and by the way, you guys are really amazing readers and commenters. I really feel like we have the beginings of a supportive and inspiring community here :)

The Twitter Potential for Student Clubs

So thanks to Andy Drish, I have been a member of the Twitter community since March 30th, and ever since I joined, I've been trying to figure out how I can use it.

In case you're not familiar with Twitter.com, it's a social networking website whose users try to answer the question "What are you doing" in 140 characters or less. You then get to follow other users' updates and share your own.

I've already reaped some of Twitter's expected benefits like finding out that a friend of mine would be in New Jersey just as I was going there by following her updates and finding people who have similar interests to mine. But that's not necessarily unique to Twitter.

Since Twitter is really ideal for quickie updates, I've just realized that I can use this with my club members without having to do all the usual "Dear X, Sincerely Tania" mumbo jumbo. The Twitter format encourages short, fun to read, and frequent updates, which is perfect for staying connected with both frequent and occasional club members.

And here I was thinking that telegrams were old school. Twitter, I like you.

follow TaniaDudina at http://twitter.com