The Student Leader Blog

Reaping the Benefits of Selflessness

When I got to college at the age of 25 I hadn’t been involved in my community much and wasn’t very interested in joining the clubs around campus. Getting acclimated to the notes, homework and test thing after a 5 year break was about all I could handle. A work study job at our info. desk finally got me involved and gave me a genuine interest in my campus. Showing up and doing the best job I could impressed a few key people, who eventually offered me the opportunity to serve as the Club Coordinator at Front Range Community College. I went from minimal involvement to a leadership role in two semesters.

About three weeks after getting this job - in a system I was fairly unfamiliar with mind you - my boss left...he was there on Wednesday and  was gone on Thursday...AHHHHH! I was greener than baby poo and still wondering exactly what my job was about. The director of student life, my former bosses boss, was put into survival mode (her words) after losing another full-time faculty member, putting more responsibility on me and another student worker while interviews were conducted and student life went on…for a full semester.

I've finally been able to slow down and do a bit of retrospection and have realized the power of keeping a service-minded attitude. It’s been the most effective tool I’ve used to stay focused, learn in a high stress environment, and keep myself sane! My purpose as club coordinator is to help students learn outside of the class room, help take some of the stress off of my superiors, co-workers and fellow students, and have fun, an attitude which allows me to take things less personally and consider issues with a clearer head. Remaining pointed in this direction has sometimes pulled me in different directions. Armed with the intention of finding a level ground (not necessarily that which I’d prefer to stand on), an “us versus them” mentality hasn’t existed much, which could easily have been the case considering the stress and confusion of last semester. It has been hard finding the balance between wanting people to like me and doing what my superiors expect of me, and it would be easy to pat myself on the back, but I feel I’d be taking ownership for the accomplishments of others. I have gotten a lot of help during the last 7 months, and I've learned a ton. My superiors, co-workers and fellow students teach me and enrich my life. Without their help, and having a higher purpose than just getting paid, I couldn’t be where I am today.

The Bureaucratic Beast of Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy. Not only is it hard to spell, but it is hard to stomach too. Forgive me as I air my frustrations a bit and seek your advice. Here's what I'd love to know: are all colleges stricken with this crippling disease?
Are all companies with over 15 employees  bound to catch it? And what happens to seemingly human individuals when they become entangled in it?

If you have answers to these questions, then by all means, let me in on them, but since I haven't gotten any information yet, then let me turn to the only positive side of this that I can see: coping mechanisms.

As a student leader, I've learned about more forms and discovered more scattered offices than I had imagined in my wildest nightmares. I've never looked the Beast in the face (because no on knows for sure whether it has a face), but I have seen its footprints and smelled its fowl breath. And here is what I've learned:

• It's often (though not always) futile to try to battle bureaucracy: figure out when the fight isn't worth it and come up with some work arounds.
• Make copies of EVERYTHING because that one form that you're sure everything will be just fine with WILL get lost.
• Date EVERYTHING, for the Beast thrives on chaos and confusion.
• Make friends in low places (in a bureaucracy there are no high places). Go out of your way to learn people's names and start conversations, and if you find someone you get along with, hold on to that connection like you're holding on for dear life.
• Keep a directory for your team members of all offices and samples of all forms to avoid going to the wrong place and filling something out incorrectly. It's worth it.
• Get as much as you possibly can in writing for the Beast devours memories of the spoken word.
• When you're at your rope's end, chillax and start skipping the rope. There's only so much you can do, and only so much stress it's worth experiencing. Don't take it too seriously (because laughter is the Beast's biggest fear) and don't be afraid to get creative and have some fun with your tactics. That's right. I said chillax.
  

Now get this blog post signed by 6 people in order of their weight, make 3 copies, rewrite one original, and fax it to me between 12:30PM and 12:32PM on July 29th. Okay, ready, set, go!

When to call it a day (and when not to).

Let's face it. There are times when leading your organization suddenly doesn't seem like such a great idea. Some symptoms include:

• dreading showing up to meetings/events/etc.
• having panic-inducing dreams about your organization.
• compulsively faking sick.
• suddenly realizing that you can't speak without whining.
• guilt is your main source of energy.

As nice as moving to Thailand may seem at times like these, a more reasonable approach may be to figure out what's really bothering you.

Spend a little time away from your group, try explaining the problem to a neutral party, and write about it nonstop until your head feels empty. Make a list of what excites you and energizes you most in your organization and what frustrates you and sucks out your energy. Figure out where most of your time is being spent.

Sometimes having numerous sources of frustration leads our brains to turn the entire situation into one mish-mosh of badness. Taking the time to break your feelings down into manageable units makes it easier to pinpoint the real problem and deal with it. In many cases, the desire to quit is simply an indication that you are overwhelmed and need to share your responsibilities. Often it is a lack of organization or structure.

But there are times, of course, when quitting really is the best option for you and your group. So if your "pros" pale in comparison to your two-page "cons" list, if you're frustrating yourself and your team, and if the idea of quitting feels like a pillow being lifted off your face, then by all means, just do it. It's usually not as hard as we imagine to train a replacement. No, you do not need to clone yourself.

Organizational flaws and a bitter shortage of Milkshake Moments.

In his lovely new book The Milkshake Moment: Overcoming Stupid Systems, Pointless Policies and Muddled Management to Realize Real Growth, business growth consultant Steven Little manages to put his finger right on the weak pulse of my college's problems.

He describes a strange little experiment he's been conducting unofficially at numerous hotels in which he calls room service and asks for a milkshake (his favorite thing of all things) even though it's not on the menu. Almost invariably he is met with a worried and hurried, "Sorry, sir, we don't have milkshakes." At this point the dialog goes like this:

"Do you have ice cream?"
"Yes."
"Okay, do you have milk?"
"Yes."
"Then please bring me a bowl of ice cream, half a glass of milk, and a long spoon."

Once the ingredients arrive, he makes his own milkshake and wonders what makes organizations restrict their members so much that creative problem solving is pretty much stifled.

At Hunter College, bureaucracy is the rule of the land, even though no one can quite figure out what the rules are. Limited power for each member of this thick web leads to crankiness and a zombie-like state of apathy, and dumb policies lead to chaos and frustration.

Little's lesson? Don't be afraid to challenge the beast. Question stupid policies and demand explanations. And within the organizations that you run: beware that growth often leads to more and more rule making and structuring. Make sure the rules you have make sense and that they serve to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each member. And have milkshakes whenever you can.

A lot of them.