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I want to share what I have been able to experience over the last several weeks as I have been a part of the Orientation Council here at Belmont University. I shared last time that I have had the opportunity to grab a hold of a whole new understanding of leadership, and furthermore, a whole new vision for my life. I believe that over the last year, but more specifically the last few weeks, I have had the privilege of walking through life in an authentic community of 25 other people. This vision has started to change my life, and the way I interact with others, but most importantly, it has changed the way I believe we, as people, should lead.
I know that many people who read this are most likely in a leadership position in some way, shape, or form... but if not, I trust that we all will experience leadership somewhere, somehow. For some, it may be on a project at school.... or at work... but a lot of us will get a chance to lead in our family, in our friends and around our communities. I think this new vision will have an impact on the way you are able to lead. I want to share that vision with you.
TEAM-MINDED
Our schedule this summer was pretty tight, and I mean pretty tight. we were usually up by 5:30, in order to be in the office by 6:15-6:30 every day, and would be lucky if we were in bed before 10:30 on some nights. Between these hours, we were filled with breakouts, sessions, speaking on stages, holding the doors, saying hello to distressed parents while pointing them in the right direction, as well as cramming in a few meals. For us, Time was always on the go. Time was precious. Time was in no way on our side, and as we learned quickly into the process... Time flew by us!
With so little time, a lot of people would say that in order to achieve excellence and fulfill the hope of creating an incredible orientation program, that we are always focused on the next event so that it is as smooth as the current event. This is where I step in to say that the new "vision" is a little bit different than the status quo.
You see... for our team [the 4 OC members, our intern, and our advisor] we had a choice to make, every minute of the day...... Choose to invest in our team, or take care of our time. In moments when time is not readily available to us, we always had to choose whether to invest and take time to care for them... or take the time available to make sure that everything was in order for the next event. I will share with you that our choice, 99.9% of the time was our team. I can't say 100% because I simply can't gaurentee that we always made that choice, but everytime the choice was given, we chose our team.
Your team is the most important people in your organization, because if you didn't have a team, most likely you wouldn't have an organization. Your team members are the people who actually carry out your mission and vision. They are the hands and feet normally and people in leadership roles know that the team is the people who normally do most of the work, but rarely get enough credit.
That is exactly why in every situation, we took the opportunity to be present with our team. We knew that if we invested in our team, they would feel more connected, more involved, and more appreciated for the role that they played. I will not lie... it was a tough thing to do a lot of the time. We knew we had a very qualified and competent group of leaders with us this summer, but we still knew that the program would have more of an impact on our leaders if we chose to be present and available for our leaders, rather than their "boss."
You see, no one want a boss really. The connotation with that word has too much negativity attached with it. A boss assigns tasks, stays a bit distant in his/her office a lot of time. A boss is focused on efficiency and not maximizing the potential of their employees. A boss is often times focused on the end task of making good reviews, or increasing the profits. What people prefer is a friend. A friend cares for you for who you are and not what you do. They do not wish for you to perform, but rather to be genuine in all interactions with others. A friend loves first, and worries about tasks second. A friend wants you to be successful wherever you are, rather than focusing on numbers and increasing revenues. We chose friend.
In the end, we may have missed some small details in a program that could have allowed it to run a bit smoother... flow a bit more evenly and in the end, we may have had a few more "I strongly Agree's" in our ending survey to all parents and students. But we were incredibly pleased with our results. Our team, spent over 3 hours saying their final goodbyes. The words that were shared among all our leaders were so uplifting that after 3 or 4 hours of tears, we were exhausted of crying. Our comments and thoughts for one another were authentic. They meant something to each other, and we really didnt need one or two more "Strongly Agree's."
We had the highest approval ratings in the programs history. Not because we were better leaders than the other, I assure you that is not the case. And it wasnt because our events were perfect either, because again, they were not. I really believe that it was directly related to the fact that our team had the opportunity to care and love on new students because they felt very cared and loved by from each of us. WE invest in our team. THEY invest in the students. That was our plan... and it worked.
In the end... we understood that our team was the most important part of our organization.
Our team mattered.
YOUR team matters.
Become Team-Minded.
Luke
