Thoughts on student Tech community leadership and development.
In striving to bridge the gap between industry and academia for the upcoming generation, many giants in tech have adopted the concept of creating affiliate student communities within campus settings. The aim is to provide industry-level content, resources, and support for the campus students to interact and learn their technologies such that, all factors being ideal, if the student steps out they have a bit of demonstrable experience with a suite of technologies used in the industry.
I have come to acknowledge that it is a noble thing to aspire to lead such communities. It can be one of the best experiences to learn and grow for any student. Having led now several communities for a short but decent amount of time, I have learned a few nuts and bolts about the management of these communities. And I thought it proper to perhaps document my thoughts and ideas on this subject. Today I will be sharing some distillations of the lessons and things I think are important to know for any upcoming leader of student tech communities.
1. Have a vision for your community: a vision is simply the difference you want to see by the end of your tenure. All initiators of Tech communities like the Google developers’ students club or Aws cloud clubs etc. always come up with general guidelines that define a general vision and approach to all such clubs under its umbrella, meaning it is not campus-specific or context-specific. And thus it becomes your job as the leader of the community to understand the specific problems faced by your community and derive a vision from that. This is what will give direction, for where vision lacks there is no direction. You will know how best to approach the situation around your campus. For instance, in one campus the issue could be there are very few ladies attending events yet in another campus the issue could be that the majority of courses being taken are non-technical and thus the student fraternity might not see a direct correlation with what they are learning. In the two cases, the approaches as you might have guessed will be different. So understand your community and develop a vision. Let your visions be realistic, measurable, and bound within a timeframe. Do not try to solve everything, just do your part
2. Choose a lean core team: by lean I mean a streamlined and effective team that has only the necessary and extremely crucial members needed for the management of the club, you included. It goes without a doubt that no man is an island, so it is absurd to say you will manage the whole community alone but also ensure your supporting team is as close to one as possible. First, determine the most critical roles that are indispensable in the journey to achieving your vision, then carefully handpick individuals qualified and suitable to fill those roles. Having a lean core team allows you to easily manage and monitor activities around the community without overstretching yourself yet still ensuring quality is delivered to the community members. Also, avoid the temptation of picking your friends or acquaintances if they are not qualified this is a lion reared that turns to bite you later.
3. Ensure timely and effective communication: communication is to an organization what the nervous system is to the body. In student communities there are majorly two levels of communication I would define:
I. Communication within the core team
II. Communication to the community at large
As the overall leader it will almost always be that information concerning the community will reach you before anyone else. It is therefore prudent to ensure that it is disseminated in the proper order, in the required time, and to the proper people. This is to mean, ideally, no proposal should be implemented without your core team’s awareness or your awareness. And likewise, ensure that you capitalize on social media to mobilize for your events. Let your members be aware of the schedule of events early enough to allow them proper planning for attendance.
4. Be a team player
Many a time as a leader when you give your instructions or place certain expectations on your team and they fail to meet those expectations time and time again we tend to allow them to retain their positions ceremonially but we do everything that is to be done ourselves. So things might be running but it is a one-man show. I admit, in this, I plead guilty as charged. Though late I came to learn it is better to keep on working and consulting your team members to allow them grow, giving room for mistakes. What you can do is ensure improved monitoring of the tasks assigned and come up with structures that allow frequent feedback. Ideally, let no proposal be implemented without the team battering into it with their thoughts. This will actually make your work easier and whenever you need help you can just ask for it. Create an environment that allows for feedback and growth. As best as you can form a rapport and bond with your team it will help, it is said people go one mile for duty but they’d go the extra mile for relationship.
5. Collaborate.
There is a famous African proverb that says, “If you want to move fast go alone but if you want to move far go with people”
This means if speed is a function of focus then longevity is a matter of collaboration. Your community cannot be a stand-alone Island. You will need to interact with other communities and draw inspiration and ideas from what others might be doing. It also helps you not burn out due to the weight of planning for too many events, weight shared is weight lightened.
6. Be creative
Ensure your team and you find ways to capture the attention of your community. Let creativity permeate through the little details of your community, from the naming of events to the design of posters to the choice of topics to the structure of how your events run. One way or another push the limits of your imagination, do something that might cause a stir in your community of course in a positive and relevant way. Take advantage of societal happenings to let your community know that you are not detached from the outside world.
7. Schedule time for rest and growth
Just like work rest is equally as important. It is in the melding waves of work and rest that productivity is maximized. Ensure that you are not ‘all work and no play’. Schedule time for not only your but also the community’s rest, you cannot be having engagements every time, allow them go out and do other things. If rest is not taken seriously it will result in burnout.
Growth is the other end of the coin. Sometimes as leaders, we tend to focus so much on the community’s growth and lose track of our personal journey of growth. This then becomes very detrimental in our career development. As you lead ensure that you too are growing the requisite skills being taught and learnt. Use your position of advantage to stay ahead of your pack.
Those for me were some of the lessons I picked in the course of my journey of community leadership and development. I hope you can pick a few things and use them as they suit your case.
