Should you push others into leadership positions, even if they might not be ready?

astroAPhi · #1 06-10-2003, 10:03 AM

I'm wondering this because I'm heading into my senior year, and in my organization and others, I wonder who is going to step up to the plate and run things when I'm gone.

I had a huge pledge class, and we initiated a lot of women in the pledge class after mine. We will all be graduating within the next 3 semesters, and seniors make up about 1/3 of my sorority. So it should be no surprise that most of us hold key leadership positions. Elections will be coming up late next semester, but I just started wondering anyway.

I've noticed that there is only one junior on exec, and she's not starting until next semester. She's Treasurer, but I don't know if that really prepares someone for an office like President. The other few juniors that we have were either just initiated, or hold minor officer and committee head positions. We initiated a lot of freshmen this year though, and I can already tell that a lot of them are going to be leaders.

I know of one senior that I feel is capable of being President that will be around that extra semester to be able to hold a President's term. However, I'm wondering how that gap would affect the sorority as a whole. What experiences have you had or what do you think about seniors taking on responsibility and passing it on to someone much younger? Should you just throw them into the fray even though they might not have had experience, or is it better to let the older members take over while the younger ones gain experience and will hopefully be capable when the seniors have to leave?

I'm also wondering about this because my boyfriend sort of in this situation. He's Treasurer and has been VP and Rush Chair, and works his tail off. He will be the oldest member eligible for "officer-ship" next fall. He works the hardest and they're running into problems with dedicated members. The only person with enough experience (and eligible) is very irresponsible, and really screwed up pretty bad recently. He ran for President last time and was quite honestly, glad that he lost because he was afraid of all the responsiblity, even though he was acting President for the last two weeks of his VP term. There's a definite gap in leadership experience in his organization. However, the new alumni have told him he should just let it go, and let the new dedicated guys struggle through. As of right now, he's not even planning on being an officer, not even a minor one. Has anyone been in this situation and can tell me how it turned out? I will support any decision he makes, but I want to give good advice if he asks for it.

33girl · #2 06-10-2003, 10:21 AM

If you change office on the calendar year (which I'm assuming you do since elections are late this semester) I would not worry about it. The juniors will have time to get into the swing of things. Don't ever thrust stuff on people who don't want it.

The time to think about all the leadership being the same age is sophomore year, not senior year - I know sometimes it's unavoidable but it can snowball before you know it.

astroAPhi · #3 06-10-2003, 10:24 AM

That's why I'm worried. When my class was sophomores, we really took on a lot of leadership. Most of the girls who were younger didn't, either because there weren't enough of them, or they didn't want to.

GeekyPenguin · #4 06-10-2003, 10:32 AM

It's a tough situation...for example, the girl in my chapter who just won't graduate wants to be president. I don't think a 6th year senior will make a good president - how can she possibly relate to freshmen? However, I think at some point you do need to take a leadership role - just don't overwhelm them.

SigkapAlumWSU · #5 06-10-2003, 02:32 PM

This happened my freshman year. All the Seniors were in positions of leadership, on exec and all, and there were pretty much no Sophmores of Juniors to speak of. It was pretty much left up to the freshman to take on the leadership roles, and as soon as we figured out that this was going to be the case, a whole lot of my class stepped up to where they were needed. Unfortunately, there is always the chance that an older class won't want to vote younger, inexperiened sisers into positions, even if there is no alternative. This also happened to us, a lot of the seniors balked at having freshman in some positions, but there really wasn't a choice. In the end, it worked out really well, and leadership began to be a heavier focus for the younger members more often. We even had our youngest president last year, a sophmore, but she did a wonderful job, and I count her among the best presidents we've had.

ShaedyKD · #6 06-10-2003, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I don't think a 6th year senior will make a good president - how can she possibly relate to freshmen? However, I think at some point you do need to take a leadership role - just don't overwhelm them.

I agree that younger members should try to take on small leadership roles at first, such as recruitment committees, assisting new member educators, planning philanthropies and fundraisers. This is how they can prepare for bigger roles on exec in your chapter. You just have to eventually trust the newer sisters, that they will carry the chapter into the future. They can do it, they have great role models to look up to!

I don't agree that a 6th year senior would be a bad president, because when you think of it, she has seen 5 or maybe more presidents serve terms. She could improve upon what all of them did. She knows your ritual and traditions. As long as she is enthusiastic and has the time, I think an older member is the perfect president. What could a 22 or 23 year old have in common with freshmen? They are all sisters of course. They share the same ideals, purpose and live by the same motto. When you share ritual with someone, you are closer than friends, you are sisters. Sisters are for life.

AOT to all my sisters in Kappa Delta!

SmartBlondeGPhB · #7 06-10-2003, 03:36 PM

I would say it depends.

Don't push girls into leadership roles if they aren't really sure they want them. They just won't do anything. Our current Scholarship Chair is a good example.

Do push them if they have the energy, but maybe just not the experience. As has been said, start them out slow and build them up.

Besides, you never know how great they could be if their forced to.

GeekyPenguin · #8 06-10-2003, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by ShaedyKD
I agree that younger members should try to take on small leadership roles at first, such as recruitment committees, assisting new member educators, planning philanthropies and fundraisers. This is how they can prepare for bigger roles on exec in your chapter. You just have to eventually trust the newer sisters, that they will carry the chapter into the future. They can do it, they have great role models to look up to!

I don't agree that a 6th year senior would be a bad president, because when you think of it, she has seen 5 or maybe more presidents serve terms. She could improve upon what all of them did. She knows your ritual and traditions. As long as she is enthusiastic and has the time, I think an older member is the perfect president. What could a 22 or 23 year old have in common with freshmen? They are all sisters of course. They share the same ideals, purpose and live by the same motto. When you share ritual with someone, you are closer than friends, you are sisters. Sisters are for life.

AOT to all my sisters in Kappa Delta!

A 6th year senior is also very rooted in tradition. If the chapter votes to change a policy, she will be a lot more upset. We recently changed our scholarship requirements, and some of the older sisters were very upset because they wouldn't have received a bid under those requirements. We also have hideous coats, which we voted to get rid of. An older member, the same one I spoke of, threw a fit, saying that our coats were "tradition" and changing them was an insult. We'd only had them 8 years, and nobody ever really liked them.

I do agree that older brothers/sisters CAN make good leaders, if they are willing to realize things change. Our SigEp chaper is having issues as more of the founding fathers graduate and are unhappy with the chapter changes. The same thing happened in our chapter, and led to a lot of girls DA'ing several years ago because of changes in our new member program. Change happens in a GLO, and sometimes people who have been there too long won't accept it.

33girl · #9 06-10-2003, 04:13 PM

On the other side of that coin, sometimes older members can say "well we had our formal at Poopy Gardens, and it just didn't work out" and prevent the young chapter who is all high on Poopy Gardens from making a costly mistake.

I think that traditions are pushed to the wayside too quickly nowadays, with "positive change" as a buzzword. Sometimes changes are positive, sometimes they are not and they are changes just for the sake of change. I didn't like when we changed our coats either

but considering half the campus was doing the same thing, I wasn't about to throw a fit. If they wanted to keep white coats clean it was fine by me.

I just hate to see older members relegated to the sidelines - we had a sister who took 5+ years to graduate because of financial constraints. She was pledge mom in her 6th year and got along fine with the girls. Plus she was a very important link to the alumnae.

The day of the 4 year student as typical is dead and buried and has been for a while.

astroAPhi · #10 06-10-2003, 04:37 PM

Thanks everyone who has replied so far.

I just wanted to clarify that we would never push someone into a position who didn't want it. That's why girls can turn down a position that they have been slated for.

I'm just worried about putting a girl in a position when she may not be ready for it, even if she really does want it. I don't want to cause any poor girl unnecessary stress, or cause the chapter to have problems!

honeychile · #11 06-10-2003, 04:54 PM

Do your alumnae conduct interviews prior to elections? Ours do. When I was Chapter Advisor, the choices for President were, well, not good. There was a sophmore, however, who we had interviewed for a lesser office and she had her act together all over the place. We asked her to consider running for the presidency, and after thinking it over, she made the run. I'm happy to say that she went on to hold a Panhellenic office, too.

WIthout knowing your chapter personally, it's hard to make a call. Some 5-year seniors make good presidents, while others are simply burned out by then. If you're worried about gaps in responsibility, allow some of the Chairmen to appoint Assistants. That gives some of the ladies a chance to see what would be expected of them in an official position.

I would try to get alumnae feedback as much as possible. They do hear and listen to what the chapter thinks, and who the chapter respects. See what they have to say before making any flash decisions.

Good luck!

SigkapAlumWSU · #12 06-10-2003, 06:34 PM

If you are worried about a younger member really wanting to step forward, but think they might be overwhelmed, make sure that they have experienced members on their comittee to help out. Then that younger member can be nudged in the right direction from people who have been there before. This way they will not only have help, but if they need to, they can delegate some of the responsibility and still be sure things will get done.

UKDaisy · #13 06-10-2003, 07:25 PM

I agree with the "it depends" opinion. However, I took my two littles and a girl I knew would be perfect for a leadership role to our chapter's district convention. Now you have to understand this girl was so anti-sorority! When she joined she was kinda into it but it trailed off. So I take her to districts and wow did it change. She is now our Corresponding Sec. and I know one day will be in an even higher position. My littles and her will be great!

So if you can have something like that to your girls you want to help out, that will help a major asset to help them fall into a leadership position. And hey you never now how they will develop!