How should leaders be selected?

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

I'm interested in both the how and the why but more why than how.

Perhaps the first question you should ask is what do you use your student leaders for? Do they schedule and run meetings? Do they drive your robot design? Do they do the paperwork for FIRST (I hope not, TIMS has to be used by a non-student!)? Is it so they have something good to put on their college applications? Do they track your finances?

I think these answers vary from team to team. I think it is obvious that what your leaders are responsible for should have a huge impact on how they are selected.

Anecdotally, 1276 had no elected/titled student leaders period. Obviously returning students got a lot more responsibility, but there were no formal titles or defined roles. Most (all?) of the paperwork has handled by NEMs, and everyone was expected to pitch in at fundraising, outreach, etc. During build, we gathered around a big whiteboard with the to-do list, and everyone (mentors & students) got assigned a task. If you finished it, you found Keith and got a new one. Obviously the task was selected with the individual(s) in mind. It worked, really, really well.

You don't get to elect your boss, and good leadership does not mean you are extremely popular all of the time.

When it comes to parent politics, Ed Law really did a great job in this thread.