Leadership Library

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Stack of books

THE LEADERSHIP LIBRARY

The Leadership Library is a page with tools related to leadership development skills for anyone within the UVA community to download and utilize within their classes, student organizations, or for their own personal growth. Email us at [email protected] if there are topics you would like to see that are not currently featured. Or if you have a resource that your group is proud of, add your group's logo to give yourselves credit, send it our way, and we'll upload it there so that other students can also use what you created!

Budgeting For Your Student Org 101

Creating a budget is an important part of your organization's planning process. A well crafted budget can help you achieve your organization's goals and should reflect your organization's mission/values. Use the following to develop your organization's budget for the upcoming year

Questions to Consider:

What are my organizations goal's?
Does your spending align with your orgs values? What are our income sources?
Reflect on last year's budget: Where did you lose money? What was successful?

Do Your Research

Obtain quotes on potential costs- do not always overestimate. Shop around for quotes in order to secure the best deal and stretch your dollars even further.

Provide Monthly Budget Updates

Build in monthly budget updates into your meeting to ensure that you are staying on track with your spending and hold each other accountable.

General Tips:

  1. Don't be afraid to ask for current discounts or specials or check for free services.
  2. Collaborate with other orgs.
  3. When printing banners, t-shirts, or other materials, DON'T include a date so that you can reuse items again for future events
  4. Look for coupons when purchasing things online
  5. Plan events in advance so that you can shop for the best deals

Leading Effective Meetings

1. Never Set a Regular Schedule.

Times like 5:52pm stick out far more than a 6pm meeting time and makes for a fun chatting point as the meeting begins. This also gives participants something fun to look forward to.

2. Start Chill

A small ice breaker is always a great way to welcome everyone and give them (and yourself) a chance to decompress for a moment before diving into the work. Ex: Highs and Lows of the week, Hashtag of the week, What's the tea?

3. Publish Your Agenda

People tend to pay more attention to what is happening when they know what to expect. If they see what is planned before it begins, they know what to expect and can be more fully present in the moment vs anticipating what's to come.

4. Create Accountability

Don't be afraid to assign tasks. Let participants know what they are responsible for as it is applicable. The leader for the meeting does not have to lead each topic. Feel free to assign items to those that are on the committee or subgroup for a particular program or event.

Motivating Your Members

Top 10 Tips for "Motivating the Middle"

  1. Come up with 5 basic criteria you must do to be a member
  2. Be willing to let members go who cannot adhere to the 5 criteria – be kind and compassionate when having conversations with these individuals
  3. Help “top third” understand why you have different expectations for different “thirds”
  4. Ask your members’ opinions often
    One great question to ask: “What’s one thing you think we could be doing that we aren’t that would make this group stronger
    Slow down on making decisions – ask for opinions before moving forward too quickly
  5. Don’t mandate events
  6. Ask for help from members on one specific, limited-time task
  7. Start and end meetings on time. Keep meetings engaging too! (Icebreakers, new strategies, etc.)
  8. Be intentional about having one-on-one time with your members. Get to know them, their strengths, and any concerns they have about the organization
  9. Encourage your “middle third” members to lead something that matches their strengths or that you think they will enjoy
  10. Invite significant others/family members/friends to events
  11. Minimize conflict in your group to the greatest extent possible (but don’t avoid it)
  12. Thank your members for helping, volunteering, engaging, etc. - Saying thank you often shows that you are appreciative to have them on your team!