Leadership and Team Building
Good Leadership skills are crucial for growth within a yearbook or newspaper staff. Effective leadership is to lead people within the staff whether you're an editor or a second year staffer by being a good example and showing others what it means to be a true team player. Sometimes being a good leader isn't about telling people what to do it's about stepping up to the plate and taking on responsibility to lead as a good example and inspire others to do the same.
I try to lead others by not just telling them what to do but being a good example. I try not to harp on people and give them the benefit of the doubt always. I try to use good communication skills and organizational skills within the editors to hopefully rub off on the staff. I push the staff for getting things done well and not just done in turned in. I speak passionately and calmly while teaching about captions and small things I've noticed we need to improve upon after a deadline.
Leading a group of people my age and older was intimidating to me at first, but it's important to be a confident and strong leader and who is always patient and ready to help. The first lesson I taught during a summer workshop for the 2018-2019 yearbook staff was how to write captions. At first I was nervous but throughout this year I have really grown comfortable teaching the staff.
The Editors and I always try our best to leave all of our stress out of the room and not seem stressed in front of staffers. If we come off really stressed it can worry the staffers. It's also important to practice the same skills your trying to teach to them. You have to also make sure your stuff gets done in a timely manner so that they can look to you as an example and not think it's okay to not be organized and not to meet deadlines.
Before journalism I was never felt completely comfortable being in a leadership role and public speaking was one of my biggest fears. Journalism helped me become more comfortable accepting leadership roles and speaking publicly. Through journalism I learned that teaching and leading others is actually something I'm really passionate about.
The Hot Dog (and Banana) Suit:
Sometimes the first step to good team building is making sure everyone is comfortable around you. The first picture is from our yearbooks summer workshop. Its a workshop for new staffers to learn about yearbook and meet the editors and second year staffers. Everyone was pretty uncomfortable with each other. The hot dog suit always gives people a good laugh. I always found personally as a former shy kid that if there is someone who puts themselves out there in a goofy way right off the bat of first meeting its easier to open up and become acquainted, so I tried to become that person for other people. I've not only worn it while first meeting staffers, playing games, my press pass, I've also worn it on public staff get togethers. I think its important to goof off sometimes in an environment that can be high stress. Deadlines can get to anyone but when if I take a step back and take a minute to goof off and play games with staffers it can distract from the stress just for a minute so everyone can just pause and have fun.
Elite Weekend:
The Editors and I took a trip to Dallas Texas for a weekend to go to Walsworths Elite Weekend. We went to better ourselves as editors, designers, writers, and photo journalists. I learned a lot at the workshop that I was able to go back and teach the staffers about when we got back. I also learned a lot about the other editors which bettered our relationships and helped us work on more things together. I think its important to improve on yourself and your skills especially when your in a leadership role. Everyone always has room for improvement.
Positivity:
We have a yearbook group chat with all the staffers in it. I send out encouragement if I can tell that someones getting discouraged or just send out something positive after a deadline. I think its important to reassure people that what they are doing is worth it and its good work.
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