5 Tips for Working with Busy Student Leaders

Leading a busy team is not always an easy task, and I’m telling you that as someone who has been leading a busy team with busy students. 

My name is Bea, I’m an AMP alumni and I’ve been a student coordinator on AMP over the past 6 months, as well as a mentor for a network of 2000+ students in Brazil, so when I tell you that I know what I’m talking about from experience, I’m telling you the truth.

High school’s a time where we want to embrace the world all at once (I know, I’ve been in your shoes for a long time),we want to join many projects, start our own, change the world… and all that before breakfast.

So, being part of a team, helping and working with other people who are also involved in other projects can be a challenge for everyone, leaders and participants. Because, like I said, we want to do it all, and make sure we’re doing it right.

So, here are my 5 tips on how to work with busy student leaders:

1. Clear communication

Having a group chat with your team can be really helpful to send useful information and resources, to keep on track, to remind people of deadlines, and for other team members to interact with each other.

2. Document things

It’s important to have things documented, so they’re easier to find if needed in the future. Documents that note what was done each week, a shared drive so team members can collaborate on tasks, tracking sheets to make sure tasks are being delivered on time, and so on.

3. Motivation and Belonging

It’s important for people to feel like they’re part of something, so if you’re leading a team make sure that everyone feels like they belong! Giving constructive feedback, letting them know that their work is appreciated… all that helps to create a motivational and united environment.

4. Strategically delegate tasks

No one’s good at everything, and some people have their strengths. So use them! Delegating tasks thinking about people’s strengths can make processes much easier, as people don’t need to learn everything from scratch. But, if they do need to learn, make sure to teach them in clear and efficient ways, always highlighting the most important parts and constantly checking in to see if they have any questions.

5. Have deadlines

Having deadlines helps people to be accountable for what they need to hand in. Avoid huge deadlines, even if the deadline is actually in a long time; breaking down that task into shorter deadlines can help you keep things on track and make sure that it’ll be done by the desired date.

6. Bonus

Ask for help when needed! If you’re a leader, or you’re being led, there’s no shame in asking for help, in restructuring, changing the plan or moving things around. We’re all people and we understand how hard some things can be, and asking for help, having a different perspective, can make your work much better!

I know some of these might look simple or obvious, but there’s a saying in Brazil where we say “the simple well done works better than elaborate done half most times”, and that is true. Creating a simple but effective plan can be the solution your team of busy student leaders is waiting for!