Last April, I was asked to take a role as the Treasurer of the Packaging Club. I had never taken a treasurer role before in any academic club. I responded quickly and took the offer. I knew that there would be challenges, especially given the small amount of students we had in the club and the sudden change of several officer plans. However, I am still the Treasurer of the Packaging Club and I have had the opportunity to help younger members improve academically and professionally.
-What?
I was excited to be given a role as the Treasurer of the Packaging Club. I knew this would be a great opportunity for me to grow professionally and add more competencies to my resume. I wasn’t considered about the role itself, the job seemed very simple to maintain. The biggest challenge I would have is building up the foundation of the Packaging Club, which wasn’t in the job description, it was a personal goal I had at the time. I met with the president, vice-president, and other student officers and they brought me up to date with their goals for me and the club. My tasks: Manage the funds of the Packaging Club. This was simple. However, the goals of the club were many: building up the reputation of Packaging Systems and Design, improving the funds of the club, landing professional networking events for club members, etc. I knew, that in order to build up the club, I’d have to go outside of my job description and take initiative.
-So What?
By taking initiative to help other officers, and members in the club with their goals, I felt accomplished. I felt valuable because I could easily complete my own jobs and help others with theirs. I learned an important lesson from taking initiative. It’s what good leaders are known for. However, I learned the flip side. It’s also what bad leaders can do as well. In my opinion, intentionality is also important and closely related to taking initiative. As Northouse explains, proactive leaders will take initiatives to create or complete goals and influence their followers to strife towards completion. Looking in the past, I have seen some individuals take the initiative to lead but have the wrong intentionality. Ultimately, our Packaging Club is doing well, despite some of the unexpected events. The Covid-19 pandemic is a clear example of an obstactle we faced. I helped do my job by managing a vast array of financial activities while taking initiative on other tasks. Since I’ve been the Treasurer of the Packaging Club, two things have happened: I have become more of a Transformational Leader, as well as taking initiative more.
-Now What?
Regardless of the situation, whether it’s applying to jobs or managing coworkers, taking initiative is important. I’ve realized that taking initiative is one of the defining points of being an effective leader. In hindsight, there were many times in my early college years that I did not take initiative although I should’ve. In the future, I plan on taking the lead in projects, work meetings, relationship goals, etc. to improve my success and growth as a leader. Something specifically I can apply taking initiative on is being very proactive with the companies that I have already interviewed with. Sending up follow-up emails and asking for updates involves initiative and shows that I am committed and have interest in becoming a part of that company.
Leadership Journey: Nick Lawrence 