Leadership, responsibility, and clarity

My period of leadership for Team Red Stapler was rather quiet compared to some of the other team leaders throughout the quarter, but there was still enough of a difference to being a team member to have an impact on how I understand leadership.

The most interesting aspect for me was that I felt very responsible for the performance of the team when I was manager. This is not entirely new: Often enough in other school related situations I feel responsible for making sure everyone is performing well. However, being vested explicitly as the manager amplified that responsibility considerably. I think that feeling responsible for your team's actions and performance is the first step for being an effective leader of a group, the starting point for everything.

I also found that I tend to prefer a task-oriented style of management, where clarity of responsibility is the most important thing. Ensuring that everyone knows what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, and how important it needs to be done was something I focused on quite a bit during my time as manager.