Sarah Koehn was happy to have the opportunity to address the seminar for the second of her three designated time slots. Her phase two of the Kansas HOBY’s leadership development centered on group leadership. Ambassadors did not just learn about groups, but rather teams. The difference between a group and a team is that a team has both a common mission and goal, and they cannot accomplish the task alone. Another main point was that successful groups are heterogeneous. In other words, teammates need to vary in strengths and weaknesses. The Ambassadors were told an analogy about six people on an elevator. They are a group until the elevator gets stuck, and then they become a team. Ambassadors were asked to reflect upon the question of whom they would bring if they were on the elevator after they did a self-evaluation of their most effective leadership role. Koehn made clear that “it is really uncomfortable…” to build a team with uncommon people. Nevertheless, the underlining message was everyone needs people who are different on their team!
Sarah Linn introduced SMART goals after the Leadership 4 Service projects (community service projects) by engaging ambassadors through thinking about goals they want to attain. SMART goals is a thinking and goal-forming process that can be used to accomplish goals. The acronym SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. Several students shared their ideas with the whole group, and they were analyzed as examples. Groups proceeded to do breakout sessions and discuss their individual ideas. This was wrapped up, and each group had the chance to share one idea they had with everyone. These will be considered for integration with a HOBY alumni event in the future!