It is no shame to admit when you make a mistake. In fact, student leaders who say they have never made a mistake are wrong and probably bad leaders. To successfully start and lead an organization you must be reflective and self-critical. You must be able to learn from your mistakes and refuse to repeat them. The mistakes listed below are some of the most common ones committed by individuals who have started student organizations dedicated to liberty
Mistake #1: Too much time on the Constitution.
Most student groups think that the Constitution defines the organization. This is wrong. It is the membership that defines the organization. The Constitution is a tertiary issue to getting the right people to join and holding the right events. The same goes with all procedural issues with founding an organization. Being recognized by the organization does not mean you will have big events or last beyond the first year. Having committed members who enjoy showing up to meetings and are passionate about the organization does.
Mistake #2: Specifying too many principles of the organization.
For students passionate about liberty, it is an easy trap to start inserting every principle that you believe in into the organization’s Constitution. This is bad for two reasons, though. First, your mission statement should be no longer than 4 sentences so you can clearly explain the organization to new members and potential donors easily. Second, you want to allow for debate, otherwise, the organization will be boring and people who are 99% aligned with you won’t join.
Mistake #3: Not willing to kill projects.
In the initial phases of starting an organization, it is easy to believe that the entire organization rests on continuing every project you started with. If a student newspaper was one of three activities you began, you think that you will be killing the organization if you kill the newspaper. But if a project or activity is just taking up time and resources without delivering some sort of value (raising awareness to an issue, bringing in new members, etc.), then you need to be willing to kill it. It is true that if you kill every project, the organization will die. But you have to kill the projects that are just wasting your time.
Mistake #4: Assuming people know of your existence.
By signing the Constitution of your organization, fireworks do not erupt in the sky spelling out your organization’s name. No one knows you exist. It is your job to let people know you exist and it will take lots of work to get people to know about your organization. Only very well established organizations that have been around for at least 5 years are readily known on campus. Put your efforts into making known that you’re around through fliers, Facebook, and getting a story in the campus newspaper.
Mistake #5: Failure to set Goals
Many student organizations when founded, do so only with a glimmer of an idea of what they want the organization to look like. Few actually set goals for what they want to accomplish and hold as markers of success, which is crucial to making sure you are on track to founding a stable organization.
Mistake #6: Only using one marketing tactic.
Many groups try to be tech-savvy and only utilize new media to advertise events. Creating a Facebook event or sending an email to your list-serve is not enough to really advertise your organization. A diversity of tactics are necessary ranging from Facebook to campus fliering to inviting classes to word of mouth. Use every means available to promote your organization and events to make sure that every person who could possibly be interested to participate.
Mistake #7: Not delegating responsibility.
Many students who start organizations have difficulty in delegating responsibility. Since they start the organization and are the momentum driving the group, they try to do everything for it. This leads to many, many problems regarding the long-term viability of the organization, though, as future leaders are not trained, the leader becomes too strained to effectively complete tasks, and the organization is ultimately just one person rather than an organization. Make sure to have other people complete tasks and take charge of the organization, not just yourself.
Mistake #8: Failing to have responsible oversight when delegating responsibility.
When new leaders do delegate responsibility, they often hope that people will complete ambiguous tasks with no oversight. The result is often disappointment and failed projects. When you give assignments to others, follow up with them to see how the project is going. Set deadlines and hold people accountable. Simple checks like sending emails and making phone calls prevent problems like only having 4 people attend a speaker’s event.
Mistake #9: Ignoring other groups.
When students are staring out, not only do they often think people know about them, they think that they can function independently of the rest of the campus community. They think that having a few people show up each week to argue about foreign policy is enough. They think that other groups are evil and so ought to be ignored. This leads to stagnant and ultimately meaningless organization. The best organizations not only recognize the importance of other groups, they embrace other groups, even on the other side of ideology. Using other organizations to promote your group is key when starting out, and contra-positing one’s organization against others can help you create a niche that had not existed before, and which many students on campus will identify with and join.
Mistake #10: Only looking at today and tomorrow, not next year.
The final mistake to mention is perhaps the easiest to make for both those starting a student organization and those running an existing organization: only looking at the present, not the future. All successful leaders don’t just think about the event coming up this week or this month. They think about the events that will come up next year, and the year after that, and the people who will be running them. If you want to create a truly successful organization, you must start planning for 1, 2 and 5 years from now today. Think about who will take over. Think about what role the group will play in campus affairs. Think about what you will be doing to help out because you will no longer be a student. Ignoring these questions means the organization is doomed to failure.
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