Good leader must meet members' needs

By Song In-jun

When I became a student at Hwanil High School, I had to take the role of a leader. I always wanted to inspire others by being a great leader, so I decided to take responsibility for many projects and clubs.

But with every experience I quickly learned that being a leader isn’t as grand or simple as I thought. I learned to change my values and goals as a leader with every mistake.

My first major experience as a leader was when I volunteered to become the head of a world history class project. I planned a small play about Rome and gave overall instructions and roles to every member.

One student would do research on Roman law, another would provide a video about its military formations like the Turtle or Phalanx, and others would have their own roles in the project.

I expected the students to have some difficulty with their roles, and I was willing to assist them. However, I didn't expect the students to be clueless about Roman history or unable to organize the presentation in the way I instructed them. In the end, I ended up doing all the work by myself.

I was exhausted and disappointed by my peers and, more importantly, myself. I was neither effective nor inspiring. After a few weeks of getting advice and reading books, I realized what I had been doing poorly in leading the project.

It may sound simple, but I didn’t realize that my peers were not seeing the project as I was. I should have painted a vivid picture of the project in their minds and explained the desired outcome.

I also should have known each member’s depth of knowledge of the subject and simplified their roles according to the student. I understood that a leader must see a project through the eyes of its members and adjust the plan to achieve success.

I learned my second and most important lesson as a leader when I was the president of KIMC, a model UN club. During this time, I thought that a leader should not just give out orders but do the dirty work himself or herself.

As the leader I planned the meetings, prepared some of the research and wrote resolutions to show how things must be done. Once again, I expected the members to do their best on their given roles.

But in reality, no one did their work because they knew I would do it for them. Even worse, the members skipped meetings and showed little respect for me when I scolded them for it.

Every week I was stressed out by the disorganized meetings in which the members didn't really know what they were debating about. Once again, I turned to teachers and books for guidance.

Through some self-reflecting, I realized that my mistake was that I didn’t understand what the members wanted from the club. I thought that we were of the same mind. I thought that our purpose was to prepare for discussions about global issues and then finding solutions.

The members were not on the same page. Their main reason for joining the club was to embellish their resumes for entering university.

Now I began to change my methods. I asked members what they wanted to major in at university and asked them what issues were of interest to them.

Then, the agenda was set in relation to those issues. This was a success. For example, one member was interested in trade, so the agenda was about the illegal ivory trade.

Knowing that this was something he could write about later in his university cover letter, he was enthusiastic throughout the meeting, which got other members more engaged in the debate.

I also decided to give out more positions that could be included in their university cover letters. Members were made department heads of health, economy and the environment among others. This delegating of authority made my job a lot easier.

The department heads started to conduct research and make sure others were focused on the meetings when their agenda was related to their respective departments. I started to trust them, and that trust made the members more responsible. I was very happy with the results.

Looking back as a senior at Hwanil, I see that being a leader is not grand or simple. A good leader has to tailor to the needs of the members and see the project through their eyes. He also has to understand the members’ motivations and goals within the group.

I learned these two ideas through my mistakes and corrections. I know that I will have to take more roles as a leader in the future, and face adversities. But I know these two experiences and these lessons will help me become a better leader.

The writer is a third-year student at Hwanil High School in Seoul who wants to major in international relations in college and afterwards study international law.