Not a Leader? No Problem!

by Apathy is Boring Intern Patrick Burkhard — August 1, 2007

    So you have made the decision to get your feet wet and become politically active.  You may have already decided how or what you want to get involved in.  You may have even found your point of entry into the system.  YEAH!!! WOO-HOO!! Congratulations, your life is going to become so much more fun than it was!  Despite my excitement, you might be feeling a little nervous and jumping into the organizational or political fray may seem like a mountain of a task.  Guess what though, not everyone in an organization or in organizing has to be an “A type” outgoing personality to succeed or belong.  If everyone in an organization is a leader, first of all nothing would ever get done and everyone would just be arguing all the time.  Here are a number of other important and often overlooked roles people play in organizations:

Time-Keeper

Associations and organizations involve meetings.  Someone needs to be there to write down what is covered at these meetings and who takes on what tasks.  That is what the time-keeper does (takes the ‘minutes’ from meetings) and makes everyone aware of what they are responsible for.  This is a very important role: without them – who would remember what you said at a meeting 8 months ago?

Process Geek

This person is basically the second in command as they tend to take the back seat to the leader/head of an organization and assist them in their functions.  Main roles here are ensuring that the group is staying on task, as well as ensuring meetings follow an agenda (a good leader should be following an agenda for the meeting).  This person is also key in playing the referee when strong personalities (those pesky A types again) are butting heads.

Agenda Setter 

This person is often responsible for setting weekly agendas for meetings as well as acting in a support function for others involved in the association.  No, this does not mean getting coffee for everyone, but it does mean making sure any organizational work is done, because from experience, leaders and visionaries are not always as good at implementing what they talk about when it comes time to put it into action.

So that is all folks.  Good luck, be brave and get involved.  It is a great way to make friends and have fun!