Getting Started
Ready to get your team started? Breeze through these four steps as you begin!
The Basics Types of Leadership Building a Strong Team
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The BASICS: Gettin’ your team started!
Contributor: Jaclyn Lopez - High school student, Mean Green Team member
The Mean Green Team (MGT) is an environmental club at CALS Early College High School, located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles. The MGT began with a small group of dedicated students, including myself, concerned with the future of our planet, committed to conserving Earth’s natural resources and trying to preserve what’s left of our planet. Together, with the support of our teachers and local organizations, we spent endless hours trying to develop a team that could possibly change our world. But starting a club isn’t something that can be done overnight.
At first it was difficult to engage other students or teachers to join. Club members began to research various environmental concerns within our own communities and shared their new knowledge with their peers. Soon we began to get more students involved and began to have weekly meetings during our lunch breaks about how could help alleviate the problem. Our first act as a group was a beach clean-up, in collaboration with Heal the Bay. Not many of the students from our school attended but we had a fun time and shared our experience with our fellow students. From then on we had more and more students, teachers, parents, and local community members inspired by all our hard work and our club grew bigger.
The Mean Green Team started as a small group of students 3 years ago and today there are many members from various schools and local communities. The MGT accomplished many ambitious projects such as student-led recycling efforts, e-waste drives, plastic bag reduction/recycling and waste reduction data collection. We were recognized for winning the Battle of the Schools Recycling Competition and given the highest recycling rate award from the LA County Board of Supervisors. Also our teacher Andy Stephens received “Teacher of the Year” recognition from Generation Earth for his work with the Mean Green Team.
How to do it:
1. It starts with a few. Gather a couple enthusiastic students and create a mission for your club - what are you going to be addressing? Having a clear and unified vision will greatly help with getting more students interested and involved.
2. Create a structure of leadership that includes various roles and responsibilities for the core members of the team. All core members should be accountable for something! Learn more about building a strong team.
3. Set up weekly meetings. During lunch is a great time. Discuss how your team can address its mission and set some short- and long-term goals. Read more about running a successful campaign or project.
4. Help your team grow and be successful: be visible in your school! Have a table out at lunch every few weeks and host a couple simple events to introduce your team to your school. Learn more about how to raise awareness on campus.
5. Find local support; whether it be local organizations, politicians, or even local community members. The MGT had worked with an array of organizations such as Earth Day Network, Heal the Bay, Agua University, The Arroyo Seco Foundation and politicians such as Ed Reyes, Lucille Roybal-Allard, and Antonio Villarigosa. See what great organizations ACE is already partnering with your area.
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Types of Leadership
Contributor: Sierra Student Coalition
What does a good structure of leadership look like? Good question! Well, here are a few examples of leadership structures for you to consider:
Pros: Ensures consistency; key decisions get made.
Cons: Can get slowed down quickly; can be overwhelming.
Buckshot - Everyone does their own thing; there are no central decision makers.
Pros: Can achieve a lot.
Cons: Can get chaotic; no one responsible for key decisions; lose consistency.
Snowflake - A key decision maker is surrounded by a core team of leaders, all with shared vision, with specific responsibilities and something unique to bring the team..
Pros: Maintain consistency; team is reliable; can divide up responsibilities; individual skills can be taken advantage of to their fullest.
Cons: Have to learn how to work together.
Leadership Image credits: Ashlee Jenson, ACE
Those are some examples of leadership structures. Each has pros and cons based on the team environment, leadership skills, strengths and weaknesses.
Which one looks most effective to you? When reflecting on these different structures, think about clubs and teams you’ve been a part of. What type of leadership structure did that team or club have? Did it work? Why or why not? Remember what you learned from other teams and clubs when you begin to build your team.
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Building a Strong Team
Contributor: Sierra Student Coalition
1. Empowering Others
A team can only be as strong as its leaders. That’s why it’s important to not only build leadership skills yourself but empower others around you to become leaders too. Of course, it’s much easier to just tell people what to do, but that can often result in one person being overwhelmed and burnt out. In fact, putting effort into empowering those around you will definitely pay off. You’ll be able to rely on others to get the job done and will have a more well-rounded list of accomplishments.
Here are some tips on how to help EMPOWER others around you and build a solid team:
- Be open to ALL people and ideas - Considering diverse perspectives will always help you see and understand the big picture better.
- Focus first where people are most ready - Encourage others and yourself to identify strengths and use them! It’s easiest to help people develop their leadership skills by starting with what they do best!
- Lead by example.
- Challenge others to grow by pushing them to the edge of their comfort level, where learning happens best. Challenges capture people’s interest and leads to a deeper understanding of things.
- Build relationships, especially with your CORE team. The more invested people are, the harder and more committed they’ll be!
2. Ensuring Effectiveness
Tapping into your team members’ strengths and matching their tasks with their interests will help to keep everyone excited and working hard towards your common goal. This will allow you to accomplish more and reach success!
Below are a few tips on how to ensure your team is EFFECTIVE:
- Make sure your team is stable with clear boundaries – you should know the name, interests and strengths of everyone involved and be sure you MEET REGULARLY.
- Be sure your mission points you in an engaging direction – the work you have to do should be clear and challenging. It should matter to the campaign you’re on and EVERYONE should know why it matters!
- Ensure your teams works interdependently – Everyone should have a roughly equal share of the work (especially among core members). This means everyone has clear, defined roles and responsibilities.
- Clear norms and practices – Your team should set clear expectations for how you will respect and empower each other during your work.