Stepping into Leadership

To me leadership is a riddle, a game, a dance between you and the person or people you are leading.

I revel in that middle ground- you know you are a leader, maybe even with a title and a handful of duties, but in practice there is more ambiguity. It’s about being a good influence, a role model, hoping that the people around you take notice of the things you do and say. You give polite, but firm suggestions, change tactics as often as you use them, and hope for the best. Sounds like something you are familiar with? It should. Tutoring embodies leadership in a couple of different ways, from individual sessions to its influence of the entire school community.

In my third year as a tutor, I love being available to give advice, feel like I have influence over the culture of my peers, but also be a friend and have the trust of my fellow tutors. Playing that line between making people feel comfortable enough to be real with me, but also hold them to a higher standard, its tricky. It’s the same line I dance in a tutoring session- Yes I know you are only here for the extra credit, but I’m still going to encourage you to apply yourself.

But entering a leadership role in the class, I got hung-up on (in all honesty I still get hung-up on) what it is that qualifies me to have the authority to make suggestions to other tutors, while I am still far from perfect myself. What I try to keep in mind is what we were told as new and nervous tutors, that it doesn’t matter if you aren’t the greatest writer out there, you could still offer a new perspective and facilitate good discussion for a tutee. It is also okay to use your resources and ask for help. While the leader vision of that might be up for interpretation, here’s what I take from it:

1. Leadership is needed even when it isn’t perfect
2. Be honest about what your challenges as a tutor are
3. Mistakes are essential to learning

Like writing, tutoring and leading are not perfect sciences, they are arts. It requires lots of practice, and probably some humbling mistakes before you get any good at it. It’s like learning a dance, and that should be intriguing and fun. Finding your rhythm might take some time, but falling into step makes it all worth it.

If you are a leader, or want to be a leader, in your writing center send me an email about it!