Five Tips for Club Presidents, From a Club President

In my time being a club president at school and being on the executive board of others, I have had the privilege of working with so many people. As I move into my last semester, with graduation so close that I can almost taste it, I’ve had to actually sit down and think about training my wonderful Vice President going forward. Now I am not perfect or the best club president, but these are pieces of advice I have been told or learned that once I implemented them I started to enjoy the job and felt at ease. Here are five pieces of advice I learned that I would give to my Vice President or any Club President if asked:

1. Set a Cut-off Time

I have fallen victim to spending all my time looking at the dashboard and our analytics as they ebb and flow with viewership into the depths of the night. I wanted this constant reassurance that I was doing good by staring at our numbers and monitoring trends on the website. I hated doing anything related to Her Campus for a solid couple of weeks because it felt as though it was all I did because it was. I couldn’t have a conversation without bringing it up.

It wasn’t until I forced myself to do a hard stop of work at 7 pm that I truly started to enjoy my position again because I was able to enjoy the time that I spent doing the work. Because I wasn’t working on my club’s tasks all day every day, I was able to pick up new ones the next day and have that drive to complete them. It limited the burnout I was feeling by the time our Friday meetings rolled around and was excited to be there and be present. 

2. Don’t Compare Your Club to Other Clubs

The amount of times I used to look at more successful clubs and compare is crazy. The clubs would be completely different and I would look at their membership and engagement and feel jealous. I would go to Organizational Summits and see all these other Presidents bragging about their clubs and making statements about how they were better than this other organization. I would feel less than because what did others think of Her Campus?  What did these people say about me when I turned my back? I then reflected on how my actions and thoughts were making others feel the same way.

Every club has their own journey. When I started in the chapter, we had three consistent members, including myself. We didn’t grow because we sat around and complained about how tiny we were, we worked hard to grow and do outreach to the campus to grow our membership to what it is today. I wouldn’t give up our current members for a million more, because they are people who come every week and believe in what you are working for. That’s enough. You don’t need anything more than that. Just because Club A has a hundred members does not make your club any less, because you have different journeys. That’s okay. As long as the journey turns into something you are proud of in the end, that’s what truly matters.

3. Listen.

This is advice for any type of leadership. You can be working your butt off and completing everything perfectly, but if you aren’t listening to your executive board or general board, you aren’t being a good leader. It takes a lot for some to tell you they’ve upset you and it’s harder to hear you wrong. It’s okay to be upset, but you have to listen. What works for you, doesn’t work for everyone, it’s your job to adapt. 

Something I implemented was check-ins with my executive board every month, that way they could give me advice or what they would change if given the chance. This is how we added games to the end of our meetings and how I was able to address concerns that they were holding in. You aren’t going to be successful without this and risk losing members if you don’t. 

A big part of this as well is recognizing that criticism is not a personal attack. You’ve worked hard to get where you are. You’ve spent who knows how long working and working, so when someone says something negative about it, it feels personal. It’s not. If you lash out or ignore it, no one is going to respect you or feel like they can participate because they’ll be shut down. It’s okay to table things but if someone has a concern hear them out and work together to find a solution that works for all. Don’t just tune the criticism out because you think the person hates you or doesn’t appreciate the work you do. 

4. Befriend Other Club Presidents

I know, I know, I said don’t compare your club to others. I mean it, but I recommend finding another president to befriend. I would not be able to do this job without the PS I Love You president. Sometimes you are going to need to vent or talk, and who better understands the stress of being a club president than another club president? There have been so many times I have just sat down with him and vented about anything from not feeling prepared for a meeting to finding a common enemy in administration. It’s nice to just sit and talk to someone who gets it and gets the sense of responsibility you have for the success of the organization.

Also if you have a problem, the hypothetical game comes in handy.  Imagine this, it’s eight o’clock at night, I call the PS I Love You president and say ‘Hypothetically, I was having trouble budgeting this event, how would you do it?’. He is able to give me advice based on his own experience and help me to better my club and efforts. This game happens more than I’ll ever admit on here. Asking for help is hard, but making it into hypotheticals always helps me. 

So find a president who you like and stick with them, because you’ll need each other more than you realize. Shout out Scarmo for being my crying buddy, see you next semester!

5. Know You Earned This!

It’s easy to fall into the mindset of ‘I suck at this’ or ‘ I don’t deserve this,’ but that’s far beyond true. Imposter syndrome is so real and I feel it a lot. I want to say it’s super easy to combat this and a positive mindset will change it overnight, but that’s not true. It’ll come up and sneak up on you until you are spiraling into a corner by yourself. But you earned your position and earned the good things coming your way. Here’s something I have had to tell myself throughout this semester: I was elected into this position, it was not given to me. People elected me based on the work I do and think I will be successful in this position. I am not getting these good things because I don’t deserve it but because the people around me think I can.

 Even in a guidebook I wrote for my executive board, I made sure to highlight this point because it’s true. It’s so easy to think we don’t deserve good things. It’s easier to believe you don’t. Keeping that mindset of I don’t deserve this will make you miserable and will impact the people around you. So know that you’ve earned it because you did. Working to have that mindset of my work led me to good things and I earned them. It’ll help you go less crazy.

Again, I’m not perfect. I have fumbled and messed up, but that’s normal. These are things that worked for me and I am taking them into my last semester. If you read this and went, nah. That’s fine too! Do what makes you feel good and if it works for your group or club, keep at it. Just be a leader who you can be proud of and one other want to listen to.

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