In high school, I was a two year co-captain and prototyping lead for my FRC team. This was an amazing experience for me. I got to work with professional engineers and other students my age in a team to accomplish something that we simply couldn't accomplish on our own. It's what first started me on a path toward engineering leadership.
My first year as a part of bike builders, I didn't have any formal role in the club. I was, however, very willing to step up and help whenever there was an opportunity. When one of our officers was out of town for a meeting, I stepped up and helped lead a design discussion. My confidence in leadership had taken a hit during the start of college, and bike builders really helped me get back on track.
I'm now the sponsorship and outreach coordinator for the club. I work with club members to help them find components in their price range. I also do a fair amount of design consulting, since I'm one of the more experienced members at this point. I hope to be able to lead in a more hands on way when COVID is more manageable.
I spent the summer after my sophomore year at Auris Health in the bay area. I primarily worked on technical projects with two small, focused teams. I have an interest in management from positive experiences in the past, so I reached out to my director and she put me on a cross functional project between the instruments and software teams. I had a high level view of the problem when I was talking with managers, but I was also able to pick up on things they were missing while working with the instruments team on technical projects.
I realized the importance of easily overhauling and future proofing the documentation I was creating. For example, it's better to list a group or manager that's in charge of a subsystem rather than an individual contributor, as their roles are usually more volatile. The whole experience reinforced the idea that I have to know people in order to understand their problems.
Through my time as a robotics captain in high school and now as a bike builders officer, I've found kindness to be a necessary trait in a leader. When treated with kindness, people feel like they belong. Empathy between people fosters a strong personal relationship, and the fondness for that person translates into work as well.
Trust and respect from a leader go hand in hand, and together they help develop a sense of responsibility in the people you're leading. If the people you are working with are never given a reason to believe that they are important and relevant, then why should they think the work they are assigned is important and relevant to the team? When a leader shows that they trust someone to do a good job, that person feels a responsibility to follow through.
Order is important to leadership for a few reasons. In my leadership roles, I've had a broad scope of responsibilities, which adds to the difficulty of keeping my thoughts straight. Having a way to keep track of tasks helps make sure nothing gets left behind.
Every action you take as a leader is an example for the behavior of your team, whether you want it to be or not. Being orderly reflects well on your character, and the character of your team members by association.
People with different personalities respond to group environments differently. Some people have no problem having their voices heard, and others have a hard time knowing when to interject in a conversation. An idea being the loudest one expressed does not also make it the best. This is no fault of people with louder personalities, but it is something to keep an eye on. As a leader, I try to manufacture pauses in conversation and explicitly give quieter members opportunities to speak.