Week 2- Leader- Follower Relations

The leader- follower dynamics have definitely been impacted by the transition to remote work within the program. Though often the communication between administration and faculty and faculty between teaching assistants would to some extent be virtual, the pressure for all meetings, activities, and all summer planning to transition into a virtual presentation has made it very difficult to focus, stay organized with the communication, and has led to a lot micromanagement.

There is a flow of leadership within the program which begins with the main director, his administrative team, the teachers, the teaching assistants and undergrad staff, and the scholars. Within a normal summer tasks and responsibilities would already be in place and most of the returning staff would pick up where they usually leave off and help out those who may be new to the program or their position and the flow of leadership would be smooth. But because no one is familiar with their position at the moment because of the drastic changes to going virtual and scheduling and responsibilities changing it has made the leader follower relationship very unstructured.

The director of the program is always heavily involved in decision making and delegating tasks to every person within the program and this dominant leadership style of his was not impacted by COVID and going virtual but his confusion and lack of ability to ask for help or slow down has impacted all faculty and staff under him. Because he is at the top of the “leadership chain” all decisions and moves he makes or doesn’t make, impacts everyone moving down. Instead of each level of leadership having a sense of what they need to do and how to assign the level below them with necessary tasks it turned into the director delegating and micromanaging everyone and everything which is far too much for one person to do on their own and makes it really difficult for other leaders to be able to independently lead their teams.

As the intern, whose position is always a little ambiguous, this summer is no different. I still don’t concretely know what my position requires and what I will be doing daily. It has been very frustrating to be told a list of tasks and responsibilities I should be aware of and looking forward to but then with each week they get taken away, disregarded, or I am expected to fully understand with little instruction or direction. I am being mindful of all the responsibilities my director has and him being preoccupied with the organization of it all and all other leaders so that all is smooth for the scholars. I just hope I can be as useful as possible once the institute begins. As the program begins next week and I will try to go to one of the undergrad leaders with direction and questions instead of my director to see if they can lead me a little more smoothly while he sets up all other positions to start their respective roles.