Collaborating with Students and Faculty to Effectively Lead

A theory that is accurately describes the leadership styles of the Common Ground staff is the collaborative leadership theory. Rather than imposing their own ways on their followers, collaborate leaders involve all members of the group in problem solving and decision making. The leadership styles of the Common Ground staff are collaborative, as shown by their collaborations with each other, students, other offices at the university, and faculty. The four full-time staff members of Common Ground are all involved in making most decisions within the office. They each have their own areas of expertise and are given autonomy. Certain decisions, such as budget allocation, are centralized, but most decisions are decentralized.

Lee and Lisa have collaborative leadership styles, especially when working with students. Lee has relied on a few key student leaders in the organizations he leads, including Shades of Pride and the LGBTQ Coalition.  Lisa involves her Cultural Advisors in decision making and greatly values their input. They hold their student leaders accountable so that the students can develop their own leadership styles. Due to changes caused by the pandemic, Lisa is interacting with students much more than she normally would be over the summer. She has discussed what new SpiderNights programming would look like with her CAs. She has also had more meetings to check in with students, as well as interview students for SpiderFirsts mentor positions. She enjoys interacting with students, so this has helped her manage her work during this difficult time.

The staff at Common Ground also collaborates with their colleagues in other offices often. The division of student development has an open line of communication for suggestions, recommendations, etc. For example, Lisa was the co-chair of the TIDE Retreat with Josh Jeffreys, the Jewish Chaplain and Director of Religious Life at the Chaplaincy. They also had faculty from four different departments on that committee.

Glyn, the director of Common Ground and community activist, leads by grassroots coalition building. He tries to get many people in support of their work, especially influential faculty. Since Common Ground is not particularly high in the university leadership, it is strategic to use faculty members who have higher status to promote their message.