Council Surge: Reflect & Don’t Forget

LSummer is an exciting time to enjoy some time away, spend time with loved ones and mentally prepare for the upcoming school year. With some distance from the hustle of the last semester and the everyday grind of leading our organizations, you likely have started to reflect on how the last six months were for yourself and your group. Reflection is so important to help us move grow and move forward. It’s easy to forget the thoughts and ideas you have now for when you really need them later.

In the Council Surge Interactive Workshop, we encourage reflection throughout the program, but especially during the session called “State of the Community.” This session provides a deep dive into how your chapter/council and community are doing through an assessment tool and meaningful dialogue with one another. You learn about your areas of strength and improvement, while gaining valuable perspective to challenge you to think bigger from a peer. We then use this session to inform your plan of action later in the program.

Let’s do something similar to help you reflect, not forget, and begin to plan for what’s ahead. Below is a quick activity you and your fellow officers can do to reflect on the last six months. This will help provide some structure to your thoughts and help you not lose this valuable knowledge. Send your officers this blog and ask them to add their responses in a Google Doc so you have everyone’s thoughts available to help inform planning for next semester.

Step One: Answer the following questions.

In the last six months, what made you proud of your organization? What was it about this moment that made you proud? (examples: Strong communication or collaboration among peers)
Similarly, what did not make you proud? What were some of the reasons this happened? (examples: Lack of involvement from peers or not following procedures)
As a leader, what role did you play in both situations – good and bad?
How can you keep doing the good and improve on the bad?
What else do you not want to forget about how the last six months was?

Step Two: Share

Schedule a catch-up chat with a fellow officer. First, see how they are doing and learn how their summer is going. Then, each share your reflection, ask each other questions, challenge each other’s thinking. Jot down things they share with you.

Step Three: Set Intentions

Now that you have reflected and processed it through sharing, set some intentions for what’s ahead.

In the next six months, I want our organization to…
In the next six months, as a leader, I want to…

See, that wasn’t too hard, right? Reflection is such a valuable tool to help us be more intentional leaders, but also help our organizations be more intentional too. The more aware we are, the deeper our impact can be. Thanks for taking the time to reflect and not forget.

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This blog was inspired by the curriculum for the Interactive Workshop, Council Surge. Learn more about Council Surge at campuspeak.com/council-surge