UNIVERSITY OF VALLADOLID ELECTION 2014:

AN EXAMPLE OF MY LEADERSHIP

Rodrigo Álamo Sanz

THE CONTEXT• Students representatives’ election.

• 84 seats to be elected, 7 for the Faculty of Economics, one of the biggest.

• Rector election just 2 weeks after.

• Different associations presenting candidatures, being ADDE my association.

And my role?• Due to previous years’ performance, public speaking skills and shown leadership I was the leader for economics, and member of the main board of ADDE.

What did I do? How did I lead?• I needed a team

• I had to build the team

• I had to deal with the previous leader, still around

• We had to build relationships with professors

• We had to make an electoral campaign

What did I do? How did I lead?What had to be done

• I needed a team

• I had to build the team

• I had to deal with the previous leader, still around

• We had to build relationships with professors

What I did

• +50 people in the list

• Periodical individual motivation and tutoring meetings, afterwork team meetings

• Agreement with him, he stopped disturbing and came to my side.

• Strategic department-oriented meetings with professors

THE CAMPAIGN

• Very provocative, focused to get to know the brand ADDE and the key proposals.

• People-oriented, searching candidates in every possible circle.• Agile in Social Media, we made viral every problem in the

University useful for our campaing.

THE RESULTS: they speak by themselves

WHY WAS MY LEADERSHIP RELEVANT?A very diverse team (5 different degrees, ages 18 to 25), required a common reference to work together.

The retribution for the team was not clear. Personal motivation was very important.

A strong leader gave the electors a recognizable image of the project.

HOW WILL IE IMPROVE MY LEADERSHIP SKILLS?WHAT WAS MY TEAM MISSING?• Organizational skills, organization design.

• Motivation tecniques. My team was relying too much on my personal motivation.

• Learning how to delegate tasks.

• Specific business leadership skills.

WHAT DID I LEARN FROM THIS EXPERIENCE?

• Being a leader has a natural component, but permanent recycling is needed.

• A leader has to act like it every day, distraction is not an option.

• A good leader can make a bad team achieve its goals, a bad leader can ruin a good team.

• I perform as a leader, I want to be a leader in the future.

END