Five Reasons Why You Should Run For a Leadership Position #withUFPRSSA
The spring semester is here, which means it is time to elect our new UF PRSSA President, Alpha Managing Director and executive board. To all public relations students at the University of Florida, being a leader in UF PRSSA will enrich you and your college experience for the following reasons:
1. You can make a difference.
As a student leader, you have the ability to create change where it is needed. If 2020 taught us anything, it is that almost every process, system, organization, what have you, could use improving. This is an exciting and meaningful time to be a leader. You will also learn how change occurs. Some changes can occur in a matter of days or weeks, while others will take much longer by occurring through small, seemingly minor adjustments over time. Both are good. Both are effective. Patience, commitment and focus on the big picture are skills that you gain here.
2. To network.
Whether you are the next UF PRSSA President, Alpha Managing Director or hold a VP position on the executive board, you will get to know other leaders at UF, in other PRSSA chapters, and professionals who will play key roles in your professional advancement. You will make friends and mentors who will inspire you to pursue an avenue you would not have considered, and they will be happy to help you get there.
3. To gain invaluable soft skills.
To employers, being a member of UF PRSSA is a good sign, but what distinguishes you is whether you play an active role in the organization. Does it mean more work? Yes. But you can choose to have an opportunistic mindset that welcomes all the benefits that come with accepting new roles and responsibilities. For example, meetings will teach you how to communicate effectively and why it is crucial to set expectations (once you start, you’ll want to set expectations in all your relationships); projects will teach you how to be strategic and resourceful, as well as accountability; and presentations will teach you public speaking and how to address different audiences.
4. To develop leadership skills, duh.
Leadership skills don’t just strengthen your ability to lead. Any skill is like a muscle, the more you work it out, the stronger it grows. Plus, your body and mind don’t work in isolation. When you strengthen what seems like a specific area, the positive effects run over to other areas and benefit the rest of your body and mind as well. In a leadership position, you will build soft skills that I prefer to call hirable skills. You will learn how to handle conflict, you will strengthen your cultural and emotional intelligence, be resourceful, think critically, and your ability to problem solve will impress you.
5. Most importantly, you’ll learn about yourself.
While in a student leadership position you will learn how you deal with people, conflicts and situations that you are not used to. You will also learn more about where you want to go in life, and skills that equip you to get there. Everything I have learned from leadership has had much greater implications on who I am as a whole. As a freshman I wanted to be on the executive board because it seemed important and as a sophomore and junior I wanted to continue advancing in leadership because I felt I could make a difference. As a senior who is UF PRSSA President, I will be leaving with not only knowledge of PRSSA and a leadership skill set, but also as a more confident, well-rounded, more accountable person with the strength to take on challenges with good humor.
Embracing opportunities that challenge you will build confidence in your ability to handle challenges in the future. I used to fear the future. I didn’t have a ton of self-confidence or trust in myself to be able to handle the difficulties or uncertainty that comes with the it. What I didn’t realize I’d take away from my leadership experiences was the opportunity to prove to myself that I could face challenges, despite the anxiety that accompanied it, and come out on the other side proud of myself for accomplishing more than I thought I could.
I’ll never be fearless of the future, but now I am less anxious because I have demonstrated to myself that I can rise to a challenge and see it through. Simply, I learned skills to cope with hardship and uncertainty. I trust myself. Not everything you do will be successful, and nothing will ever be perfect, but from those experiences you can learn how to cope with failure. Knowing how to let go of the need to be perfect or have control—that’s resilience. That’s even more valuable.
The best way to become the person you want to be is to give yourself the opportunity to be that person—to try and fail and then to try again and succeed. Plus, our 2020-2021 executive board is working to set you up for success. You’re in good hands #withUFPRSSA.
Written by Brittany Higginbotham