Student leadership teams: does the benefit outweigh their egos?

Abstract

Creating and managing a team of students to help supervise other student staff has both positive and negative aspects. It is a necessity for those Information Technology (IT) departments who do not have enough full time staff to fulfill this role, yet it can present some interesting challenges in management. At Grinnell College, the IT department employs approximately 75 students as Technology Consultants who staff general computer labs, the helpdesk, library computing facilities, digital art lab, and the Audio Visual Center.The leadership team at Grinnell College was started to provide better services and supervision to the student staff, which was only about 25 students in 1997. The leadership team consisted of two "supervising" students: Senior Coordinator and Junior Coordinator. As the services provided by student staff expanded and the number of staff tripled, a team of six student supervisors was created. The leadership team is now comprised of an Administrative Coordinator, two Training Coordinators, a Technical Coordinator, an Audio Visual Center Coordinator, a Helpdesk Coordinator, and an Associate Coordinator who is usually in training for one of the other positions.This team is an asset most of the time and has allowed our Technology Consultant program to flourish. However there are some challenges in managing such a team: hiring the right students, training and professional development, personality conflicts, and most of all egos. The problems change from year to year as the team evolves, but a good student leadership team can become an important part of management.