Leadership Foundations
What is the primary responsibility of a leader?
To guide the team toward a shared goal while supporting and taking responsibility for the people involved.
What are the three basic elements of effective communication?
A clear message, an appropriate method/channel, and active listening/understanding.
What should a leader consider before making an important decision?
The objective, available information, consequences, people affected, and available alternatives.
What is one common cause of conflict within a team?
Miscommunication, unclear responsibilities, competing interests, personality differences, or unequal workload.
Your event starts in 30 minutes, and one volunteer hasn't arrived. What do you do?
Reassign responsibilities, contact the volunteer, and prioritise the tasks that are essential to keeping the event running.
What is the difference between a leader and a boss?
A boss relies mainly on authority and instructions, while a leader influences, guides, supports and takes responsibility for the team.
A committee member misunderstands your instructions. What should you do before blaming them for not following directions?
Check whether your instructions were actually clear and ask them to explain their understanding.
'As a Leader' Your friends strongly support an idea, but the available evidence suggests it may not benefit the club. Should you automatically support it?
No. A leader should evaluate the idea objectively rather than letting personal relationships drive the decision.
One committee member consistently does more work than everyone else. What leadership problem might this indicate?
Poor delegation or an imbalance in responsibilities.
Your team makes a mistake during an event and students start complaining. What should you do?
Address the students respectfully, acknowledge the issue, solve what can be solved immediately, and review the mistake with the team afterwards.
A leader makes every decision themselves because they believe it will be faster. What important leadership principle are they neglecting?
Delegation and empowering others.
What is active listening?
Listening to understand rather than simply waiting for your turn to speak; this includes paying attention, asking questions and clarifying.
You have two good options, but only enough budget for one. Name two factors you could use to decide.
impact, cost, urgency, number of students affected, feasibility, or alignment with the organisation's goals.
Two committee members have a personal disagreement that is affecting their work. Should the president immediately choose who is right?
No. The leader should understand both perspectives, focus on the impact on the team, and facilitate a constructive resolution.
You discover that your closest friend on the committee has not completed an important task. How would you treat them?
Treat them according to the same expectations as everyone else, address the issue privately, understand what happened, and find a solution.
Your committee achieves a major event successfully. Who should receive the credit?
The team. A good leader recognises the contributions of the people who made the success possible.
You need to tell your committee that their proposal has been rejected. What is better: simply saying "No, this won't work", or should you say else 'what'?
Explain the reason and, where possible, offer an alternative. Effective leadership communication should be honest but constructive.
Your committee has only 24 hours to make a decision, but you don't have all the information you would normally want. What should you do?
Identify the most critical missing information, gather what is realistically available, assess the risks, make the best informed decision possible, and be prepared to adjust if new information appears.
A talented committee member is difficult to work with and frequently creates tension. Should you remove them immediately?
Not necessarily. First, address the behaviour directly, explain its impact, set expectations, and allow them to improve—unless the behaviour is serious enough to require immediate action.
Your committee wants to organise a huge event because it will look impressive, but you know the team doesn't have enough people, money or time. What do you do?
Challenge the plan constructively, assess feasibility, and either scale the event down or secure the necessary resources before committing.
Your committee fails to achieve an important objective. As president, what should you do first?
Take responsibility, understand what went wrong, listen to the team, and identify how to improve rather than immediately blaming individuals.
During a meeting, two committee members keep interrupting each other, and the discussion is becoming unproductive. What should the president do?
Stop the escalation, acknowledge both perspectives, establish a fair speaking order, refocus the discussion on the issue and work toward a decision.
Your university administration rejects an initiative your committee strongly believes students need. What should a good leader do?
Understand the reason for the rejection, gather evidence supporting the initiative, seek dialogue, modify the proposal if necessary, and advocate professionally rather than reacting emotionally.
Your vice-president privately tells you that several committee members feel ignored and are considering leaving. What should you do?
Take the concern seriously, speak with the members involved, listen without becoming defensive, identify the underlying issues, and take concrete steps to rebuild trust.
You are the president of a club. Your committee is divided into two groups. One wants to organise a large event that could significantly increase the club's visibility. The other believes the event is too risky and could damage the club financially. Both sides are convinced they are right.
What should you do as the leader?
Expected answers:
Listen to both sides, establish the facts, assess the risks and potential benefits, review the budget and resources, identify possible compromises, and make a reasoned decision based on the organisation's interests—not personal preference or popularity. Then communicate the decision clearly and take responsibility for it.