Welcome! As leads, you will be playing a huge role in the direction of the organization while leading your own team and you are crucial to the future of this org and we cannot emphasize this more. In addition, you are also part of the Leadership Team and will be playing a role in making decisions for the organization as a whole.
When looking for potential leaders, we don’t want to look for people who check boxes and bring us problems. Instead, we want people who anticipate problems and show up with solutions, suggestions, offers of help; People who have the mindset of “What needs to be done here?” and start doing it, even if it’s out of their lane. What you’re waiting for will never come. You are the one responsible for things to happen.
However, this doesn't mean you need to have all the answers. You don’t even need to pretend to know it all. Motivating the team to find the answers is the goal.
"There is strength in vulnerability" - Julie Zhuo
Project leads don’t get to blame things on their members, they don’t get to delegate the mess away, it may mean you have to get your team to the finish line even if you have to carry them on your back for the last mile. Leadership is sometimes messy, challenging, and even frustrating, but it’s also empowering, fulfilling, and sometimes even fun. It is worth every ounce of effort in my opinion.
The remainder of this document will be guidelines helping you lead your team, which we’ll be going over this summer. We wrote this as a way to train new leaders - tailoring it closely to how we operate and as a reference. Everyone has their unique style of leading and you should feel comfortable making the final decisions on how to lead each of your teams - there will be times when you are entirely unclear whether you are doing the right thing and that's totally fine; we are here to support you. Refer to this throughout your time as a lead!
BUT Qualities + Mindset + Actions we expect from our Leads are based on this: Effective Leadership
Note: Look into the Semester Google Drive folder for previous project resources (past PRDs, handoff docs, MVP/Final Demo Presentation, etc)
<aside> 💡 Tip: there will be a lot of toggled lists. I encourage you to open them. A bulk of the content is hidden within them and was used to make the pages much cleaner.
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[Lead Roles](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Lead-Roles-125102b9efa24265bd143e4e38412e3b)
Sample First Team Meeting Outline
Sample First Client Meeting Outline
Product Showcase Virtual Edition (Spring 2021 Updated)
[General Timeline](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/General-Timeline-6888888af80f4a3f837ebe626ca669d1)
[Tips](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Tips-9df1e58966634826af3e8d2c6d5e34ec)
[Resources](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Resources-9ec88879a90a4ec487f2ef7f3002b643)
[Your Project](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Your-Project-ef7ed37ab1194a85bb012b0af9bbef84)
Relationship with Co-Directors
[**Your Nonprofit**](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Your-Nonprofit-fab46665bd844a92a7b863ea95463023)
[Your Team](https://h4iuiuc.notion.site/Your-Team-f4c4c0eae9004ccd967513d80a70b32b)
Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)
<aside> 🚀 I originally wrote this as a way for Project Leads to refer to while leading a team, since there are so many aspects that go into it. But as Hack4Impact matures, I'd encourage you all to contribute and make edits as culture and processes change (hopefully, for the better) to benefit future leaders. - Tim
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