Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee
The SWE Collegiate Leadership Coaching Committee (a.k.a. the Student Section Vitality Task Force or Student Leadership Training) provides proactive leadership coaching and education to SWE student sections. The task force has developed the Student Section Leadership Training Modules listed below to support leadership skills development. Modules focus on topics and skills essential in creating, leading, and maintaining a vital SWE section.
- Knowledge of SWE
- History of SWE
- Benefits of SWE
- Administration & Operations
- Section Finances
- Increasing Annual Income (Fund Development)
- Strategic Planning
- Tactical Planning
- Public Relations and Communications
- Membership is a Contact Sport
- Leadership
- How to Effectively Manage Meetings
- Team Building
- Conflict Resolution
- Diversity
- Women in Engineering
Student Leadership coaches can consult with individual sections to identify areas of greatest need and provide free section-tailored leadership training, or work with local professional sections to provide education to several student sections at once. Karen Roth Melissa Zaczek
Be a part of the Collegiate Leadership Training Team
We are seeking committee members to work in specific SWE regions. Initially, there will be two committee members per region, one student member and one professional member. The committee members will have the following responsibilities:
- Review and comment on training modules.
- Attend 2-day “train the trainer” training session on the modules and consulting skills.
- Work with your Region Director and Region Student Coordinator to determine which sections need the most assistance.
- Travel to sections in your region and use the modules to train the section leaders. Travel expenses for training events will be reimbursed from the annual funding.
- Provide follow-up support to these sections via email and telephone.
- Conduct a section vitality workshop at your Region Conference. Travel to the conference is paid for by the committee if the team member is presenting a training module.
- Provide monthly progress reports.
- Attend committee meeting at national conference.
The duration of time commitment is 2 - 3 years. The amount of travel time required is the initial training, attendance at your region conference, attendance at national conference, and travel to sections. Non-travel time required, including phone and e-mail support, is several hours a month.
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Skills Desired:
- General SWE knowledge is required; prefer that you have held a student section officer position.
- Presentation and training skills: someone who is not afraid of presenting information they have just recently learned, ability to be “put on the spot” and handle political situations in a professional manner, ability to excite and motivate others about SWE and the topics being presented.
- Consulting skills: negotiating, coping with mixed motivation, dealing with concerns, analysis, dealing with political climate, comfort with ambiguity, interviewing, feedback of data, working with resistance, presentation of personal and organizational data, training and facilitating, running group meetings to involve all participants, focusing on options and choices, and not taking it personally.
- Interpersonal skills: supportiveness, listening, ability to maintain business relationship at the same time maintain trusting relationships with the Section.
Collegiate Leadership Training Modules
Knowledge of SWE
What is special about SWE? Learn the SWE basics – the nuts and bolts of maintaining a section or being a SWE member. Introduce the SWE organization to new members or refresh the knowledge of long-standing members.
History of SWE
Who started SWE? Why was it founded? Meet the women who founded the organization and learn how it evolved into what it is today.
Benefits of SWE
Why are you a SWE member? Are you taking advantage of all the benefits SWE has to offer? Learn all there is to know about SWE member benefits.
Administration and Operations
What makes a SWE section successful and why all those forms? Do you have defined responsibilities for your section leaders? Get a handle on SWE section organizational issues and all that paper work.
Section Finances
What are the fiscal requirements of being a non-profit? Get an overview of SWE section financial responsibilities. Understand budgeting, managing SWE section finances, financial reporting and tax issues.
Increasing Annual Income (Fund Development)
How does your section find the funds it needs? Explore new funding possibilities and use targeted messages aimed at the right resources.
Strategic Planning
Where do you want your section to be in one year? Two years? Four? Introduce your section’s executive council to the big picture and the strategic planning process.
Tactical Planning
What is a tactical plan and why do you need one? Build from basic goal-setting to plan for one year and look to the future.
Public Relations and Communications
Why is SWE such a well-kept secret? Increase public awareness of your section and improve communications with members.
Membership is a Contact Sport
Do you have more SWE members on paper than you see in person? Find out how to increase participation and why personal contact is essential.
Leadership
How can you be an effective leader? Discover good leadership skills and explore your leadership style.
How to Effectively Manage Meetings
When is a meeting truly necessary? Do you want to run productive meetings? Decide when to hold meetings and how to run them effectively and efficiently.
Team Building
Do your section members work well together? Learn how to build a diverse, dedicated and effective team and discover the strengths that each member brings.
Conflict Resolution
How do you handle the debates? Conflict is healthy and reflects differences of perspective. Learn to use conflict and people’s passion to make better decisions for your section.
Diversity
This module provides an overview of diversity within the society and in engineering and features some very interesting statistics.
Women in Engineering
The objective of this module is to provide understanding and examples of diversity on campus and in the workplace. It also features a discussion of the value of SWE in diversity.
