The New Member Project: Advice and Experience from Last Semester’s Winning Team

By Jane McKinley

Despite the diverse backgrounds of the entire chapter, we all share one unifying experience: The New Member Project.

Everyone can recall the late-night meetings with team members on campus. The laughs, the stress and of course the friendships that were born. This project lays the foundation for our new members to expand their critical thinking and develop their leadership and teamwork skills. The lessons learned are invaluable.

Last spring semester, the new members worked with the Jeff Hanson Art Foundation. The teams were tasked with strategizing a marketing plan to fundraise $2 million for the construction of a poppy flower sculpture in Jeff's honor.

The winning team consisted of Michael Feagins, Hannah Liszka, Anish Rajaram, Ben Snyder and Grace Tarler. The two team leads included Somnia Keesey and Charlotte Thaler.

The idea they presented included a two-step campaign First, they suggested the foundation should sell small packages with a canvas, paint and paintbrushes. In tandem, they proposed that the client should launch a social media campaign called #PaintLikeJeff. People that bought the painting packages could then share their creations on social media with the hashtag and spread the word of the foundation.

I got the chance to speak with some of the members of the winning team to get some insight on their project and gather any advice they have for the most recent batch of new members. Here is what they had to say:

1. What is the biggest lesson you learned during the new member project?

Hannah: The biggest lesson I learned during the new member project was to not be afraid to ask for criticism. Hearing what you can improve upon will only make your project stronger. When my teammates gave me feedback on what I could refine, the quality of my work improved greatly.

Grace: The biggest lesson that I learned during my new member project was how to collectively pivot an idea and create a concise solution. During our first checkpoint presentation, we didn't have a specific idea but rather background information. As a group, we continued to ideate for ideas and came up with an idea that had multiple levels to it, which on one hand is good to have an in-depth solution but it came to a point where there were too many levels to the solution. We were able to pivot the idea and learned the power of how well a singular concise solution is compared to an idea that has too many components.

Anish: The biggest lesson I learned from the new member project was that it’s crucial that all group members understand and utilize each other’s diverse perspectives during the ideation processes

2. What is an important piece of advice you would give to a future new member or team lead?

Grace: I would tell future new members that becoming close with your team and comfortable is key. If you are not close with your team you won't be able to communicate truthfully and honestly, preventing good ideation and ideas from bouncing off each other. It can be hard to meet with your team but making any time possible even if it is even an hour is helpful.

Charlotte: The number one piece of advice I would give to a future team lead or new member is to have fun during this process. It can be overwhelming and frustrating at times, but the New Member Project is an amazing way to get to know and learn from your brothers. Team meetings don't have to be all work and no play- take time to catch up with each other, get to know each other, and find some time to hang out outside of team meetings. I have made some really great relationships with people I met through projects, so make it fun!

3. What did you find your team struggled with the most? What did you excel at?

Charlotte: My team tended to struggle with coordinating meetings without the help of me or Somnia, my co-lead, but giving them more independence to plan meetings on their own helped them overcome this obstacle. My team did an incredible job at delegating tasks, working through problems together, and they always showed up to meetings with a positive attitude. I couldn't have had a better team- I really lucked out with them.

Anish: Towards the end of the project, my group struggled with scheduling meeting times that worked for everyone. For this reason, I would advise that new member groups meet as much as possible before it’s too late. Fortunately for my group, we had met a few times right after the client was introduced so that got us ahead.

Hannah: Our team excelled in the research portion of the project. We came up with

different areas we wanted to research that we felt would be valuable to understand when

coming up with a solution for the client. After creating the list we divided it up between the five of

us and got to work. Everyone found great information that really set us up for the rest of the

Project.

4. Favorite memory?

Charlotte: My favorite memory with my team is undoubtedly when our client announced that our team's idea won first place. It made me so happy to see the smiles on my team member's faces when they found out they won, and I was so proud of how hard they worked to get there. Seeing my team win the competition reminded me of why I chose to be a team lead in the first place- to help our new members gain the confidence and skills they need to succeed both in the chapter and out in the real world.

Hannah: My favorite memory was pitching our idea to the clients. While winning was very rewarding, the best part was actually seeing all our work bundled up into a 10 minute presentation. We had spent so long on our presentation, from researching all the way to fine tuning the slide deck and it felt good to see our hard work produce a great presentation that the client loved.

Grace: My favorite memory of this process was the first time that we met as a group to get to know each other. We did this at Skippers to promote an informal meeting where we could just begin to feel comfortable with each other.

5. How, through this process, have you grown as a team member? A professional?

Hannah: One way I have grown as a professional is by improving my verbal presentation skills. I have never been a fan of public speaking, but I had no choice, our final solution had to be pitched to the client. So, by practicing with my team and getting feedback from the group and my team leads, I was able to refine my public speaking abilities. I have now bettered my public speaking skills because I gained more confidence from this presentation.

Grace: I think that this project allowed me to grow as a team member by increasing my understanding of other people's schedules and life. In the FYIC many people had to make adjustments and miss meetings for the FYIC group to meet but during this project, we were all understanding, and instead of having multiple meetings where we got sidetracked we learned how to keep on topic.

Anish: I’ve grown as a team member and professional by working in a group of individuals with different perspectives on an exciting, real-world project.

Charlotte: Being a Team Lead for the New Member Project taught me that being a good leader requires knowing when to step back and let others take the ropes. At the beginning, my team definitely benefited from having both me and Somnia lead the meetings. However, as we got farther along in the process, they were able to take control of the meetings themselves and got to choose what to talk about and work on. While I may have known the solution to some of the problems my team faced throughout the process, I knew that taking a step back and letting them figure it out on their own was an integral part of their learning and growth.

PSE MiamiOctober 12, 2022