I AM PSE: What it means to be a Team Lead with Erin Wagner and Maggie Nowakowski
I AM PSE: What it means to be a Team Lead
Featuring Erin Wagner and Maggie Nowakowski
By Madeline Collins
The New Member Project is a rite of passage for PSE members. After getting their bid, new members are split into teams to solve a prompt given by a real world company. A current member is given to each team as a team lead to provide insight and guide them through the process as their first project with PSE.
This semester, new members are working with P&G to develop a distribution strategy for their new natural cleaning product line, called 9 Elements. Being a team lead is a very important role because they are fostering skills, like confidence, organization, and communication, that they can carry with them in their time at PSE and their future professional careers. Follow along as junior Erin Wagner and senior Maggie Nowakowski share some insight of what it means to be a team lead for new members.
Why did you apply to be a team lead?
Erin: Being a team lead was something I always envisioned for myself. I absolutely loved my team lead, Morgan Burnell, when I was a new member. I got into PSE my first semester freshman year, so I was learning all about college and PSE at the same time. Morgan was a great mentor and she inspired me to run for VP of Public Relations as I saw her succeed in the role. As her successor, she supported me in the transitional phase. I wanted to emulate her in a lot of ways especially as I approached my task of being a team lead.
Maggie: I applied to be a team lead because when I was a freshman I found that having mentors in PSE was the most impactful part of my journey. It fostered my excitement to participate in PSE. I wanted to give back to new members and I am passionate about keeping people included in this pandemic structure. I have found that it has been hard for new members in all types of organizations to feel included. So, I wanted to help by being a team lead to guide them through the transition of being a new member.
What is your strategy for working with new members on a project like this?
Erin: My first strategy was getting them to know each other as friends. I am a big believer that your team should not just be the people you work with. They should also be the people you get to know on a personal level. I started that by getting lunch with them before starting to work on the project. We meet twice a week as a team over zoom and it can be difficult to develop personal relationships over a virtual platform. So, at the beginning of every meeting, I try to ask them about their day and I foster collaboration and teamwork over the virtual environment as much as possible.
Maggie: I work through empathy. I try to connect the team from the beginning by having them tell each other what their working style is, what everyone is interested in working on, and what they would like to work on. This allows for each of the members to understand what everyone is going through. Throughout our weekly meetings, we touch base on how everybody is doing and see what the energy coming in looks like. Then I step back and let them lead because I want it to be their project. I think of myself as a supporter and I will be there for them inside and outside of the project.
What do you hope new members take away from this project?
Erin: All of my team members are at different aspects in their college career. On my team, I have two freshmen, one sophomore, and one junior. I hope that they can teach each other as they all have had different experiences while being at Miami. When I was a freshman, getting to do the new member project was a huge confidence builder for me as it helped me with my public speaking, research skills, and gave me resources that I was not getting in the classroom. I hope that they can build their confidence and gain tactical research skills that I was able to get when I went through the process as a new member.
Maggie: I hope that they gain confidence and that they are energized to continue to be connected with PSE. The project is a segway for them to find their niche in PSE whether that be committees or other projects. Looking back on my own new member experience, the new member project felt so much at once. When it was over I realized that I grew so much from where I was at the beginning. I hope they experience that as well.
What advice would you give to future team leads?
Erin: Like I said before, getting to know your team as people is huge and being able to treat them as friends instead of fellow peers in a business organization. It is crucial to offer them the floor to ask questions about the project. If they want to talk to me about something none PSE related, I have made that very clear to all of my team members. Creating space to talk about ideas outside of the project is very important to develop those personal relationships beyond the project. Being a team lead is a big role as you are the one that they are in contact with the most when they are new members. So, cultivating a safe space for them sets them up for success in PSE.
Maggie: A piece of advice I would give to future team leads is to be adaptable and communicative within the group. You need to find the best ways to communicate in your team. These new members are going through so much and you may think that there is one path that they need to take because you have been in it before. The thing is everyone works in different ways. It is important that you are aware of the group dynamic and make sure that you are making choices that work for everyone one on the team to be successful as a group.
