Collaborative Leadership as a Student

I was elected one of three class representatives (rep) by my cohort for Belmont University’s Master of Science Occupational Therapy (MSOT) weekend bridge program. This position provided many unique leadership opportunities, including coordinating with classmates and professors on assignment due dates and facilitating class questions or professor announcements as well as assisting with organizing a collaborative class between the MSOT and Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) programs at Belmont University.

Prior to this position, I had minimal leadership experience, which created feelings of nervous excitement. While I liked the idea of “being in charge,” I had limited knowledge on how to be a good leader for anyone, let alone my peers. Being a class rep afforded me the opportunity to practice and develop the leadership skills I had learned in school. The collaborative class experience was the most challenging leadership moment as a class rep; it involved stepping outside my comfort zone and using appropriate leadership skills including communication, collaboration, and delegation.

What’s a collaborative class?

The collaborative class took place during one of the live weekends, and the OTD students joined the MSOT students on campus. The MSOT students developed learning objectives and interactive activities as well as facilitated the class discussions. The topic of the class was related to the relationship between Certified Occupational Therapy Assistants (COTAs) and Registered Occupational Therapists (OTRs) including supervision, collaboration, and role differentiation. The class period allowed the MSOT students to develop and present the curriculum for the day while the OTD students engaged in learning related to COTAs with a bonus of learning from current COTAs.

Challenges as a leader

To ensure we were adequately prepared, we began meeting with our professor mentor months before we held the live course. Our professor mentor encouraged the class reps to identify the most appropriate strategy to select learning objects and activities, determine groups, and solidify an agenda with minimal input from her. During our meetings, she frequently asked us, “What do you think?” or “Is it ok if I do this part?” I had never been in a situation where I was telling the professor how anything should be organized. I had to practice being assertive to someone whom I viewed as being in charge.

The class reps each mentored at least one group of MSOT students to facilitate discussions and complete the preparation. When the groups were created, there was a minor miscommunication, which led to low levels of participation and communication in the groups. This required each of the class reps to firmly encourage participation, but still some groups required frequent re-direction while others required continued encouragement.

The class itself took place during Halloween weekend. I was again full of nervous energy as I prepared to stand in front of a room of strangers and future and current peers in my Halloween costume and present our hard work. Since I had been in the meeting that determined how long each activity was allotted, I made the mistake of not re-reading or printing the schedule for the weekend. Our professor mentor had made a minor change of adding 30 additional minutes to the end.

We split the group into two and ran two activities simultaneously. A few minutes into that rotation, I noted the time and told the group leading the obstacle course that we were behind. This caused them to rush, which was ultimately reflected in the feedback we received from the OTD students. By the time my mistake was corrected, it was too late, and we had to think swiftly and creatively to keep that group occupied while the other group was completing their activity.

There was a group of OTD and MSOT students who were present via Zoom; however, we had not planned activities to keep them engaged during the break-out groups. After the day had begun and we realized we weren’t prepared, I contacted one of the MSOT students that was on Zoom to work out a plan. In place of the in-person obstacle course, she facilitated a discussion on Zoom on the same topic. To allow for participation in the role play activity, I messaged her the prompt for the online OTD students to prepare. During this portion of the day, I was in front of the computer monitoring the chat and engaging them in the live discussion.

We wanted to provide the OTD students with an opportunity to give us feedback, and therefore, we added a comment section to the posttest. Most of the feedback was positive, some comments were constructive, and then there was that one comment that expressed dissatisfaction with all aspects of the day, including lack of understanding for the activities chosen and frustration with the change in schedule. Despite the other positive and constructive feedback, that one comment stung. However, I’m grateful for this student leadership experience, especially for the support of my fellow class reps and our professor mentor.

Lessons I learned

• If I can stand in front of a room full of strangers in a Halloween costume and present, I can do anything. This experience unlocked my love for teaching in a higher, structured capacity. My career goal is now to teach future COTAs or OTRs.
• Getting input from teammates on your idea means the idea may turn out differently than intended; this can lead to even better results than originally imagined!
• Be a firm, self-sufficient, and kind leader. Every time my group or I hit a snag, I could not go to the professor for the solution.
• I can be a leader independently and on a team. This opportunity required me to lead the group I was mentoring as well as collaborate with my fellow class reps to create a cohesive day.
• Even if I helped plan the event, I need to review the schedule of events immediately prior to and during the event to help ensure I don’t negatively impact the flow.
• How to brainstorm and implement solutions quickly to facilitate telehealth treatments. When I realized that we did not have anything planned for the online OTD students, we had to quickly come up with a solution to ensure they got to participate in the discussion and activities.

Being a student leader will help you to:

• Prepare for conflict you may encounter in fieldwork or as a practitioner, and to find your voice to have professional authority.
• Gain confidence in your role as a leader in a safe and supportive environment to help progress our profession and your career.
• Become more comfortable with giving and receiving feedback from peers.
• Trial various leadership styles and develop your personal style.
• Gain insight and self-awareness related to your professional communication and conflict resolution style.
• Learn time management and coordination of multiple responsibilities in a safe environment.
• Develop a more personal relationship with your professors. They are always great resources to have, whether you’re asking for help with a clinical question or a letter of recommendation.
• Learn how to gracefully make mistakes, quickly recover, and continue moving. In clinical practice, you must be quick on your feet and adapt when something is not going as intended.
• Learn how to professionally and effectively, yet firmly, communicate your intentions with a group of people. When mentoring my group, I wrote and re-wrote my messages several times to ensure that it would be received as intended and without any emotions.

Samantha Harrison was a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant for more than 5 years before transitioning to a Registered Occupational Therapist. She graduated from Belmont University in August 2023. This fall, she is enrolled in a Post-Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy to pursue a career in teaching, educating future generations of occupational therapy practitioners.