Running Head: RELATIONSHIPS, STRATEGY AND VISION

Relationships, Strategy and Vision:

The Keys to Kate Bates Effective Leadership in a Student Activities Office
Krysta Coleman
Western Michigan University

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As the Associate Director of Student Activities & Leadership Programs (SALP) at
Western Michigan University, Kate Bates wears many hats. From running staff meetings to
mentoring student leaders to maintaining a healthy work-life balance with her family of four (and
soon to be five!), Kate exercises many different types of leadership styles in every aspect of her
life. Kate says shes always seen been a leader. As the oldest of five siblings, an involved high
school and college student, and an active adult, its easy to see that Kates leadership skills have
progressed over time in order to adapt to her environment, her team, and her developing
leadership philosophy.
After talking with Kate, I pinpointed her graduate school years as the point in which her
leadership philosophy took a major turn. Coming into graduate school at Western as a Biology
student, Kate took an assistantship as a Residence Hall Coordinator. She soon realized that she
loved her assistantship work more than her school work and switched her program of study to
Counseling, which ultimately led to her career in Student Affairs. Coming into a hall director
position immediately after graduate school, Kate was submerged in her work, living in the
residence halls with her husband, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Within a few years, Kate
found herself burnt out and in need of a break. She and her husband had always talked about
hiking the Appalachian Trail, and after realizing that they could afford it monetarily, and needed
it emotionally, they spent the next two years planning and saving for their adventure. Kate told
me that her time on the trail completely changed her perspective on work-life balance and her
approach to leadership. I learned that its ok to leave your plan; use your plan as a guideline, but
be ok with leaving it. (2013) She noted that many times on the trail they were forced to re-plan,
re-route, and realize when they needed a break.

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After observing and interviewing Kate, I learned a lot about her leadership style, her
processes for implementing change, and how they were impacted by the systems of her work
environment. Kates experiences in the work place and on the trail have developed her as a
leader who cultivates relationships in order maximize her teams potential, develops new ideas
and strategies for everyday leadership, and creates a vision for her team in order to make
significant progress.
One of the first things I noticed about Kate was her need to build relationships with and
amongst her team, to create connections between the various areas she works with, and her
willingness to learn from those around her. In addition to taking time to get to know her team, it
is evident that her relational style has such a strong effect on them that they seemed to mimic her
actions in their very own meetings.
As a relational leader, Kate took time at the beginning of each meeting to talk to her team
about their personal lives. Work isnt all we do, she explained. Its important to value them
(your team) as a person first, above the work that they do [asking about their personal life] can
provide context if things arent going well. Because Kate is able to determine the setting
based on these conversations, she is better able to help her team accomplish goals. The setting
for each area that she works with is very different based on the demographics of the team, her
relationships with the members of that team, and the work that she does with them (Grogan,
2013, p.23). Kate noted that she has a different filter depending on who she is talking to
(undergraduate students, graduate students, staff, etc.). By aligning her conversations with
relevant events in her teams lives, as well as the strengths that she knows they possess, Kate is
able to draw the best possible performance out of each of her teams and employees.

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I observed Kate in two settings: the first, in a Graduate Student Advisory Committee
(GSAC) Executive team meeting, in which she is the groups advisor and then again in a one-onone meeting with one of SALPs Assistant Directors, Sarah Hurd. Additionally, I observed her
somewhat informally during our SALP staff meetings. Although it was evident that her setting
or filter was different in each situation, she started each meeting the same: by asking about
what was going on with her team members. With the GSAC chairman, Damon, they talked about
his recent wedding and his visits with family who had flown in from Jamaica for the ceremony.
With Sarah the conversation was a little more relaxed and detailed; reflective of their close
relationship. It was clear that Kate keeps consistent mental notes on her team, as she always
asked follow up questions about things that had happened in previous weeks. This individualized
consideration, as part of Kates transformational leadership methods, allows her team to feel
more relaxed with her because she takes a special interest in each person, their story, and their
current situation (Northouse, 2013, p.185) While many leaders may see this as an unnecessary
interaction, I believe that creating personal relationships is an integral part of building trust and
credibility within a team.
Although I only saw Kate in these few settings, I also had the unique opportunity to
witness and participate in meetings hosted by both Damon and Sarah. As a new member of
GSAC, I attended my first meeting run by Damon. At the very beginning of the meeting, he
initiated an icebreaker that allowed all of us to learn a little bit more about each other, allowing
us to begin building connections. After the meeting, he made a point to take a few minutes to talk
to almost everyone in the room, especially those who were new. Since the meeting, he has even
gone out of his way to talk to me and some of the other new students to find out more about our
experience so far. In a similar fashion, Sarah and I start each of our one-on-one meetings talking

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about what is going on outside of work, and she always remembers to ask about my family, and
how Im feeling about Kalamazoo and Western so far. She has even gone out of her way to
connect with me outside of work to help us both start to build a stronger connection. In these
actions, both in Damon and in Sarah, I see that Kate has influenced them. By serving as an
idealized influence Kate acts as a role model and inspiration to her teams. It is evident that she
has helped to develop and change the perspective of those that she leads in such a way that they
are able to use the same tactics with their teams (Northouse, 2013, p.191).
I believe that Kates team members feel confident in mimicking her leadership style, not
only because Kate sets a strong example for them, but because she also allows them to take a
leadership role in their relationship. In both settings, Kate took a back seat and provided a
support system as needed, while Damon and Sarah ran the meeting. They know what they need
to tell me, one-on-ones are their time, Kate told me. Even though she wasnt running the
meeting, Kate asked a lot of follow up questions, and offered feedback and guidance that made it
evident that she was not only listening, but that she was processing the information and drawing
connections between the various areas that she works with. This approach to leadership, and its
obvious replication throughout the various areas of SALP, indicates Kates abilities as a
transformational leader, in creating a special culture, based on her relationships with her teams.
Her understanding of each individual, their work style, and how they operate within their
functional area is imperative to the trusting, progressive, and open-minded culture of the office
(Northouse, 2013, p.193).
As previously mentioned, Kate wears many hats as SALPs Associate Director. In
addition to working with the SALP team, and GSAC as mentioned previously, her most
prominent role is in overseeing Leadership and Volunteer services, which includes coordinating

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several Leadership certificates and supervising a group of undergraduate interns called
LeadCorp. This year LeadCorp is made up of 14 students who are committed to their own
development as leaders, as well as the development of leaders across campus, especially in
Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). In supervising both the SALP office and LeadCorp,
Kate has created an internal system that brings both SALP and LeadCorp closer together by
dedicating four LeadCorp interns to the development of RSO leadership over the next year.
As Senge (1990) says in A Shift of the Mind, The essence of discipline of systems
thinking lies in a shift of the mind: seeing interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect
chains, and seeing processes of change rather than snapshots (p.73). In this case, we start the
circular system with a need for RSO development. In response to this, LeadCorp develops new
programs focused on areas of leadership that RSOs struggle with including, but not limited to,
transitioning leadership, conflict management, and communication. These programs will create
leadership experiences that will (hopefully) cultivate new student leaders on campus, who will
bring the system full circle and will assist in RSO development and growth across campus.
Kates ability to make connections between pieces of the SALP puzzle, has, especially in this
case, created a program that will allow several areas of the office to bring their special talents
together for the betterment of student life as a whole. Similarly, Kate has worked with the Office
of Fraternity & Sorority Life within SALP to develop a program called Greeks in Action. Greeks
in Action is based off of her Leaders in Action program, but incorporates fraternal values that are
instrumental in creating Greek leaders. These integrated programs also reflect Aristotles theory
that the people, when assembled, have a combination of qualities that they lack as individuals
(Menendian & Watt, 2008).

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For example, in dedicating LeadCorp interns to RSO development, the interns bring in
student-to-student communication abilities, knowledge of topics that RSOs struggle with, and a
better understanding of the student culture at Western. Meanwhile, they may lack the knowledge
and experience necessary to create effective leadership development programming. In
complement to the interns, the SALP staff brings in expertise on programming and leadership
development techniques, as well as a platform to develop a leadership program, but lacks the
means to effectively communicate with students on a peer-to-peer level. By taking the best of
each functional area in the SALP office, Kate has created a learning organization which becomes
more than the sum of its parts. Each person brings in experiences and skillsets that others may
not possess, and while each on their own may not be great, each member of the team
complements each other in such a way that they achieve extraordinary results (Grogan, 2013,
p.4).
In addition to having strong relationship-building skills, Kate is also a strong strategic leader
who pushes her team to gather as much information as possible and consider all options before
making a decision. While she trusts her team and their judgment, facts help Kate to set a strategy
for getting things done. Badaracco (2002) mentions that it is important for leaders to embrace
preparation, caution, care, and attention to detail when making decisions, and Kate does just
that, sometimes to a fault (p.9). I think people often see me as being really negative, because I
can usually pick out problems with a strategy, Kate says about her restorative nature. However,
it is her restorative nature that allows her to find the best route for her teams to take, even if it
takes a little more time. Coming from a scientific background, Kate is able to quickly pull up
facts and past experiences that are relevant to the task at hand, providing unique perspective
when it comes to problem solving.

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While she can quickly recall past experiences and lessons learned, it often takes time to
gather new information and factor in all options when setting the best strategy. Kate and I talked
about how waiting for all the information can sometimes be a hindrance, but as far as being
strategic in buying time, it can be a blessing in disguise. Buying this little bit of extra time allows
leaders to consider how their decisions will affect the greater system that they work within. For
example, this summer we have begun to consider raising the prices in the RSO Designs center, to
more accurately reflect the costs of operation. Kate has ensured that we have collected enough
data to (1) stay competitive with other local printing resources and (2) continue to provide the
best option for our students when it comes to designs and printing. After we gathered data about
competitor pricing and RSO spending from last year, Kate asked for more information to ensure
that the price increase would not negatively affect RSO Designs cash flow due to students
looking elsewhere for printing resources. Buying enough time to consider various scenarios
before the fall semester begins has helped us to find the best solution possible (Badaracco, 2002,
p.53).
Strategy has as much to do with numbers and assessment as it does with the attitude and
culture of the team that you are leading. Kate has learned to adjust her leadership styles in
accordance with the culture of her surroundings, and her relationships with her team. In her
residence life experience as a graduate assistant, Kate found herself in many situations that could
be described as unusual at best, but are almost unavoidable when working in a University
residence hall. She told me that after dealing with one weird scenario after the next she finally
reached the conclusion that if you cant cry about it, you have to laugh about it. She noted that
the use of humor must always be in the correct context and with the appropriate crowd, but that it
is so often necessary when dealing with stress.

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In the SALP office, Kate has helped to create a culture that is dependent on growth and
change, which can often increase the stress levels in the office significantly. However, by using
humor to diffuse situations before they become an issue, or simply in connecting with her staff,
Kates transformational leadership is evident. She treats every member of the staff with the same
respect, and always considers them as human beings, as opposed to simply employees. While
we spoke only briefly about the culture of the SALP office in past years, it is evident that Kates
commitment to change through transformational leadership has had a huge impact on SALPs
current culture. Kate holds her team to high standards, while also incorporating ethics and
values that support the long-term goals of the office. It is this positive and inclusive culture that
encourages the team to carry on and succeed, even it times of struggle and uncertainty
(Northouse, 2013, p. 185).
Kates relational and strategic leadership lays the foundation for what is perhaps her most
important leadership capability: the ability to create, and motivate her team to work towards, a
shared vision. Although vision is a basic expectation of good leadership, I have witnessed few
leaders who have overcome the obstacles that Kate has encountered when building vision. As
mentioned previously, Kate served as a graduate assistantship during her time in graduate school,
which eventually led to her appointment as a hall director. Unfortunately, in her new position,
her predecessor was a textbook example of what Grogan describes in her text, and Kate suffered
greatly from the mistakes made by her predecessor (Grogan, 2013, p.24). She came into a
culture where there was little respect for authority, nearly no organization, and worse, no
motivation to make things better. The previous supervisor had allowed his resident assistants to
berate the graduate assistant in the residence hall, and played favorites when selecting his
resident assistants, leaving Kate with an entitled, under-qualified staff. Furthermore, the

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graduate assistant she worked with was also struggling and did not seem qualified to perform in
the position, made even more difficult by the hostile environment that had been created.
However, Kate was determined to turn things around, and while her decisions were not always
popular, she implemented a gradual system to improve the residence hall culture.
Reculturing is a difficult process that involves energy, enthusiasm, and hard work. Kate
worked on reculturing her department just as Fullan describes: as one that activates and deepens
moral purpose through collaborative workand constantly build and test knowledge against
measurable results (Fullan, 2007, p.177). Unfortunately, it seemed that every time she made
some progress, she took two steps back. In this case, Kate was unable to redefine resistance due
to the sheer lack of respect and motivation in the system. Her decisions were met with resistance
by a group of resident assistants who were unfamiliar with structure and change; the harder she
pushed, the harder they pushed back (Senge, 1990, p.58). She eventually concluded that If you
cant change the people, you have to change your people. Kate weeded out the weak links in
her staff the following year during hiring, and brought in a group that she knew she could work
with, and would work with her in her vision to improve the culture. It wasnt easy, she said. I
cried every nightbut I discovered that there will always be people who dont like you. But, if
you do the right thing, lead from the heart and do your best, people will respect you.
After years of fighting an uphill battle, Kate reached her breaking point, and it was then
that she and her husband decided to take a break from work and hike the Appalachian Trail. The
2,176 mile trip took them 178 days, but for Kate it was a journey that changed her leadership
style and her priorities forever. Specifically, Kate mentioned one scenario that would have been
completely out of character six months earlier. After being on the trail for several months, she
and her husband were in New York, and found themselves needing to re-route and re-plan for the

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evening after encountering a rather difficult time on the trail that day. They headed into town
and were met by a man who offered them a cold beer, a hot shower, and a hot meal. Kate and
her husband gratefully accepted, and went home with the man, who they later found out
routinely opened up his home to trail hikers throughout the year. They stayed with him for
several days, recovered, and headed back out. It helped me to realize that you need to know
when you need a break, Kate told me. More specifically Kate discovered what Kouzes and
Posner say all leaders must discover when determining the level of commitment you are willing
to make: You must discover three essential aspects of yourselfyour values, your personal
credo, give you the right words to say. Your capabilities, your competencies, give you the skills
to turn your words into actions. And your trust in your abilities to do what you believe, your
confidence, gives you the will to make use of those skills (Kouzes,& Posner, 2003, p.59) . This
lesson, amongst other obstacles she faced on the trail allowed her to see that being practical is
not always the best way to go, and that time for self and experiential reflection is vital to creating
a work-life balance. She determined that her credo was finding peace in her work-life balance,
her competencies were in being honest with herself and reflecting, and her confidence allowed
her to commit to all of these things, and to do them well. Working in a student affairs position,
this lesson has become directly transferrable: it is important when to know when to unplug, and
go home, and to know yourself well enough to know when you need a break. Kate has relayed
this same lesson to students in encouraging them to do the same when it comes to student-student
leader balance.
Kates dedication to leadership as a relational, strategic, and visionary leader makes her a
great role model for her team. As a relational leader, Kate establishes credibility with her team,
and builds relationships that allow her to understand her employees struggles and successes in

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and out of the work place, thus allowing her to find ways to effectively motivate, and work with,
them. Her strategy keeps her team on track, and creates opportunity for accomplishment which
also serves as a source of motivation; the more a team accomplishes, the more they are motivated
to work towards the next goal. Her vision brings each of these pieces together and steers her
team in a direction that will be beneficial for the entire office moving forward. Kate clearly
understands how to lead her team within the greater system of the entire University, and how to
initiate change as needed in order to be progressive and intentional with every improvement, and
new program. As a young professional, and a new member of her team, I find myself eager to
work with Kate and to continue to learn more from her expertise and experiences over the next
two years.

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References
Badaracco, Joseph (2002). Leading quietly: an unorthodox guide to doing the right thing.
Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Fullan, Michael (2007). The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership (2nd ed). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Grogan, Margaret (2013). The Jossey-Bass Reader on Educational Leadership (3rd ed.). San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kouzes, J., & Posner, B. (2003). Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose it, Why People
Demand it. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Menendian, S., & Wyatt, C. (2008). Systems Thinking and Race. Systems Primer, 2-14.
Northouse, Peter G. (2013). Leadership (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Senge, Peter M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning
Organization. New York, NY: Doubleday.