“I stayed up until 2 or 3 every morning to get all my work done before I went to bed,” said the former president of the Jazz Music Club. He told me this when I asked how he managed to keep up his grades, be the best drummer in the club, and lead the club all at once.

Leading a club in high school is hard. As the leader, there have been times when I felt like I was burning out between managing the club and keeping up my grades.

Even though I have only been leading a club for three months, I’ve learned the three keys to be a good club leader.

Key 1: Keep everyone communicating

Effective leadership means not working alone. You need to collaborate and discuss plans with teammates to get the best results.

Holding weekly club meetings helps track progress and detect problems. My team uses a shared Notion workspace to store meeting notes, deadlines, and decisions. We keep track of the locations for instrument lessons, the names of new members, and the dates of each performance. This digital space makes us more productive and saves time waiting for others to respond to messages.

Key 2: Learn adaptability and problem solving

As the bridge between your club and other clubs, you may need to reach out to other club leaders to solve the problems together when necessary.

This semester, we didn’t have a member skilled enough in guitar to teach the sophomores. We thought about asking the seniors for help, taking the sophomores out for guitar lessons and paying professional jazz guitarists for lessons. But none of these ideas ended up being feasible. In the end, we decided to ask for help from other music clubs at our school. Luckily, one club leader generously agreed to let our sophomores join their guitar lessons.

Leadership is more than internal management. It is also about knowing when to seek support and build relationships outside of your team to achieve your goals.

Key 3: Learn to make decisions under pressure

When facing difficulties, the last thing you want to do is panic. Instead, you need to keep everyone calm. While you have to make the final decisions, you don’t have to find solutions alone.

Once, while we were moving our instruments before a show, it started raining heavily. I had to decide whether to follow the plan and risk getting the instruments wet and damaged, or cancel the show, which would make it harder for us to attract new members to the club. Fortunately, the former club president was there, so I could talk to someone more experienced instead of making the decision on my own. After discussing with him, we checked our performance area and figured out a way to perform without getting our instruments damaged. Thanks to that, our performance was a success.

To make good decisions under pressure, stay calm and talk with your team. They can often come up with ideas that you hadn’t considered, making the decision-making process easier for you.

–

Being a club leader in high school is a lot of work. You have to take responsibility, keep track of everyone’s work, and make decisions under pressure.

However, this experience teaches valuable lessons like teamwork, communication, and how to stay calm under pressure. The challenges you face will prepare you for future opportunities. Being a club leader is a worthwhile experience.