avaroselim - Makerspace Coordinator

The maintenance technician team at our end-of-quarter celebration and graduation

Discovering my Leadership and Management Styles Through Coordinating Workshops at the UW Makerspaces

Overview

One of the main aspects of my college experience was getting to work at the makerspaces on campus. After working nearly two years at the makerspaces, I applied for and was accepted to the Workshop Coordinator role. As Workshop Coordinator, I oversee the Technician Team by planning shifts, delegating tasks, and managing events and projects as well as organizing and scheduling workshops for all 3 spaces. This opportunity has been incredibly valuable and meaningful to me, allowing me to build up my skills and discover my management style while also building lasting relationships and completing work I am passionate about.

Personal Importance

The makerspaces on campus were an integral part of my journey in rediscovering my passion for creating and giving me the skills to succeed as a leader. I came into UW as a music major, but when I first walked into The MILL - the makerspace in my first-year dorm building - knew that I needed to pursue a degree that utilized my love for designing, building, and crafting. The next year I was hired as a desk attendant for The MILL, and in less than a year after being hired I applied for and took on a position as a Maintenance Technician. I loved being a tech, but when the position for Workshop Coordinator opened, I knew that the organization would support me in growing into this new role and give me the opportunity to learn leadership and management skills through real-world experience. Through this job, I have gained not only skills and experience but confidence in myself to say that I am a developed leader and I would be successful in a career in leadership or management.

Tasks Accomplished

Develops, plans, and schedules workshops for all Perks and Recreation makerspaces across UW campus
Oversees the technician team through scheduling, task prioritization, and responsibility delegation
Maintains and repairs machinery including 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines, and embroidery machines
Collaborates closely with the student coordinator team as well as the full-time professional staff members to complete administrative tasks, run large-scale events, and discover and refine leadership style

Leadership Competencies Gained

Confidence

As I mentioned in the previous discussion about productive relationships, when I started a Coordinator role I was worried about creating and developing relationships where I would be respected and taken seriously. As a woman in leadership, this is unfortunately a common fear of mine. I have a high-pitched voice and a non-threating face, society has shown me that people like me are often disregarded when it comes to positions of influence. Through this role, I have developed a new confidence of being comfortable in my own skin and assured that I am a deserving, knowledgeable, and skilled leader. Most of this confidence was derived from my experiences and feeling that I am successful and accomplished in my position, but I also got help from getting to work more closely with the nearly all-female professional staff team that manages the whole organization.

Self-development

Although I feel all of the previous competencies go to show how much I have developed as a person and leader through this experience, I think self-development is one of the most important takeaways I have. To me, self-development isn’t just that you have had experiences that helped you gain skills or learn about yourself, it is about understanding that learning is a life-long journey. Developing organizational strategies are great and will help me to be successful in the future, but I won’t be able to apply these skills 1 to 1. What I need to truly excel is the ability to learn quickly with the mindset that there is always more to learn. This position has given me a foundation of skills to build on and taught me the principle that it is always worth it to strive to grow.

Organization

I consider myself an organized person but being successful in this position required a new level or organization that I had to quickly learn and get accustomed to. My job involves many different tasks including scheduling employees, posting workshops, and coordinating special events. The personal organization systems I had in place were not enough to stay on top of everything. Scheduling in particular was a challenge to me because there are so many things that must be considered when putting people on shifts. Some examples are the number of hours everyone wants, when people are available, if certain people need to work together for shadowing or training, what workshops people can teach, and which of the 3 makerspaces need the most attention. I schedule about 10 people across all 3 makerspaces and post 12-16 workshops a week. If I wasn’t extremely organized and diligent in maintaining my organizational strategies and timelines, I would be letting other people down and setting the rest of the team up for failure. Although there has been hiccups, it has all been part of my learning in organizational success.

Me posing with our new 3D printers while filming a how-to video

I taught the very first workshop on the direct-to-garment printer, and I printed the test shirt upside-down... that's why we do tests!

Systems Thinking

When working in a large organization, systems become a necessity. Many of these systems have been in place for years, with student employees following them because its what their coordinators say and coordinators enforcing them because “that’s the way it’s always been done”. As I became more comfortable in my position, I began looking critically at the systems in place and analyzing why things were getting done in certain ways. Because I was able to step back and understand how each step connected in the greater system, I could implement small changes that improved the system without having it fall apart. As an example, when Maintenance Technicians were failing to consistently complete their post-workshop surveys, I had to look into the steps of the current system and determine which points were failing. To avoid system break down, I had to understand how each step interacted with eachother and in the whole process. I found that the survey was often forgotten about because it was not easily accessible, so I was able to integrate it into an existing system and greatly improved response consistency.

Productive relationships

In the nearly three years I have been working for Perks and Recreation at UW, I have made many close friendships. When I became Workshop Coordinator, I had to work around the fact that my close friends are now also people I oversee. At first, I was worried about this transition. However, I quickly realized that as long as I was setting boundaries between work and social life, putting in my full effort into my job, consistently asking for feedback, and communicating with empathy and understanding, I didn’t have to worry about people not respecting me in my new position. In addition to having to set boundaries in my existing relationships, I also had to build new relationships with students I had not previously met and strengthen relationships with the full-time professional staff members who oversee me and the rest of the team. I learned that in order to develop productive relationships, there must be boundaries set but that doesn’t mean to strictly talk about only work. True productive relationships are formed not just when team members have a shared respect and understanding of each other, but also when they are able to connect, share, and help each other in contexts outside of work.

Lessons Learned and Looking to the Future

Being the Workshop Coordinator for the Perks and Recreation makerspaces at UW has been such a formative experience because I have been able to grow as a leader since the very first day I was hired. Before this job, I was interested in leadership and had some knowledge of leadership principles but I had very little experience in being able to learn and practice these skills. Because I was in an environment that I felt comfortable in, I was able to push myself to find both my strengths and my limits. I now have tangible, real-world leadership experience that has build my confidence and skills in preparation for the career ahead of me.

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