A challenge that college councils constantly face is the development and turnover of leadership. In four years, men must become leaders, guide their councils and then train others to do the same. New officers elected in the spring must quickly embrace their roles if they are to utilize summer vacation as a planning opportunity for the fall semester.
In addition to having outgoing leaders train the new elects to replace them, here are some best practices to effectively develop leadership in your council:
Coordinate an Officer Installation Ceremony with the District Deputy before the end of the school year. This allows each newly elected officer to officially assume his roles and responsibilities prior to summer vacation. The Officer Installation Ceremony is an open event and an opportunity for friends, family and the campus community to join for the ceremony and a reception afterward.
Councils should have one business meeting after elections to allow the newly elected leaders a chance to address the council on their plans and initiatives for the coming year. This meeting should not wait for the fall as plans for a fall rush/recruiting week should be in the works over the summer.
Although any Third Degree member can be grand knight, councils have found success electing a junior as grand knight who can then mentor the next grand knight as a senior. Furthermore, this prevents a senior grand knight from dividing time between making post-graduate plans and leading the council.
Offer leadership roles and responsibilities to freshmen. Have honorary outside and inside guard roles that are given to promising freshmen; invite them to officer meetings; and allow them to manage part of an event. From there, responsibility should grow by giving them more leadership responsibility with events and elect them to a higher officer position sophomore year. Develop several men who could assume the position of grand knight.