I (25F) am a co-president for a society at my university. It’s my second year in this role and my co-president (23F?) is in the first year of her role. Throughout the first semester I regularly experienced issues with her, primarily with her making elaborate plans for events, claiming ignorance on how to organize things, and then having me do things for her.
I have been generally quite patient about explaining the logistics and have often ended up just doing the things myself. I recently sat her down and talked about how over the next few months we need to transition to her doing the majority of things herself as I soon won’t be in my position anymore. A new co-president will be elected to take my spot but then she’ll be the senior/more experienced president and will need to be comfortable running the show.
She has once again planned another event that is scheduled to go ahead 2 days from now. I’ve been kept in the loop and have helped her plan catering and paperwork but have generally been having her run the show on this event. A few days ago we texted about all of the supplies we needed and I mentioned that obtaining the supplies would be an easy thing to delegate to other committee members. We regularly ask/expect other committee members to help with small things like setting up chairs/tables and making sure we have plates, napkins, etc.
It’s now been 2 days since I told her that could be delagated and she still has not messaged our committee to ask if anyone is able to do that. Like I mentioned, the event is now only 2 days away. As co-president I’m torn between just personally making sure it gets done or just allowing her to fail and hopefully learn from her mistakes. I might be TA because I do also run the society and it would look bad for us as a whole if things fail. But I’m also at my wits end doing things for her and feel she needs to learn these things quickly, even if that means learning through failure.
NTA.
Let her crash–if you bust your ass and make the event a success, she’ll likely take the credit.
It matters a lot what sort of “society” and “event” you’re asking about. Big difference between a blood drive and a Pokemon-themed sorority bash. Let the blood drive fail, shame on you; let the party fail, it’s on her head. The whole situation is a good example of why “co-president” is a bad idea.
It’s a dinner lecture! Students are welcome to come learn more about Interpreting Acid-Base Imbalances in patient bloodwork and we’re serving food to those who come.
NTA. I would think its time to let her do what she will with this. Ask how the supplies are going and maybe emphasize that you trust her to be able to handle it. Then just back up and wait to see how things go down.
Do you want this to fail now, when you can do something about it, or later when you can’t? If this doesn’t fail now it is only an inevitably that they will fail later. NTA
I mean, would it kill you to speak with her once more and remind her that she needs to get those things sorted? You really want to let everyone down just to make a point? If this is a charity event, or something people are paying to attend, I think you WBTA. You ARE still co-president and have a responsibility, even if your colleague isn’t up to it. If it’s just a party or something it’s not quite as important, but if I were I you I would still help get it sorted. You can always step down afterwards, and tell everyone that it is because you no longer want to carry the full responsibility for organizing everything.
YWBTA. You’re in a position of leadership, and you’ve got a responsibility in that case to ensure your organization does as well as it can. You’ve provided all the training you can, and after your term is up, it’s no longer your responsibility.
You kinda created this monster- by jumping in and saving her ( essentially doing her job for her). As tempting as it may seem to mess up the event- it’s also a reflection on you. No one’s going to care who the right person to blame is- they will be pissed and blame you both. Running around making sure everyone knows she was the fuck up- would not be a good look for you. And if this unsuccessful event could mess up you getting a TA position- it’s a no brainer Suck it up- make the event as great as it can be and hope she’s gone next year. If not, invest your time in something else. Good luck
Part of the reason you become a leader of this kind of group is because you’re interested in the society and what it does. A person might also become a leader because they want to show future employers that they’ve exhibited leadership. So by letting her fail, she’s going to learn that leadership takes effort. Leadership requires delegation. Leadership requires understanding the end result you’re trying to go for and make it happen. Leadership is leading a team. So hopefully this might be a learning experience for her that she has to do these things and also it may tell others that she’s not capable of leading.
based on what you wrote here, it would be easy for her to interpret what you said as meaning that you were going to delegate that task
I say suck it up and make sure things are done right. You are in your last year in this co-president role. When you are gone, THEN she (and the others) can learn which of you was the responsible one. You care about the organization and it’s not time to make a point. When you are gone the point will be made.
It’s tempting, but I would make sure everything that occurred or was planned under my leadership was amazing, as much as possible. Let her fail on her own after you’ve left office, when she’s the senior of the two leaders, so that reputation sticks to her, not you. Let the members look back on your term with fondness, not dismay. Next year, she won’t be able to hide it.
I would keep helping her as long as you are president. But i would also communicate really clearly who is doing what.
Call her and check on the event checklist. Put either your name or her name on everything. Then email her the list of who is doing what.