Part Two: Leaders are Readers (and Writers)

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In my previous post, I made the claim that definitions of leadership are shifting away from authority and control toward collaboration, communication, and empathy—precisely the skills that writing center tutors develop. I also suggested that by helping peer tutors see themselves as leaders, writing centers can reinforce those positive definitions of leadership. In other words, if we want leaders who are collaborative, empathetic, and good at giving feedback, we need to help people with those skills—our tutors—identify themselves as leaders. In this post, I’ll share ideas about how to more explicitly integrate leadership skills into tutor training and development.

One of the most popular phrases in my leadership development cohort is “leaders are readers.” Reading about leadership skills can give tutors new ideas to practice and, perhaps more important, new concepts to filter their experiences through as they reflect on tutorials. There are countless leadership development books and not all of them are worthwhile, but here are three that I think would work well in a tutorial training course.

Dare to Lead, Brené Brown: Brown is a popular leadership expert, often recognized from her TED Talk on the power of vulnerability. An academic, Brown includes high-quality research in her books to complement her own experiences, which makes the book work well in the classroom. One of the things I love about Brown (and this book in particular) is her definition of leadership: “I define a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and who has the courage to develop that potential.” As I discussed in my previous post, tutors may not always identify themselves as leaders, but this definition certainly captures the work that tutors do. In addition to helping students see themselves as leaders, Daring to Lead encourages students to develop empathy, community clearly, and stay curious.

Thanks for the Feedback, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen: Stone and Heen’s work on giving and receiving feedback is directly relevant to the work of writing center tutors, and it helps tutors situate what they’re already doing in larger conversations about leadership and professional communication. Because this book focuses on the experience of receiving feedback, it can help tutors develop empathy for the peers they coach and recognize why students might be resistant to feedback. In my next tutor training course, I plan to pair this book with a series of assignments that ask tutors to write reflections about tutoring each other.

The Rise, Sarah Lewis: The Rise addresses themes like creativity and learning from failure with examples from art, dance, athletics, and more. Lewis’s explanations of failure and mastery highlight the importance of ongoing practice, not just a focus on outcomes. As a result, this book expands traditional ideas about leadership by encouraging readers to think about more than results. The first chapter, “The Unfinished Masterpiece” would work particularly well in a tutor training course to emphasize the importance of process over perfection.

Leaders—at least when they’re peer tutors—are also writers, and writing assignments are important ways to encourage reflection. Asking students to reflect on the relationship between peer tutoring scholarship and leadership will allow tutors to consider how leadership skills complement their work as peer tutors and, just as importantly, identify the times leadership doesn’t seem to fit with or describe their work. Understanding that leadership development may not perfectly align with the work of the writing center will encourage tutors to develop tutoring praxis and leadership philosophy that are flexible and fit the values of students and of the writing center.

Finally, assigning students to update their résumés and cover letters as part of tutor training is an excellent way to help them see the connections between writing center work and professional skills. Working on these documents helps students practice articulating how their skills as tutors transfer to their future careers. Students can describe themselves not only as stronger communicators but as collaborators and empathetic listeners practiced at providing clear feedback. In other words, they can position themselves as the leaders they are.

Author Bio:

Sarah Summers is Associate Professor of English at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology and is the founder and director of the Rose-Hulman CommLab, a writing center focused on technical communication. Her research interests include the overlap between STEM pedagogies and writing pedagogies, multimodal course development, and writing centers. Her work has been published in The Writing Center Journal, WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship, Computers and Composition, and several edited collections.