...and sometimes the bears (almost) eat you.
Disclaimer: Many circumstances contributed to the following scenario and I in no way wish to discredit anyone or to lay any blame. It was how it was and sometimes, that's just how it is.
In the summer of 2006 I was enrolled in LIS 522 (Collection Development). I was working with a group on a complex project that was one of the most harrowing I came across during my time in the MLIS program. We were charged with writing a collection development policy for a real school library, under the advisement of that library's teacher librarian.
Our troubles were of... high quality, shall we say? We had a large group, some would say, like most of us in that group, too large. The seven members of our group were not each ideally involved in the project for one reason or another. The school's teacher librarian was unreachable most of the time. Some group members felt we had to wait for the her to contact us before proceeding. This, I felt, was not feasible. Instead, I began researching the school and district Websites as well as state census information. I found wonderful information that served us well in the end, despite a lack of input from our teacher librarian. In addition, one other member, who was very involved and worked very hard, frequently confused certain goals and objectives of our task, for understandable reasons that I will not go into here, leading some of us us down erroneous paths, which cost us time and morale.
Like many, I think I am often the one in-the-wrong when others around me exhibit confidence. This was a significant leadership experience for me because I stood my ground (politely) and frequently re-identified our true task. I had to do this several times but I stuck to it and we ended up with a well wrought product that was a genuine struggle to complete on time, but we did, which I attribute to a particularly hard-working partner and my diligent leadership.
Like many other challenges I encountered during the MLIS program, I came out of this experience academically and personally enriched. As a result I feel far more prepared to take a leadership role, particularly during a large project.