The Colophon - Balfour Yearbooks Blog

What’s your role on the yearbook staff?

Written by Kel Lemons | Apr 24, 2015 5:17:00 PM



Whether your yearbook is spring, summer or fall delivery, soon you will begin thinking about next year’s staff (if you haven’t already).

Sometimes it is easy to assume that returning students know what they are supposed to be doing in leadership roles just because they have been on staff before. However, teaching students to be leaders is one of the most important tasks an adviser has.

One of the first steps in leadership development is that everyone understands what role they play. This goes beyond just what their title is. It means both the leaders and the people they are leading need to know what their duties are and how the staff is organized.

This is the perfect time to get your current leaders to create job descriptions for their replacements or update job descriptions already in place.

The skills gained and lessons learned from leading peers are invaluable, and will be called upon later regardless of what career students pursue.

Attached are examples from Balfour’s Yearbook Curriculum that can help with the process. There are two types of organizational structures. Choose the one that works best for your yearbook staff.

SECTIONAL ORGANIZATION

Duties are assigned based on sections of the yearbook. Download job descriptions for a Sectional Organization here.

FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION

Duties are assigned based on specific job functions. Download job descriptions for a Functional Organization here.