This report summarizes an informational interview with Ian Aitken, the Coordinator of Residence Life for a dormitory. Ian leads by example and takes a laissez-faire approach, giving his staff freedom in how they accomplish goals. Key leadership skills Ian discussed include strong communication, listening abilities, and interpersonal skills. Ian's career path included undergraduate studies, volunteer work, teaching, and obtaining a master's degree in student personnel administration before becoming a Residence Life Coordinator. Ian finds personal satisfaction in helping students succeed and values integrity and teamwork in his leadership role.

1. Quentin Ridley
Gail Pack
BUS 105
11/25/2013
Informational Interview Report
On Friday November 15th, 2013; I interviewed Ian Aitken, the Coordinator ofResidence
Life (CRL)for Weil/Winfield dormitory. I see Ian as a leader because his position holds a lot of
responsibility.He is accountable for the Residence Assistants (RA) and making sure they are
doing their job. He also deals with events that happen in and outof the dorm.
I asked Ian what ways or style does he use to lead others. He said he leads by example, he
doesn’t ask his staff anything he isn’t willing to do himself. He leans towards the laissez-faire
attitude when he is giving his staff certain goals to accomplish in the workplace. At the same
time he gives them the freedom and independence to accomplish these goals any way they would
like. He isn’t going to be monitoring every aspect of the job that needs to be done. Some skills
Ian believes a leader must possess to become successful is certain soft skills like communication,
listening and having interpersonal skills. Communicating with your staff is key for success in the
workplace. He also mentioned communicating with ease with others will provide a comfortable
working environment and give the opportunity for co-workers to be themselves. Along with
communication comes organization. Looking organized as a group will give off a vibe of
accomplishment and an adequate resource. Listening skills are essential for a great leader
because a good listener can solve problems easier and pay attention to detail of something that
may happen. Interpersonal skills are important because building a relationship with all your coworkers will make your job more enjoyable and people will be more honest with a good
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2. Quentin Ridley
Gail Pack
BUS 105
11/25/2013
Ian has taken a long path to get to where he ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------******************************************************************************
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***********************************************is now, today. He did his
undergraduate at University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG); he was also into college
athletics during his time at UNCG. After graduating he moved down to Atlanta to take care of
his grandparents, he also did some volunteer work at his old High School. He did some
substituting teaching, chaperoned some field trips and for 10 years he was the assistant director
of a summer camp. So he started to think about a profession that he wanted to do and he realized
that all the things he has done have the same commonality dealing with student life and working
with young people. So he looked at some careers that were within that field. He went to Virginia
to get his Master’s Degree in student personal administration. He looked in depth on residence
life because he feels that has the biggest impact on student’s experience. He figured he should do
this career at UNCG because it was like home for him.
Ian feels that some motives of being a leader is personal satisfaction. In his job he likes
seeing the students succeed in life and school. He feels he had some kind of role into obtaining
college students goals. Values that are gained from being a leader is integrity because he and his
staff know a lot of information that is confidential and being able to draw that line by letting
nobody know is important. Another value is teamwork, working with students and other CRL’s
collaboratively on different projects is something gained as a leader. Some future goals Ian wants

3. Quentin Ridley
Gail Pack
BUS 105
11/25/2013
to achieve is if he would move to a different University he would like the same job similar to the
one he is doing now or a higher position.
I learned a lot about being a successful leader. I may be a long process but at the end of
the day there are many skills that you must obtain to be considered a good successful leader. You
have to be comfortable dealing with people and work as a unit with others. You have to lead by
example; doing this by showing how to do the right thing is important because everyone else will
follow your lead. Being honest and trustworthy will only better the relationship between you and
the staff. Building a good relationship is important too; work doesn’t necessarily have to be a
serious environment. There is a little room for fun within the workplace. All these skills take
time to build but if you put the time into working on them then you will achieve success.