Liz Saville

You’re in for a treat!  It’ll be a confusing, whirlwind of a semester at times, but a class that has the potential to teach you more applicable lessons than any other class you’ll take throughout college.  The reason I say, “has the potential” to, is that tom is not a professor that will force you to learn.  He will rather facilitate a setting that allows you to learn if you put the effort in and he provides you with the great tools and guidance to be able to succeed.

I was a student in tom’s Organizational Theory class my junior year and joined as a co-facilitator my senior year.  I currently live in the Boston area and just began to work at HubSpot on a new team that helps study metrics and design training programs for managers and leaders within the company.  The lessons I have learned from this class have helped me countless times in my career.  My advice:

Be open-minded!  tom’s class is going to different than what you’re used to in many ways, but the most drastic adjustment will be that he doesn’t give you answers and doesn’t tell you what to do like most professors you probably have.  At times, you are going to be frustrated and think just tell me what you’re looking for.  Tell me how to pass this class.  Fight the urges to think that way and rather take a step back to appreciate that this is one of your only experiences in school that you have been given complete autonomy and not been micro-managed by professors.  You’ll be treated like a peer and given the ability to think for yourself, make proposals, try new ideas, and actually be trusted to do so… All of which is the most similar to a healthy work environment in your future.  You’ll not have a future employer sit down with a guidebook, scripts, tests, etc., but someone who will give you the basic infrastructure and you’ll have to do the learning, trial by error, and work yourself.

This class gave me the ability to understand how a well-functioning organization should look through trial and error.  Another tip, don’t be afraid to go on a limb.  Don’t be afraid to take a risk.  Theorizing ideas is great, but you won’t truly learn and grow from theoretical learning, but by putting ideas into practice.

This isn’t going to be an easy class and if you feel like it is, you’re doing it wrong and not getting out of your comfort zone enough.

Best of luck and really do try to be open-minded.

If you have questions or want to run by ideas throughout the semester, feel free to reach out: Elizabeth.j.saville@gmail.com