What is Organizational Leadership?

By Bekah Hacking

Organizational Leadership? 

Strategic Organizational Communications? 

The ongoing question is constantly: what is that?

The BYU-Idaho Communications Department is transitioning from their catalog program of emphasis paired with a cluster to a double emphasis. This change will occur in the Spring 2025 semester. With that transition, I wanted students to understand what the Strategic Organizational Communications emphasis (which is changing to Organizational Leadership) has to offer.

In order to aid in clarifying Organizational Leadership, I started a mini podcast series exploring the definition, experience, opportunities, and skills that come from and through the Org. Leadership emphasis.

THE PRODUCT

Working with students and faculty, I produced twelve, 5- to 10-minute episodes of a podcast series, entitled, “Organizational Leadership 101.”

Each episode answers a specific common question among BYU-Idaho’s current and prospective communication students. It features responses from teachers, students, and recent graduates. Each episode also includes a recap statement to highlight main takeaways.

This resource will help current and prospective students have a better grasp on the Organizational Leadership emphasis, approaching their academic decisions more informed than before. The anticipated outcome is that Organizational Leadership sees an increase in students throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. 

DISCLAIMER: The podcast series is not intended to eliminate all questions students have about BYU-Idaho’s Organizational Leadership emphasis, but rather to help them be more informed. When they do come to faculty with questions, the questions can be more purpose driven. 

LIST OF EPISODES

Episode 1: What Is Organizational Leadership?

Episode 2: Key Skills from Org Leadership

Episode 3: Inside the Courses: What to Expect

Episode 4: The Most Impactful Class

Episode 5: The Best Intro Course

Episode 6: Understanding the Double Emphasis

Episode 7: Best Minors to Pair With Org Leadership

Episode 8: Building Your Portfolio

Episode 9: Internship & Job Opportunities

Episode 10: Join Us!

Episode 11: Advice for Freshmen

Episode 12: Personal Stories: Why Org Leadership

THE PROCESS

UNDERSTANDING NEEDS

Since I started college, back in Fall of 2019, I observed confusion about the Strategic Organizational Communications emphasis. Few people knew what the emphasis was, jobs that could come from it, and what the classes taught. 

When asking students about the emphasis, some answers you could expect to hear included:

“That is a hard question to answer.” 

“It is kind of vague.”

“It is a soft-skills degree.”

The uncertainty about what the emphasis had to offer would, oftentimes, deter students from pursuing Strategic Organizational Communications, or Organizational Leadership. 

In a brief survey I conducted with Communications students, nearly 60 percent of the questions were simply wanting clarity on what the emphasis is. The desire to answer that question pushed me to effect change.

Working with Brother Judkins, my mentor and one of the Organizational Leadership emphasis professors, I mapped out a strategy to bring understanding to the emphasis. 

MY 3-STEP PLAN

STEP 1

To generate informative questions that would add value to student’s education, I sent out a 6-question survey. The questions included their major and emphasis, year in school, things they would want to learn more about the emphasis, and any specific questions.

The responses ranged from “Which classes in the Strategic Organizational Emphasis do students find has the best applicable knowledge to their careers? And what classes outside of the emphasis do students take to gain more applicable or practical knowledge?” to “Like…what even is that?”

From the list of questions and what students requested more information on, I generated the following list of questions:

STEP 2

Interviews were held over the course of 2 weeks.

Interviewees were volunteer-based, as an email was sent to all those in the Organizational Leadership emphasis. There were a few people who reached out to be interviewed. All three faculty members over Organizational Leadership were interviewed.

The total minutes of interview time added up to 168 minutes, with an additional 20 minutes of intros, outros and recaps.

STEP 3

Using Voice Memos, Sound Lab, and Adobe Premiere Pro, I sorted through approximately 3 hours of audio to find the answers to each of the questions previously outlined. 

Voice Memos housed all the recordings

Sound Lab stitched the clips together.

Adobe Premiere Pro eliminated filler words and long pauses. 

Working with audio was a new experience for me. However, as I learned from, faculty member, Cory Kerr, if you take the time to figure out the program, the work will go much faster. It true! Sound Lab and Adobe Premiere Pro were tricky at first, but proved to be effective tools in the compilation of the episodes. 

In regards to content, the different perspectives in each episode provide multi-dimensional answers to the questions students have. Each episode, with the exception of episodes 4 and 5, features both faculty and students, drawing from both parties who are impacted by the emphasis.

Takeaways

Over the course of this project, I have come to know that Organizational Leadership is an emphasis that evokes continual change. The most broad of the Communications emphasis, Organizational Leadership teaches skills that span the breadth of any role in any organization.

Through personal accounts, one can see the lasting impact the courses have on students, because it is an emphasis that pushes people to become.

I would love to continue this project, hosting a second season, to address more specific questions I received from students. It would also be an asset to the Communications Department to have a similar series for every emphasis.

When you see a need, fill the need.

That’s what Organizational Leadership is all about.