Pages from Young Leaders - Leadership-2

YOUNG LEADERS OF TOMORROW
LEADERSHIP
Meeting 2
MEETING STAGES:
• Core Theories of Leadership:
(20’) Presentation Core Theories of Leadership:
Facilitator mentions that there are many different
theories of leadership, then shows the four that will be
mentioned in the video (slide 1). Participants watch the
video (slide 2) and make notes on each theory. As this is a
watching activity, you may want to tell students to write
down some key words in order to guide their note taking.
After watching the video, in groups of three, participants
compare notes and rank the theories from the one that
makes most sense to them to the least.
• Definitions of leadership:
(35’) Handout What is Leadership? Part 1: participants
read the first part of the article and, based on what
they’ve read and watched, write their own definition of
leadership in pairs.
Handout What is Leadership? Part 2: participants read
the second half of the article, identify the key elements in
the authors’ definition, make any changes to their own
definitions if they want to, and identify the key elements
in their own definition.
They present their definition + key elements to the group.
Expected Outcomes:
• Participants will have created their own definition of
‘leadership’ based on leadership theories and an article
with different definitions;
• Participants will have ranked leadership theories according
to their own views.
Soft Skills:
• Collaboration and teamwork;
• Communication skills;
• Critical thinking.
Artefact for Portfolio:
• Leadership Theories – article with six theories of
leadership (four of which were seen in class).
http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/3647-leadershipdefinition.html
Forum Post:
• Leadership definitions and theories – participants answer
two questions (why are there so many different theories
and definitions for leadership in their opinion? How do
they relate to their own view?) and comment on other
participants’ answers.
Core concepts:
• Authority, power, engagement, influence,
charisma, management, vision, empower, goal,
seniority, position, hierarchy, senior executives,
titles, personal attributes.
THE BRITANNIA ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
6

YOUNG LEADERS OF TOMORROW
LEADERSHIP
Meeting 3
MEETING STAGES:
• Types of leaders:
(10’)Presentation The Tree: Participants watch the video
and answer the questions that pop up at the end in groups
of three.
Facilitator elicits general outcomes of their discussions
and link it with different types of leaders.
(20’ - preparation) Facilitator then divides the
participants into four groups. Each group will read about
one different type of leader to then present it to the class.
Each group will use the types of leaders (Thought /
Courageous / Inspirational / Servant) as basis to create a
kind of crosswords with the key words to define the type
of leader they’re reading about. They don’t necessarily
need to use all the letters in the main word. This is an
example:
Expected Outcomes:
• Participants will have read about a type of leader;
• Participants will have presented and listened to
presentations about different types of leaders.
Soft Skills:
• Information Literacy;
• Communication skills;
• Creativity.
Artefact for Portfolio:
• The eight most common types of leaders.
http://www.colibrifacilitation.com/graphic-facilitationtips/8-most-common-types-of-leaders-which-type-areyou/
Core concepts:
• Influence, followers, vision, mission, taking risks,
values, core beliefs, convictions, motivate, ideals,
positive attitudes, potential, empower,
development.
Participants will write this in A4 paper and then they will
show it to the whole class and present their type of
leader.
(20’ - presentation)After each presentation, each group
should come up with a question about the presentation.
The group presenting doesn’t necessarily have to answer
the question, but all the participants in class should
discuss it together.
• If you have extra time:
Refer participants back to the boy in the video, and have
them discuss in small groups what kind of leader the boy
might be, and why.
THE BRITANNIA ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
7

YOUNG LEADERS OF TOMORROW
LEADERSHIP
Meeting 6
MEETING STAGES:
• Culture and context:
(10’)Use presentation Leadership: culture and context to
engage participants on the topic – use slide 2 as a whole
group discussion.
(25’)Show participants slide 3 of the presentation and
check if they know the people in the slide. They may know
some. Tell them they will read fact files about 3 of these
people and they’ll discuss in groups of 4 the questions on
slide 4.
Give away one page of the handout per participant, but
make sure participants in the same group get the same
page so that they talk about the same people (Handout
Fact files) .Tell them they may use their mobiles during
the discussion moment to gather more information about
the people.
(15’)Show slide 5. This is a starting question for a broader
discussion for the whole group. Be the mediator and play
the devil’s advocate role if needed to keep the debate
going. Encourage participants to use the people they read
about as examples. Help them give their own opinions
based on evidence.
Expected Outcomes:
• Participants will have read about different young people
who are influencers in different contexts;
• Participants will have debated on the importance of
culture and context for leadership.
Soft Skills:
• Citizenship;
• Critical thinking;
• Communication skills;
• Cultural awareness.
Artefacts for Portfolio:
• How culture influences leaders
http://www.romania-insider.com/leadership-stylehow-does-culture-influence-leaders/
• What’s cultural awareness and how to build it
http://www.culturosity.com/articles/whatisculturalawa
reness.htm
• How cultural factors affect leadership
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/howcultural-factors-affect-leadership/
Forum post:
• Participants discuss the link between emotional
intelligence and cultural awareness, and how they can be
beneficial to a successful leader.
Core concepts:
• Activism, self-awareness, goals, mindset, empathy,
influence, inspire, culture, context, background.
THE BRITANNIA ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
10

Forbes Online
APR 9, 2013 @ 10:06 AM
What is
Leadership?
What is leadership, anyway?
Such a simple question, and yet it continues to vex 1 popular consultants and lay people
alike. I’ve now written several books on leadership for employee engagement, and yet it
occurred to me that I never actually paused to define leadership. Let’s start with what
leadership is not…
Leadership has nothing to do with seniority or one’s position in
the hierarchy of a company. Too many talk about a company’s leadership
referring to the senior most executives in the organization. They are
just that, senior executives. Leadership doesn’t automatically happen
when you reach a certain pay grade. Hopefully you find it there, but
there are no guarantees.
Leadership has nothing to do with titles. Similar to the point above,
just because you have a C-level title 2 , doesn’t automatically make you a
“leader.” In all of my talks I stress the fact that you don’t need a title to
lead. In fact, you can be a leader in your place of worship 3 , your neighborhood,
in your family, all without having a title.
Leadership has nothing to do with personal attributes. Say the
word “leader” and most people think of a domineering, take-charge
charismatic individual. We often think of icons from history like General
Patton or President Lincoln. But leadership isn’t an adjective. We don’t
need extroverted charismatic traits 4 to practice leadership. And those
with charisma don’t automatically lead.
Kevin Kruse is the creator of
the Leading for Employee Engagement
eLearning program for managers.
and author of the bestselling
book, Employee Engagement 2.0.
Glossary
1. Vex (v.) to make someone
annoyed, confused, or worried
2. C-level title The highest-level
executives in senior management
usually have titles beginning with
"chief" forming what is often
called the C-suite. The traditional
three such officers are chief
executive officer (CEO), chief
operations officer (COO), and chief
financial officer (CFO)
3. Worship (n.) the activity of
showing respect and love for a
god, for example by singing or
praying
4. Trait (n.) a distinguishing quality
or characteristic in someone's
character
Young Leaders of Tomorrow—Leadership
1

Leadership isn’t management. This is the big one. Leadership and
management are not synonymous. You have 15 people in your
downline 5 and P&L responsibility 6 ? Good for you, hopefully you are a
good manager. Good management is needed. Managers need to plan,
measure, monitor, coordinate, solve, hire, fire, and so many other things.
Typically, managers manage things. Leaders lead people.
So, again, what is Leadership?
Let’s see how some of the most respected business thinkers of our time define
leadership, and let’s consider what’s wrong with their definitions.
Peter Drucker: “The only definition of a leader is someone who
has followers.”
Really? This instance of tautology 7 is so simplistic as to be dangerous. A
new Army Captain is put in the command of 200 soldiers. He never
leaves his room, or utters 8 a word to the men and women in his unit.
Perhaps routine orders are given through a subordinate. By default his
troops have to “follow” orders. Is the Captain really a leader?
Commander yes, leader no. Drucker is of course a brilliant thinker of
modern business but his definition of leader is too simple.
Glossary
5. Downline People recruited by a
salesperson to work as
salespeople for this first person.
They generate profit for
themselves and for the person
who first hired them. This is a
marketing strategy called
Multi-level marketing (MLM)
6. P&L responsibility Profit and Loss
(P&L) responsibility is one of the
most important responsibilities of
any executive position. Having
P&L responsibility involves
monitoring the net income after
expenses for a department or
entire organization, with direct
influence on how company
resources are allocated.
7. Tautology (n.) UK /tɔːˈtɒl.ə.dʒi/ US
/tɑːˈtɑː.lə.dʒi/ a statement, sentence
etc in which the meaning is
repeated in an unnecessary way
by using different words
8. Utter (v.) to say something or to
make a sound with your voice
9. Riot (n.) a noisy, violent, and
uncontrolled public meeting
10. Hooligan (n.) a violent person
who fights or causes damage in
public places
Warren Bennis: “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision
into reality.”
Every spring you have a vision for a garden, and with lots of work carrots
and tomatoes become a reality. Are you a leader? No, you’re a gardener.
Bennis’ definition seems to have forgotten “others.”
Bill Gates: “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will
be those who empower others.”
This definition includes “others” and empowerment is a good thing. But
to what end? I’ve seen many empowered “others” in my life, from
rioting 9 hooligans 10 to Google workers who were so misaligned with the
rest of the company they found themselves unemployed. Gates’
definition lacks the parts about goal or vision.
Young Leaders of Tomorrow—Leadership
2

John Maxwell: “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing
less.”
I like minimalism but this reduction is too much. A robber with a gun has
“influence” over his victim. A manager has the power to fire team
members which provides a lot of influence. But does this influence make
a robber or a manager a leader? Maxwell’s definition omits the source 11
of influence.
Glossary
11.Source (n.) UK /sɔːs/ US /sɔːrs/
the place something comes from
or starts at, or the cause of something
12. Discretionary UK /dɪˈskreʃ.ən.ər.i/
US /dɪˈskreʃ.ən.er.i/ based on
someone’s judgment of a particular
situation rather than on a set
of rules
So what is leadership?
DEFINITION: Leadership is a process of social influence, which
maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.
Notice key elements of this definition:
Leadership stems from social influence, not authority or power
Leadership requires others, and that implies they don’t need to be
“direct reports”
No mention of personality traits, attributes, or even a title; there are
many styles, many paths, to effective leadership
It includes a goal, not influence with no intended outcome
Lastly, what makes this definition so different from many of the
academic definitions out there is the inclusion of “maximizes the
efforts”. Most of my work is in the area of employee engagement, and
engaged employees give discretionary 12 effort.
I guess technically a leader could use social influence to just organize the
efforts of others, but I think leadership is about maximizing the effort.
It’s not, “Hey everyone, let’s line up and get to the top of that hill
someday.” But rather, “Hey, see that hill? Let’s see how fast we can get
to the top…and I’ll buy the first round for anyone who can beat me up
there.” So what do you think of my definition of leadership? Social
influence, others, maximize effort, towards a goal. Do those key
elements work for you?
Young Leaders of Tomorrow—Leadership
3

Use the questions below to build your own SWOT:
Strengths
• What unique skills do you have?
• What do you do better than anyone else?
• What unique resources can you access?
• Why do people praise you?
• What achievements are you porud of?
• What values do you believe in?
Opportunities
• What opportunities to learn are open?
• What situations can you take advantage of?
• Do you have people to help/advise you?
• Are there any emerging technologies that
could help my idea?
• Have you any solutions to others’
complaints?
• Is there a unfilled need around you?
Weaknesses
• What skills/knowledge do you lack?
• What skills can you improve?
• What do you avoid doing?
• What do others see as your weaknesses?
• What are your negative habits?
• What personality traits hold you back?
Threats
• What obstacles do you currently face?
• Is the demand for your strengths declining?
• What trends could harm your projects?
• Does changing technology affect my idea?
• What threats arise from your weaknesses?
YLOT - LEADERSHIP