You Don’t Think You’re A Leader?
One of the biggest hurdles to overcome in raising up young leaders is helping young people to see themselves as leaders in the first place. We will all have had conversations with people (and with ourselves!) that start with, ‘but I just don’t see myself as a leader…’
Here are a few tips to help encourage young people who might not initially see themselves as leaders.
Define leadership
More often than not, the reason someone doesn’t see themselves as a leader is because their idea of leadership is someone standing on a stage with a microphone or a team captain who is able to capture the attention of everyone in the room. Whilst we can celebrate these leaders, this is a small part of how we would define leadership.
Leadership is one life influencing another. Every one of us, whether we’re standing on a stage or just showing up in our family or our classroom, will have an impact on the people around us. Start by defining leadership in this way, painting the picture that all of us are called to lead.
Translate to the everyday
If leadership is one life influencing another, then every interaction we have with another person is an invitation to lead. Help your young people to think through the different opportunities they have in their day-to-day lives to influence those around them.
The more specific you can be, the better. What does leadership look like at the family dinner table? Or in the conversations with friends? Or in their classroom? How does their life influence the lives of those around them in these spaces?
Create safety nets
Another reason why someone might be hesitant to see themselves as a leader is because of a bad experience. If a young person has tried to step out and lead, but it hasn’t gone how they had hoped, they may be cautious about doing it again. So, creating ‘safety nets’ that will catch them when things go wrong are essential to developing young leaders.
Things like training, mentoring relationships and creating a culture of support and encouragement in your youth or student group can give these young leaders the safety they need to step out, make mistakes and keep growing in their leadership.
Go Deeper with the ONelife Leadership Sessions
Introduce the idea of leadership to your young people using the Onelife Leadership Sessions. Session One in both the 11–14s and 14–18s Streams helps you to unpack the idea of leadership for your group.