Tag: human relations

Growing Student Leaders

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The following course content, outline and supplemental materials were presented at the Upper St. Clair High School Leadership Academy on July 24, 2024.

As a follow-up to my workshop for the attendees and to grant full access to important links, a facsimile of the slide presentation, and printable handouts, please download the PDF documents below.

Below is a comprehensive summary of “Leadership 101.”

7/27/24 Update – Leadership Presentation

At the invitation of Upper St. Clair High School (USCHS) German teacher and summer leadership instructor Jacob Reis, it was my pleasure to meet and share my thoughts on “Leadership 101” with students in phase 2 of the USCHS Leadership Academy on Wednesday, July 24, 2024.

The national award-winning USCHS Leadership Academy is a one-week summer workshop offering students exposure to leadership concepts and practices. Students identify their leadership strengths and learn how these skills may be used to make them successful in all stages of life. Through experiential learning strategies, group projects, and hands-on activities, students experience the application of leadership skills, building confidence in their abilities and enhancing their capacity to serve in leadership roles. https://www.uscsd.k12.pa.us/Page/495

I enjoyed my interactions with about 30 rising sophomores who demonstrated they were already well on their way to becoming significant student leaders… and the proof was taking a week off from their summer vacation to enroll in the academy and then enthusiastically participating in my 45-minute workshop right after lunch! (Instead of nap time?) Hopefully, I was able to provoke some new thinking on the further development of their advancing leadership skills.

The only negative comment about the day is that I did not fully cover everything I intended (probably needing at least a full hour but would have enjoyed a half-day!)… thus the rationale for creating this blog-post. I only hope these budding “future leaders” will revisit this material and devote more time on it in research and self-analysis… and complete my optional homework to explore more perspectives on “the definitions of, distinctions in, and directions to becoming a dynamic and dedicated leader.”

Let the Games Begin

With a backdrop of more than 52 years in the field of education (beginning with my own HS days offering private lessons) and incorporating the experiences of an ongoing 44-year relationship in the Upper St. Clair schools, I was able to share philosophies, “best practices,” and anecdotes of lessons learned in working with countless past Fine and Performing Arts student leaders… so many “cream of the crop” drum majors, section leaders, concertmasters, producers, directors, rehearsal assistants, crew heads, leads, etc. Several of the hands-on interactive exercises we have explored in past student staff meetings and even at PMEA/PCMEA conferences were beneficial (“doing” works better than “saying!”), including:

  • How Many Rectangles (thinking outside the box): See this 2015 Part II blog-post on Creativity.
  • The Clapping Game (stepping outside your comfort zone): “Put your hands together, clap and hold. Is your right thumb over your left or vice versa? Now try it the opposite way… until you can do it just as confidently! Now you have expanded your comfort zone! This is how we GROW!”
  • The Nine-Dot Puzzle (how creative are you?): See this 2015 Part I blog-post on Creativity.

Now Some Definitions

We reviewed some common “leadership vocabulary” during the session. Recognizing that there is a wide divergence in opinion on what makes a great leader, I chose to focus on portraying three triple-threat skill types that LEADERS ARE…

  • Visionaries
  • Coaches
  • Managers

I have always felt that leaders need to embrace change, not be afraid to “upset the apple cart,” foster a shift in new directions, create goals, and make improvements to the status quo… to bravely go out and figuratively “break something!” Things to do with a problem:

  • Ignore it
  • Resist it
  • Define it
  • Enjoy it
  • Find a use for it
  • Find a bigger problem

Numerous giants in the field of coaching and education have shared these one-line gems:

  • Leaders embrace new ideas or challenges.
  • Leaders are catalysts for change.
  • Leaders make goals and define targets.
  • Leaders model commitment and passion.
  • Leadership is all about creativity, innovation, and problem solving.
  • Leadership is about taking risks.
  • Leaders have positive self-esteem.
  • Leaders master good listening skills.

Extra handouts: Last week, I was not able to distribute these leadership quotes or the stuff and tasks of leadership, including words of wisdom from “leader luminaries” like the late great Babe Ruth, Abraham Lincoln, Vince Lombardi, Theodore Roosevelt, and my first USC school administrator and mentor Thomas Harshman.

Citing elements from the “curriculum” created by The Association of Washington Student Leaders (AWSL), a division of the Washington School Principals’ Education Foundation, we briefly touched on these leadership effectiveness goals (peruse my slides #18-25):

  • Communication skills
  • Group processes
  • Managerial skills
  • Self-awareness
  • Human relations skills

…which led us into diving into this table of emotional intelligence (EI) skills, supporting the self-awareness goals of AWSL and prescribed by the United Nations System Staff College and a book by Daniel Goleman What Makes a Great Leader:

Types of Thinking… and Leading

There was not enough time to unpack these “chapters,” much of it inspired by the research and work of Professor Curtis Bonk from Indiana University of Bloomington (check out slides #32-52 for descriptions):

  • Divergent thinking
  • Convergent thinking
  • Critical thinking
  • Cooperative/collaborative thinking
    (team-building)

Are You in the Right (or Left) Mind?

At the Leadership Academy session, we did enjoy taking an insightful quiz about left or right brain hemispheric dominance (although we were unable to finish scoring it), something which was first introduced to me at a teacher in-service led by USC Supervisor of Curriculum John Small, and many years later, shared in a virtual session of my community orchestra during the pandemic. Examples of the type of questions: Would you choose to complete a crossword puzzle (left-brain) or a jigsaw puzzle (right-brain), or view a movie (right) or read a book (left)?

This test introduces “thinking styles” and a taste of lateral brain research. (Disclaimer: There has been a lot of scientific debate on whether there is any value in measuring brain dominance. In addition, a true test of hemispheric brain dominance would take hours, MANY MORE questions, and still only offer a few generalizations! This exercise is only provided to give us a little more understanding in the way we think and how others may respond to our attempts to lead them.) I concluded with the following statement:

Now apply this to the “types” of people you may lead. The lefty “analyticals” may want meetings to start and end on time, keep to the agenda, follow Robert’s Rules of Order, receive written documentation, etc. “Righties” (a.k.a. “spatials”) may arrive late, prefer more time for free discussion (“bird-walking?”), enjoy more charts/graphs, demonstrations, and “hands-on,” offer good brainstorming… but fewer restrictions or rules to organizing the meeting.

More Self-Reflection Exercises and the “Oreo Cookie Technique”

Back to interactive “show-don’t-tell” FUN activities! We introduced several tools to motivate additional self-analysis (insights into current leadership skills/tendencies and future needs):

  • Brainstorming of Leadership Habits: “Close your eyes and visualize a ‘model leader’ you have known and admired. What were his/her outstanding personality characteristics? In 30 seconds, write down as many of these traits and others that would define a great leader.”
  • Step #2 Brainstorming: “Circle three of these qualities you feel are the most important for success.
  • Step #3 Brainstorming: “Highlight, underline, or star two of these traits that YOU model – your most developed skills. Now print these in the top two bubbles of the pink graphic below.
  • Step #4 Brainstorming: “Review the EI chart of the Union Nations Systems Staff College, outline of AWSL leadership skills, and the types of thinking/leading skills (above), and add one or two characteristics you feel YOU are well on your way to mastering (understanding that, as my wife would remind me, ‘pobody is nerfect!’ and there’s always room for even more work on them.”
  • Step #5 Brainstorming: “Once you have completed a self-analysis of the material covered in this session (blog-post + handouts + slides), select up to four ‘challenges’ you would consider for further study or goals for self-improvement.”

Now, the process for “peeling back the onion skin” and doing a deep dive into a critique of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses (without crushing egos) is best done by first using positive reinforcement (what are the good things already accomplished?), followed by the problem(s), need(s), or trait(s) that resoundly land “outside the comfort zone.” This punch list of one or more items will be the basis for generating an action plan for making positive changes. Finally, you should always end everything with the positive… a reflection on the progress that has already been made, observation of past achievements or gifts, and confidence that a set of recently adopted S.M.A.R.T. goals (below) would be attainable:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Achievable
  • Relevant
  • Time-bound

The Oreo cookie symbolizes layers, a progression from top to bottom, starting with the chocolate cookie (dunk it in milk if you wish!) which represents “the positives,” next going to the cream which depicts a “focus on improvements,” and then finishing off the bottom cookie (return to “the positives”). This is relevant for self-analysis as well as a model for the care and motivation of team members. The experienced and empathetic leader knows that “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar…” and most people respond better to positive-first feedback along with a little sensitivity and diplomacy when pointing out their shortcomings. Whenever you can, “sandwich” the cocoa’s good things (“keeps”) around the cream’s criticism (“fixes”)… for yourself and in others within all work/school settings!

Coda: Personal Inventory Profile

I hope throughout this workshop attendees will self-assess their leadership potential and make a few plans for ongoing personal development. The above checklist outlining my USCHS leadership academy content was provided in this handout to help examine areas of interest and to formulate new goals. I also recommend taking time to peruse the homework for future leaders and especially read a few of my past posts on creativity in education and leadership showcasing several exemplary models of leadership… outstanding visionaries, coaches, and managers:

How’s your LQ = leadership quotient?

PKF

© 2024 Paul K. Fox