Leadership is taking responsibility, says seven-year-old Malaika. She elaborates with an example. If someone litters, a leader will either request them to pick up after themselves or would collect the rubbish and dispose it himself.
I interrupt Eli’s fun and games-ridded thoughts as he rushes from breakfast to get in a few minutes of play before tutor time. At six years old (the age of reason) he is catching on to concepts and figures that “leadership is about ‘winning’ so as to become the country’s President or the class prefect.”
Both pupils bring up valid points on leadership and perhaps even leadership styles. This leads to the pertinent question: when should leadership learning and coaching be activated and to whom should it be targeted?
In the corporate scene, leadership coaching and seminars are generally a reserve of those already in leadership/management positions. It is no wonder that many adults see leadership as a lofty ideal that one aspires to so that they can be on the receiving end of service.
The philosophies on leadership have been in existence for thousands of years only slightly evolving to accommodate social-cultural shifts. Even holy books are resplendent with passages on how to be a good leader. As a Christian school, St Andrew’s School, Turi adheres to the Bible’s insistence on servant leadership in our efforts to create and nurture young leaders.
To do this, we have sought some external help and identify as a ‘Leader in Me’ school. The ‘Leader in Me’ programme was inspired by Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and brought to life by Dr Muriel Summers, a former Principal at A.B Combs Elementary in North Carolina, who was desperate to turn around the fortunes of her failing school.
The seven habits are: be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek first to understand, then to be understood, Synergies and Sharpen the saw. The programme has research-backed evidence to prove its effectiveness not just on imparting leadership skills in students but improving the culture in schools and impacting academic performance positively as well.
Through tutor time (a 30-minute period twice a week where groups of about10 pupils share their thoughts and reflections for the week ahead with their ‘tutor’) and chapel sessions the seven habits are discussed and thereafter expected to be put into practice throughout the school day.
For example, the six and seven-year olds spoken of earlier are typically guided on what section of the library they can borrow books from based on their reading level. Should they want a book that is on a higher level, they will be required to work on both their reading and writing skills. This means that they will have extra spelling assignments or take a different book home each day- that is how they will get to the end (getting to borrow/read books on a higher level). This is habit number two- ‘beginning with the end in mind’. It might seem rather difficult for a child; they appreciate it when they can finally bask in their success. Don’t we all want leaders who value hard work, perseverance and careful planning!
It is clear that all seven habits incline an applicant towards responsibility- both personal (the first three) and shared (next three).
Working on yourself
The first three habits stress the need for self-reflection. To succeed as a leader, one must be self-aware. Early self-awareness and independence allows individuals to identify and best utilise not just their skills but their time as well. They plan and prioritise their daily activities from mundane tasks such as making their beds to major tasks such as studying and completing their homework.
Many parents can relate to the headache of getting home in the evening to find children who have not completed their assignments because they got carried away playing or watching TV. Habit number three is needed here.
Working with others
Habit four to six are all about collaboration. Given our years in education, we can quite confidently say that children are far better collaborators than adults. They are open to sharing and seeking advice from each other. This of course does not just happen but requires consistent emphasis, especially by example. Instilling the spirit of teamwork at an early age creates interdependent adults that appreciate different points of view and with time they learn how to harness others’ gifts, fuse them with their own and make magic happen.
The last habit cannot be emphasised enough especially in this day and age.
The pressures of the 21st Century are steadily rising and we dare say robbing young ones of their childhood.
Balance- taking time to work on your physical, emotional and spiritual well-being is essential for personal growth and allows one to keep working on the other six habits continuously.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
