What is Leadership and Why is It Important?
Leadership is the ability to take control of a situation and to lead by empowering others into an effective team. Leaders inspire and energise others to carry out tasks and achieve goals by displaying a clear sense of direction and values.
These qualities are important for everyone, even those not in managerial/supervisor positions. Leadership skills mean you can manage people and are able to take initiative. Being able to see and plan ahead, acquire knowledge, and have people look up to you are all leadership qualities.
From Barack Obama – who was seen as such a good leader he was re-elected President of the United States for a second term, to our CEO Laura-Jane – who has grown YEUK from the ground up, great leaders come in all shapes and sizes. However they have some traits in common which come from good at leading their teams (or country!)
It’s important to develop your leadership skills as you will use them in many areas of your professional life. Managers want to know you’re able to inspire others and ensure the job gets done as part of a team. We spoke to (insert name) about their views on leadership, and why it’s vital young people have strong leadership skills .
Developing and Demonstrating Leadership Skills.
You have probably already been building your leadership skills, even if you don’t realise it. Have you ever been captain of a school sports team? Led a group project in class or organised any events? Lots of activities provide an opportunity to lead others. If you’ve never been in a leadership position, why not volunteer next time the opportunity comes up?
Another way to build your leadership skills is to research leaders who you admire. It could be somebody well known like the people mentioned above, or somebody closer to home. Do you have a great boss, teacher, or a family member who you think is great at leading their employees, students, or family? Ask if you can take half an hour to pick their brains about what leadership means to them. They’ll probably be flattered that you asked!
Once you’ve researched and practised how do you demonstrate that to prospective employers? Having concrete examples is key; if you’re running your college magazine talk about the time you pulled together an issue in a week as the designer was off sick. If you help out at a local cub troop you could tell them about the summer camp that you organised and led. Basically any situation where you’ve stepped up to take a position of authority, and led your team to achieve great outcomes. It could even be as simple as babysitting your younger brother every Thursday evening – taking care of a child definitely requires some leadership skills!
Get specific. Talk about who you were leading, how you ensured the team worked together well, what you had to do, and the outcome. By giving clear examples you show potential employers that you can get results. Use the STARR model to help with this
