Leadership is about giving people opportunities
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Loading ...Last weekend he Air Cadets had a winter survival exercise at Mount Seymour. Although the kids had an excellent time, the organization and execution of the activities was definitely lack lustre. Over the years I have learned that being an effective leader, especially when dealing with young people, means giving others the opportunity to take charge and fail in a safe environment. We are presented with so many opportunities to give others the chance to lead, take responsibility, and succeed or fail on their own terms. For example, during the clean-up of the equipment, the NCOs got the Cadets to clean up the tents used during the exercise. The cadets set-up the tents, cleaned them out, dried them, and re-packed them. Instead of telling all the cadets what to do, they could have broken the cadets into groups of four with one cadet assigned as the leader. Each group would be responsible for one tent. Then, give the leader of each group a goal and a time frame within which to complete the goal. Each team of four must now work together to accomplish the goal within the alloted time frame. So simple and yet completely missed by the NCOs. Trying to give kids the foresight to always look for these effective leadership tasking opportunities can be a challenge. As an instructor, my challenge is make these future leaders see these tasking opportunities and take advantage of them.
Most people strive to be accountable for their lives and will jump at opportunities to take control over their destiny. By giving young people the opportunity to see that their decisions and actions have consequences, they are better able to take responsibility for their actions and be accountable for the successes and failures in their lives. The more I can do to help future generations take responsibility for their decisions and be accountable for their actions, the better society will be in the long run. Goodness knows we constantly read and hear about people who feel the need to blame others for the consequences of their bad decision making. The least I can do is try my best to provide those, over whom I have some influence, with the tools and strategies to make the best decisions they can and accept the consequences of those decisions whether they are good or bad.
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