The Leadership Challenge authored by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. Theories and approach listed below in Program Goals.
Program Goals:
1. Inspire a Shared Vision (From Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge)
Leaders passionately believe that they can make a difference. They envision the future, creating an ideal and unique image of what the organization can become. Through their magnetism and quiet persuasion, leaders enlist others in their dreams. They breathe life into their visions and get people to see exciting possibilities for the future.1
2. Enjoyment: The teambuilding program will be enjoyable and set an expectation that the Buffalo State College: Emerging Student Leaders Program will be rewarding while requiring hard work to increase and sustain effectiveness.
Other Areas that will be addressed from The Leadership Challenge
Model the Way
Leaders establish principles concerning the way people (constituents, peers, colleagues, and customers alike) should be treated and the way goals should be pursued. They create standards of excellence and then set an example for others to follow. Because the prospect of complex change can overwhelm people and stifle action, they set interim goals so that people can achieve small wins as they work toward larger objectives. They unravel bureaucracy when it impedes action; they put up signposts when people are unsure of where to go or how to get there; and they create opportunities for victory. 2
Opening: Establish Team Program Atmosphere
• Expectations of team for the program
• Behaviors and norms of team (Full Value Contract)
• Challenge By Choice
Initiative: Choices, an Object Lesson participants are asked to write down the correct answers to various questions. After the task is complete a discussion of Vision and ensuring that all who are around you have a clear understanding and vision of what the end goals is.
Focus: to illustrate vision and need for everyone on the team to have the same understanding of the end goal.
Processing: What made this activity easy? What made this activity challenging? How do you as in individual choose to share your vision? What happens if everyone is not clear on the goal? How can leaders clarify what there vision is and ensure that all the team members are inline with this vision? What about this activity can we use in our emerging leadership program? What happens to teams that are not clear on the vision? How are behaviors affected when team members are unclear of the vision? How harmonious is the team when team members are clear on the vision? Unclear on the vision?
Power Point Presentation (30-45 minutes):
Communication - “Envision Leadership”
• Self-Directed vs. Other Directed Behaviors
• How Vision changes depending on where you are in reference of the vision.
• Techniques Leaders can use to motivate and inspire others to follow and create personal vision.
Initiative: Sticky Situation the team is challenged with unrolling a roll of masking tape without breaking it.
Focus: Understanding that sometimes the LOUDEST idea is not always the best, a team must be properly “mined” for the best practice for the team at that present time. Additionally illustrating that there are times the person who may be the “designated or titled” leader has the vision and the end goal is clear to all the team members. The “designated or titled” leader has no better or worse ideas than the team they lead on how to arrive at the end goal. Illustrating that true visionary leaders step aside and allow the team to create and thrive with ideas that the individual leaders could have never imagined!
Processing: What was the initial reaction of the group? What information was available to start with? What wasn’t available? What planning took place? How were ideas shared within the group? What unforeseen problems came up? How were they dealt with? Did anyone take leadership of the group? Did anyone refuse to follow the leaderships plan? Why? What was the group’s end result? Was the process worth the effort? What worth came out of the activity? Now what do you do with all this tape??
WRAP UP! The students are lead through a series of ending activities cementing the skills learned from the program.
Special Notes on Processing and Reflect:
Create-Learning Facilitators will process and reflect after the majority of the activities. This session may include although is not limited to use of Metaphor cards, group drawing, Socratic question and answers, Small group presentations of learning, Personal reflection through the use of sharing circles and various hand signals, as well as creating concrete plans of how the skills gained will be used in the college environment personally and professionally.
Create-Learning has shown results using a variety of processing activities to actively engage each participant. Create-Learning uses processing techniques and activities to give each individual participant the greatest learning possible for the day.
Individuals and teams will learn about the different personalities and skills of their peers. This is learned through the hands on nature of the activities and the highly interactive processing session after each activity. Create-Learning enables the group to take credit and responsibility for their own learning, and gives them tools that can be used immediately in the college environment.
Referenced:
1,2 -
http://www.leadershipchallenge.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-131055.html