by Reha Bublani, Head – Training, The Global Education & Leadership Foundation
Leadership is a broad concept, with several dimensions and perspectives. No single theory or example can explain its depth or intensity, and no single leader can exemplify all qualities of leadership.
Working on instilling leadership skills in youth, our foundation found communicating what is at the essence of leadership to be a big challenge. Who is a leader? What makes him/her a leader? What can one do to nurture one’s own leadership potential? These are some common questions that The Global Education & Leadership Foundation, based out of Gurgaon, India, has frequently faced. We explored possible solutions to this puzzle and found something we fell in love with: The GoodWork Toolkit.
We were delighted to share and present our work at the Project Zero Conference in London, held in October 2013. Attended by educators from across the globe, the workshop fostered intense discussions and sharing of experiences as the participants tried to reflect on their own leadership potential. Before discussing this workshop, we would like to present some background on our involvement with the Good Work Project.
Lynn Barendsen and Wendy Fischman, from the Project Zero Team, introduced the GoodWork Toolkit to us as part of the GoodWork Toolkit Certification course conducted for 35 partner schools across India. What started as an endeavor to encourage passionate, introspective discussions in the classroom soon turned into a movement aimed at promoting “good work culture” in schools. Our students saw themselves in the vignettes, rattled their brains through the ‘value sort’ and above all related their real life decisions to the values they chose as most important. Through these activities, discovery and learning – some expected, some surprising – was taking place. In due course, the students gained clarity on leadership. As teachers and students came to comprehend the depth of the 3 E’s (Ethics, Excellence and Engagement), they drew connections to global leaders we had spoken about – Gandhi, Mandela, and Mother Teresa. That is when, together, we created a new definition of leadership:
Leadership = Ethics (Values) + Excellence (Being good at what you do) + Engagement (Working with others)
While this is in no way the ultimate leadership formula, we believe it is a strong starting point for students. It helps them understand the relationship between each of the 3 E’s to leadership, and how the absence of one can lead to the possibility of weak leadership.
At the Project Zero conference, our audience was willing to engage in the same kind of reflection we had participated in on the road to learning about good work. We explored each “E” in terms of leadership, understanding, and experiences facilitated by use of activities in the classroom.
Ethics, defined as values in action, was the anchor for a meaningful discussion as we saw participants exploring their own important values using the value sort. Further, the difference between espousing a value and living a value was highlighted, using stories and leadership examples. A key question we posed, “We all believe in honesty, but do we live out that value?”, encouraged participants to explore their own value-behavior gaps.
Excellence, defined as “being good at what you do”, formed the second ingredient of leadership. In our discussions, participants stressed that there is no substitute for excellence and a leader needs to be good at what he/she does. Sharing their own moments of excellence helped participants solidify their success stories and plan paths ahead. It also inspired participants to consider how they can walk the “extra mile” towards achieving excellence in professional and personal realms.
Finally, Engagement, as constructed by us to mean “working with others”, was brought forward with groups forming “human machines”. This not only reinforced the importance of teamwork but also highlighted its role in leadership.
The participants felt that the activities and games conducted during the workshop could help students back in the classroom to understand their leadership potential. They also felt that it was a good starting point for facilitators and educators to conduct discussions relating to leadership and life skills.
As The Global Education & Leadership Foundation grows in its journey to create change-makers of tomorrow, Project Zero and The GoodWork Toolkit have added incredible value, bringing a variety of flavors to the delicacy called “Leadership.”