What is leadership?
Leadership can mean different things to different groups in different situations. There are many types of leadership – community, religious, political, advocacy, and more. Leadership can be an individual role, a partnership, or one group leading another. We become leaders in different ways – appointed by authorities, elected by a group, or even something that happens organically due to circumstances, personality, or skill sets.
The following are all examples of people in different types of leadership situations:
- a politician elected to parliament and appointed to head a committee
- a group of organisers putting together a protest march
- an experienced local hunter taking a group of young men out into the bush
- a small business owner setting the strategy for her company.
Yet, despite the differences, each situation has certain attributes in common that make them examples of leadership. Each of these people, in different ways must:
- help themselves and others to ‘do the right thing’
- set the direction – map out how to get from point A to point B
- manage and guide the group to keep moving together to arrive at the destination.
Leadership is a process. Not everyone agrees on the right or best way to do it. A lot depends on the situation, what the goals are, and who is being lead. It can also depend on the personality of the leaders. This is how we arrive at a discussion of leadership styles.
Leadership styles
Exploring different styles of leadership with young people is one way to help them to learn more about themselves. Raising your own awareness of leadership styles can help you identify your own approach to mentoring and leadership, and to make choices about how you lead, and how you set up the young people you work with to lead:
- Which types of leadership do you prefer? As a member of a team? As a leader?
- What have you experienced? At work? In the community? In how you were parented and educated?
- What are the pros and cons of different styles in different situations?
Leadership styles sit on a continuum from autocratic at one end to laissez-fair (permissive) at the other. Different writers may group or define leadership styles in different ways along this continuum, but in general they will most likely look something like the following. In the descriptions below, the term ‘leadership’ in the first sentence refers to the person or people who are in a leadership role.
Leadership makes all the decisions without input from others. In some situations, this command-and-control leadership style is highly appropriate, for example, in a sudden emergency or in military combat. The person with the most knowledge and experience makes all the decisions, and everyone does as they are told because there’s no time for anything else during a crisis.
Leadership inspires confidence as followers look to the leaders to set the direction and expectations and to map out the way to get there. People often turn towards authoritative leadership in uncertain times or when they feel scared. Unlike autocratic leaders, authoritative leaders take time to explain their decisions. They focus on clear message communication that engages and energises the group to believe that if they follow leadership, they can achieve common goals.
Autocratic and authoritative leaders oversee group organisation, decision making, and delivery of instructions. They tend to stand a little apart from the group and focus on tasks at hand. The group can feel competitive, at times aggressive, and self-focused, yet group members are dependent on leadership. While the leader is present the group may work hard and achieve results, but when the leader is not around achievements often drop off.
Words used to describe this type of leader often include confident, responsible, strong, trusted, goal-oriented, persistent, disciplined, in control.
An authoritative leadership style that is common in sports or competitive new-venture industries, is one that ‘sets the pace’. A ‘keep up with me’ leader sets a hard, fast pace that pushes everyone else to work or move harder and faster to keep up with them. This type of leadership is good for getting things done and achieving results but in the long term it can be highly stressful, and those who cannot keep up often burn out, drop out, or give up.
Leadership shares relevant information and gets input from the team before making decisions. Democratic styles of leadership are often marked by participation, trust, and cooperation. Those in the team are encouraged to be creative, to share ideas, suggestions, or opinions, and are supported to grow and develop. Plans and decisions are discussed with the team or group. Goals are achieved through getting people motivated to achieve. Leaders often act like part of the team. The group atmosphere is often experienced as friendly, group-centred and task focused. People keep working well even when the leadership is not around.
Words used to describe this type of leadership often include group responsibility, friendly, lack of superiority, equality, takes time.
Leadership sees everyone in the group as talented and with potential to tap into. The leader’s role is to support and encourage everyone in the group to set the direction, and to recognise and contribute their talents to the common cause. Often this leadership style will focus on people’s emotional needs, collaboration, building relationships, resolving conflicts, and creating a harmonious environment.
This leadership style is at the other end of the continuum from autocratic leadership. A laissez-faire leader provides very little oversight because they assume everyone will know what to do and how to go about organising and planning themselves. This style is marked by minimal intervention as the group is left to sort it out for themselves. The group atmosphere can, if the group works well, be friendly, focused on the group and playful. However, achievement is usually lower regardless of whether the leader is there or not, or it may even be higher when the leader is absent. This style of leadership can be effective if everyone in the group is highly motivated, skilled, experienced, and good at managing themselves.
Task: Leadership styles
Match the leadership style to the description of its advantages and disadvantages.
Which leadership style is best?
Different leadership styles work better or more effectively in different situations. Yet a balanced, friendly, democratic leadership that encourages open discussion on rules and decisions is popular for most contexts. A democratic leadership style aims to balance responsibility and allow young people to take some ownership. Young people get to learn from experience how to behave in spaces that are more democratic. They learn about how to manage issues of fairness, social equality, inclusion, working together, resolving problems, accepting, and learning from their mistakes.
While some young people are comfortable with an authoritative approach the problem is that it does not provide opportunity to grow long term or to develop independence. Also, some young people come to resent the lack of choices and to feel like they are being suppressed.
On the other hand, a fully laissez-faire approach, except in rare situations, is not that useful for working with or mentoring young people. While you can work towards a more hands-off approach, young people still need guidance as they are still learning how to make decisions, work in groups, communicate effectively, handle independence or take responsibility. Being left to their own devices to try and figure everything out for yourself does not suit everyone. Some young people may love it, but most are likely to find it confusing, frustrating and it is easy to just give up without clear evidence of success.
As you learned in the previous topic on youth participation, young people may need support to move through a process that takes them from adult-determined structures and decisions through to greater youth-led situations. Which leadership style you adopt when working with or mentoring young people depends on who they are and where they are at. This is also true for how you facilitate youth projects designed and run by youth.
Direct – coach – support – delegate
This four-step model may help you choose the best way to start working with an individual young person or group. Start where they are at, inside their comfort zone. What does this young person need from me? How can I get them to take the next step? Also, remember that as you move through the steps you have to give young people space to make mistakes and learn from them.
Direct
Does this person or situation need a lot of direction? Do they need roles and tasks defined for them? Do they need close supervision? At this point, communication is mostly one-way as decisions are made and stated. However, you can start laying the groundwork for the next step. Can you get the person to start talking about their feelings or thoughts on a decision that affects them, to give feedback on what they like or dislike, or even what could be done differently? Once the person starts to understand they are being listened to and that in this space and youth work relationship it will be safe and comfortable to express their thoughts you can start to move them on to the next step.
Coach
Does this person still need roles and tasks defined for them, but with their input, ideas, and suggestions as part of the mix? Responsibility for decision making still sits with you, but communication has become two-way. To lay the groundwork for the next step, encourage the young person to make small decisions or give them two options to choose from. Get the young person to stop and reflect on successful choices as well as mistakes. Let them experience that it is okay to make mistakes and learn from them. You might also see if you can get them to offer critiques of processes or how tasks are done.
Support
Can day-to-day decisions about what gets done, when, how and in what order be passed over to the young person, while you take on a support or facilitating role? You still need to take part in decision making but can leave some of the control over those decisions to the young person.
Delegate
Can control be delegated to the young person? You can still be involved in decision making and problem solving but control now sits with the young person, who decides how they need or want you to be involved.
The important point to keep in mind is to be flexible. Adopt the style most appropriate and effective for the situation and its objectives. Effective leadership is the ability to adapt to the needs of the situation.
What is shared leadership?
Are you aware of how you feel and behave in relation to leadership? How comfortable are you with young people having control or being in the leadership role? Both you and the young people you work with need to understand leadership to make sense of a transition to shared leadership.
Earlier, we explored youth participation and ways to integrate it into youth work practice. As youth participation increases, young people take on more and more of the leadership role and its responsibilities. But this does not just happen smoothy or easily. Young people need guidance and support to transition successfully.
Shared leadership has certain goals:
- Leadership: the team/group claims leadership.
- Decision making: distributed amongst team/group in line with areas of responsibility
- Structure: hierarchy flattened and based on networks
- Communications: multi-directional and more transparent
- Diversity and inclusion: multiple influences, different perspectives transform all aspects
- Processes: collective
- Accountability: distributed
How do we get there?
When you hear the word leader or leadership, what is the first thing you think of. Many people see a clear line between followers and leader with a dynamic of top-down influence. The leader is the active subject who sets the vision and defines the strategy. The followers may be involved but they are mostly reacting to the influence of the leader. For example, leaders motivate while followers are motivated (or resist and obstruct). Shared leadership changes this perception of leadership.
The key word for shared leadership is distributed – influence, power, decision-making, accountability, process, and coordination. With shared leadership the ‘role’ of leadership becomes more distributed throughout the group or team.
However, shared leadership has a continuum with the proportion of youth to adult leadership shifting depending on context. Key factors are the development of the maturity and capacity of the young people themselves. Even with mostly adult-led leadership, it is still possible for young people to start learning about leadership or experience control and responsibility for themselves in small ways. When young people have a high degree of responsibility and input, they can lead themselves, although they still need adults to check in, provide support, ask the tough questions, and be a resource when asked.
Shared leadership is a balancing act and it is not straightforward. Young people do not develop capable leadership skills overnight. It takes time, experience with success and failure, and it needs guidance, direction and support from adults and organisations.
If a young person or group takes on more than they can handle, and things do not go well they may be reluctant or scared to try again. How does a youth worker manage this? The most obvious way is to set the group up for success – pay careful attention to what is happening and when necessary step in and draw a line on certain responsibilities. With success comes confidence to do more. However, failure is a necessary part of life and a good opportunity for young people to build resilience and bounce back when something doesn’t go right. Failure is how we learn our limits and view mistakes as information about what not to do next time. Youth workers learn how to operate in shared leadership situations through experience – to know when you need to draw a line and when you need to let go; to strike the balance between support and challenge.
Where to start? Unless you understand a young person or group well (capability, maturity, group dynamics), knowing where to start can be difficult. If you are not sure, start somewhere near the middle of the continuum. If you notice that the young people could handle more control start to slowly redistribute responsibilities until you find where the group or young person is at. On the other hand, have a backup plan for when youth are not ready. It is okay to step in and ‘save the day’ with Plan B.
If a young person or group is not ready for leadership, try a coaching style or facilitator role. You both act as a role model and involve them in the process of how to plan, organise or run something. For example, a group of young people are going to plan for a volunteer project. As a facilitator you do not tell them what to do, nor do you sit back and let them figure it out. You facilitate a brainstorming session in which the group narrows down their options, sorts out conflicts, decides on what they will do and comes up with a plan of action. You model the process as you guide them through it, and you explain the process – what you are doing and why. The young people contribute ideas and learn how to plan for and carry out a session like this in the future. Once the group can facilitate its own process you become a mentor, resource, and someone they can call in when they decide your input is needed.
The great leader speaks little. He never speaks carelessly. He works without self-interest and leaves no trace. When all is finished, the people say, ‘we did it ourselves’.Lao-tzu, Tao Te Ching, Verse 17
From participation to leadership
By now, you hopefully understand that what is best or most appropriate for any individual young person or group depends on the situation and context. This includes knowing where young people are at and helping them to participate as fully as possible in their own lives, family, communities, and New Zealand society.
Adult-led passive youth participation
At one end is the youth work relationship or space in which the adult youth worker provides everything. They do not use mentoring or activities to develop leadership skills, autonomy or decision making. Sometimes a young person is used as a token; for example, they attend a meeting but have only a passive role. Even if they do express an opinion, it has no influence on what happens.
Young people who are used to spaces and relationships dominated by adults in this way may find it difficult to participate or express their autonomy. They are used to being told what to do. They may be cautious or distrustful around adults, at least at first. It is likely to take time before they feel safe or comfortable opening up to tell you what they need. They expect to be passive and have things done to them that they then react to rather than having input into and some control over what happens. They may not have the confidence or skills necessary to participate more actively. ‘What do you think should happen?’ may feel like a trap or seem like a strange question rather than an opportunity to say what they need or give an opinion.
Building rapport and trust starts with making a connection and encouraging them to make small choices and commit to small responsibilities. Share food together, spend time with them doing simple things they like – kicking a ball around, weights at the gym, listening to music. Do not expect too much or ask too many questions.
Adult-led active youth participation
Youth participation often starts with young people taking on small responsibilities or making small, simple choices. However, they are still participating in spaces and relationships organised and run by adults who still make all the significant decisions about how participation occurs and take on most of the responsibility.
However, the aim is to increase youth participation – young people become more active subjects, who are involved with designing and helping to plan some activities. They may be given some responsibility to run things by themselves (with oversight). They are consulted, but the adults still make the final decisions. Young people take on more and more responsibility. They design and create with adult approval. Youth workers put effort into developing skills for leadership and greater autonomy.
Actively listen to young people and start to incorporate their ideas. Give them opportunities to experience success with decision-making and planning. Provide guidance and space to practice important skills like decision-making, effective communication or problem solving. Let them make mistakes in a safe environment without consequences. Try using the metaphor of learning to play a video game. You have to level up to the final boss. Along the way you battle progressively harder opponents and complete tasks that are a step more challenging than the previous level. Even in multi-player games you expect to move progressively and learn from each fight.
Youth-adult partnerships and full youth leadership
Young people and adults start to work together as a team. They share decision making, planning, and designing of sessions, schedules, activities, and events. There is a lot of negotiation, working out conflict, problem-solving, resolving issues of inclusion or diversity. Eventually, young people are at a point to take on responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating, in which they make decisions, usually in consultation with adults when the young people decide they need adults with the knowledge, skills or experience to help them make good decisions. Roles and responsibilities are distributed. You may even have older young people mentoring those younger than them. Young people continue to develop leadership skills.
Working as a mentor can support young people to develop their capacity for participation and leadership. You can ask tough questions to help them resolve conflicts and solve problems using their own ideas and action plans.
Focus on what it means to share power and responsibility. Encourage young people to take ownership of a process or plan. As the young person takes on more responsibility and moves towards greater autonomy, they still need feedback that is specific to the issue and non-judgemental. The young person, with your support and encouragement takes risks, tries out new things or experiments with different approaches. You can help them by offering space to reflect on what is happening, to clarify and make explicit the things they are learning and highlight their strengths.
Youth entrepreneur – Christian Prescott
To see an example of what a young person can achieve with consistent support from adults, watch the following video (3:12) from Tagata Pasifika1. In this short news item, we meet Christian Prescott, a 22-year-old business owner and entrepreneur. As you watch the video, think about the support that Prescott describes from his parents:
- How have his parents, aunties, and uncles enabled him to take risks and try out new things?
- Does he feel that his success is largely his own, or does he view his success in a broader way that includes the significant adults in his life?
Watch the video to find out the answers to the questions above, and to find out what type of business he is running.
Youth leadership is good for young people
Working with young people towards full participation and leadership has a lot of benefits for the young people that can last a lifetime. It is worth putting in the time and effort to develop these relationships and to act as a mentor for young people to develop their leadership capacity and confidence.
Young people develop skills they can use now and later in life. What they learn through youth leadership can become the building blocks for later success and achievement. It also enables them to learn how to establish community connections, build support networks and maintain healthy relationships with peers and other adults. These not only make life more meaningful but also can help practically with things like employment or other opportunities.
Youth leadership means young people have to learn how to work with other people. They have to develop empathy and the ability to see situations from other perspectives. They have to get on with others, including peers and other adults, to get things done or decisions made. They can develop a greater respect for difference and diversity. These communication and relationship skills transfer into other areas of their lives like school, the workplace, or interactions with authority figures, where they may be viewed more positively in the community than they were before.
All of this can help to develop self-esteem. Young people have a more positive view of themselves and their own potential. They start to experience and believe that they can have a positive impact in their community or society. They learn to see themselves and their contribution as necessary and useful. They have greater control over their lives and a sense of their own autonomy.
Watch the video (1:59) below to see a story from Re: News2 about Māhera Maihi (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whātua) and the youth development organisation that she founded, Mā Te Huruhuru. As you watch the video, think about the benefits of this leadership role for Maihi and all the skills she is developing as she manages and expands her organisation.
Youth leadership is good for our whole society
Youth participation and youth leadership models are not only beneficial for young people. Youth workers themselves find that they can build better connections and relationships with young people. Working in partnership changes the dynamic. More trust and greater transparency enable youth workers to learn more about the true needs of the young people. Interactions become more cooperative, friendly, and even fun.
Youth workers may experience more energy and feel better about work as they experience helping to empower young people to have opportunities and develop the skills and tools they need to thrive and shine. Time, resources, and effort can be spent differently when the youth worker is no longer responsible for everything. Young people have greater skills, maturity, and autonomy to plan, organise, make decisions, contribute, take responsibility, even mentor and facilitate for peers or those younger than them.
Youth workers and organisations can target their efforts with greater confidence because they are in partnership with those they are supporting. What they are doing is more likely to meet actual needs and for the young people to feel that the work is relevant to them, especially as they also have ownership over outcomes. Success can come with other material benefits like more opportunity to obtain funding and for others in the community to want to contribute.
Another key advantage is young people may contribute ideas that adults may never have thought of or been willing to try.
The organisation is helping to develop the next generation of community leaders as one group of young people become positive role models for those who come after them. Once young people engage in positive leadership roles within their community, they begin to feel commitment and obligation to the success of that community. Young people experience the appreciation of the community, who in turn benefits from their energy and enthusiasm. These young people are more likely to vote, to engage with community or political issues in proactive ways, and to feel empowered to contribute for the long-term benefit of society.
Fresh perspectives and ideas from youth entrepreneurs
Watch the video below (4:13), produced by the Edmund Hillary Fellowship3 to see some examples of how youth leadership can benefit our whole society. Listen out for the energy, motivation and enthusiasm of these young business owners who are working in start-ups and new business ventures. As they explain, they are motivated by having a positive impact on society as well as being financially sustainable. You’ll hear some examples in the video of their willingness to share ideas and to help others learn from their mistakes and experience.
Task: Final reflection
Now that you've finished this topic, take a few moments to reflect on the following questions:
- What are some of the different leadership styles that you've seen and experienced in your school life and in the workplaces where you've been employed?
- Which leadership styles worked best for you, as a student or employee? Why?
- Think about your own leadership experiences. Which leadership style best describes your preferred way to lead and inspire others?
- How can you take what you have learned in this topic and apply it to your current role?
- Do you feel that it would benefit your current organisation or workplace to allow greater participation in leadership by the young people that you are training or supporting? If so, who would you need to speak with to explore some ideas and possibilities?
You are now ready to complete all Tasks in Assessment 3.4, especially Task 3.
