Cultivating leadership skills in children is an incredibly important and rewarding task. In order to achieve this, we are responsible for encouraging our children with leadership skills, such as critical thinking, decision-making, collaboration and independence. The main way in which we can achieve this is via effective communication and by providing them with opportunities to display their skills. 

Some leadership responsibilities that we can give our children are as follows:
  • School captain: As a school captain, it is the student’s job to represent the school and what it stands for. This major position will push the child into a leadership position, teaching them how to communicate effectively with other authoritative figures, such as the principal and teachers, as well as how to vouch for the other students in the school. This role includes individual and group leadership skills.
  • Event planning: A fun and useful way to make your child a leader is by giving them the opportunity to plan and coordinate events. For example, if your child has several ideas about a birthday party that they would like to plan, let them take control! They can work with a set budget, curate a guest list, hire caterers, order the food and drinks of their choice, select a venue, and so much more. This leadership position can be used to benefit the child and those attending the party, as they will need to plan with their preferences and the guests’ preferences in mind.
  • Passion projects: Giving children the freedom to express their leadership through pursuing their passion projects is another great way for them to pick up on these skills. Whether it’s making a film, selling their art, or tutoring others in fields where they have the necessary knowledge, these little leaders can go on to make or do the things that they love by coordinating efficiently, planning well, and working hard.
  • Group projects: In-class activities that require group participation are another way to build leaders. Making different students in charge of different groups while working together towards a common goal is a highly utilised method to encourage leadership within students. This role will require the student to take charge while listening to the voices of those within the group.
By providing them with these opportunities to practice their leadership skills, your children can build the following traits:
  • Confidence: Taking charge of situations can help heighten children’s confidence. Whether or not they manage to achieve their goal as a leader, gaining the experience will make them more assured of how to go about working towards it.
  • Assertion: A strong and successful leader is one who can be assertive without displaying aggression. As children progress through this journey using their own knowledge and advice from their parents, teachers, and other role models, they can learn the correct way to communicate their rules and opinions without coming across as hostile. Being open to what others have to say and truly taking their stance into consideration while also holding a strong stance of one’s own and communicating it effectively will make your child a likeable and respected leader.
  • Resilience: A brilliant leader does not necessarily always get their way. Sometimes their plans may fall through, but this does not mean that they should give up. Strong leaders can bounce back from failures and still work on their goals, building up their resilience.
  • Responsibility: Being responsible for oneself and their followers is very important for a leader to master. As time goes on and as the child becomes more acclimatised to their leadership position, they should be able to take the rest of the group’s voice into account while making decisions, as this will make them more approachable and respected.

As their role models, it is also our duty to make the option of being a leader known to our children. While some kids may be natural leaders, others might need that push to get into it. At the end of the day, this role is not for everyone, but encouraging our kids to take it on could be advantageous for them.  

Read : How Public Speaking Skills Prepares your Child to be a Leader of Tomorrow

Leadership Skills in Children

Here are some ways that you can encourage your kids to take up leadership positions:
  • Modelling leadership behaviour: Children tend to model authoritative figures or role models in their daily lives. As a result, the way that you act and behave around and with them might pass on to how they develop. We should act in the way we would like our child leaders to act. This involves taking on all the aforementioned leadership qualities so that our children can witness us acting as such and model our behaviours. This is especially effective if done in the home or educational environment by parents, guardians, teachers, and other mentor figures.

Read: Inspiring Leadership in Children using Non-verbal communication

  • Fostering a positive environment: Mathiyazhagan (2020) have written about how children who have a positive relationship with their family and other adults are more likely to show signs of prosocial behaviour and take on leadership skills. Their development as a leader, therefore, heavily depends on the environment that you set up for your children.
  • Educating our children on real-world issues: Mathiyazhagan (2020) have also mentioned how these attributes are brought out if the children are exposed to issues related to social justice. Hence, educating our children on relevant topics and teaching them how to educate themselves will serve them well as they explore their leadership potential.

As we venture through this journey together, we will focus on the importance that nonverbal communication holds. By simply using our body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, we can display leadership qualities, teaching our children to do the same. 

Know about our Leadership Course for Kids

References

Billsberry, J., Escobar Vega, C., & Molineux, J. (2019). Think of the children: Leader development at the edge of tomorrow. Journal of Management & Organization, 25(03), 378–381. https://doi.org/10.1017/jmo.2019.10 

Mathiyazhagan, S. (2020). Participatory youth-led community development: A child-centered visual SWOT analysis in India. Children and Youth Services Review, 113, 104963. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104963