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Modeling Leadership (In Your Family & Class)

Issue 12 • July 2021
Hello Friends!

So glad you’re here. There’s a lot going on the world right now. Climate challenges and the lingering pandemic have changed the way we live, and it’s making it difficult to identify and focus on what’s best for ourselves and for our kids/students.
 
But it’s vital now more than ever to equip our kids/students with the strategies, tactics and tools they need to navigate the increasingly complex world and to take the lead in their own lives and work. 
 
In the past year, we've all observed things in ourselves and in our kids/students that have both encouraged and frustrated us. And although we’re the wiser for it, acting on this newfound wisdom to maximize what’s best has proven to be challenging.
 
START has tools to help. In the June Newsletter, we shared the ways in which you can use the WIN Map to inspire your kids/students to discover and connect who they are and what they care about to where they can make a meaningful connection. 
 
This month, we share the ways in which you can use the START Leadership Process to optimize your leadership approach to inspire your kids/students to discover how they can contribute in ways that matter.
 
We invite you to join us here and to read more on our website and blog. And for teachers who haven’t yet done so, we invite you to apply for our upcoming fall course, SEL Through the Lens of Leadership

Let's go!

Inspiration: Lead Well
Optimizing our leadership approach

Parents and teachers serve as the most influential and enduring model of leadership in the lives of their kids/students. While our intention is to always model effective leadership, reflecting on the interactions we have with our kids/students reveals that there’s a lot of “telling” (and occasionally, yelling) going on.
 
Telling kids what to do can work to get them moving in the short run. But in the long run, according to the research in families and in classrooms, this approach creates followers, not leaders, who struggle. And it creates distance between you that becomes more and more challenging to bridge.
 
But when we invite our kids/students in to discuss a longer term vision, values, and goals, when we see them for who they are, not who we want them to be, when we give them the tools to navigate, to choose and to take the lead in their own life journey, it creates leaders. And it creates connection.
 
Let’s be the parents and teachers who invest in developing our strengths as leaders in order to model, teach, and reinforce the development of effective life and leadership strengths in our kids/students.
 


Insight: How to Model Leadership
5 Steps to Take Now
 

The secrets of exceptional organizations, families, classrooms, and individuals are grounded in the social, biological, and psychological sciences as they relate to opportunity, experience, and agency. In our research, we’ve identified five consistent behaviors that provide a direct and effective path to modeling, teaching, and reinforcing the development of leadership in ourselves and our kids/students.
 
We’ve organized the five essential leadership practices into an effective leadership framework for you and your kids/students that articulates the steps necessary to lead effectively by identifying and aligning your Strategic goals with your Tactical, day to day actions and interactions. Building in regular Assessments ensures you get and stay on track and establishing Routines embeds your strategies and tactics in your daily work. Prioritizing the importance of intentional Training develops the essential skills kids/students need to scaffold and build their skills as they grow.


You can START by taking notice of what you say and do and how well it aligns with a leadership approach. For example: check to see if you are micromanaging work your kids/students are capable of doing or if you are supporting the acquisition of skills they need to do their own work - and then allowing them to do it. Note where there's room to shift your mindset and your actions about building your kids/students' leadership abilities. In order to drive greater alignment, identifying your top 5 values, your goals, and your strategic vision and drafting a Strategy with your family/class will serve as an essential starting place.
 
For parents, when and how you engage your kids in the process will depend on their age and the openness of your current relationship with them. Younger kids are eager to participate. Older kids may choose to wait and watch for a period of time as you demonstrate actions that reinforce the development of leadership and your belief in them as being capable. Follow up with the next steps - Tactics, Assessment, Routines, and Training to ensure what you say and do each day aligns with your Strategy - Vision, Values, and Goals.

 
For teachers, you have the opportunity to start anytime. Establishing a Strategic Vision for your class transforms the classroom experience along with your students' experience  - and yours.  For those of you who haven’t yet done so, consider applying for our upcoming fall course, SEL Through the Lens of Leadership. Our courses fill quickly, so be sure to reach out if you're interested.
 
For parents, we typically offer workshops through school or community based organizations, such as this Leadership Edge workshop we offered at Waterdown High School in Ontario, Canada. We'd be happy to work with you to organize a workshop in your school or community.

Let's START!

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“ We have seen the positive impact START makes in developing essential leadership skills while building social and emotional capacity and connection.  We have used START to unite our parents, teachers, and students with a common leadership language and process to navigate their lives effectively.”

                                K-12 School Administrator, Pennsylvania

Information: Putting It All Together
Essential Strategies, Tactics, and Tools 

In this section, I typically curate and share books, articles, and research with information that aligns with our work in building essential our and our kids/students' life and leadership skills.

Today, I’m sharing the books I and my colleagues have written that teach how best to implement the essential strategies, tactics, and tools required to equip kids with the mindset and skill set they need to thrive and prosper.

The local and global challenges our kids will face in their lifetime will continue to escalate. By the time students today graduate from high school, technological shifts, recessions, and global dynamics will undoubtedly affect the college, lifestyle, and employment opportunities of graduates. In the face of increasing uncertainty, we can give our kids a set of universal tools - WIN and START - with which to face the future with confidence.

Kids raised and educated with this leadership approach develop the emotional intelligence and intrinsic motivation that fosters initiative, meaningful connection, and engagement at home, at school, and ultimately at work and in life. They have opportunities to discover, tune in to, develop, and align their innate wiring and interests with the needs they discover in their family, school, community, and one day, at work, providing the sense of mastery, autonomy, and purpose that leads to well-being.

What’s more, the START Leadership Process is enjoyable. Kids who experience this approach during childhood report greater satisfaction, joy, and hope, even in the midst of working hard and facing challenges. They learn to take the lead in their own lives, using what we call small “l” leadership, and to then take the lead in the pursuit of worthwhile goals, or what we call Big “L” Leadership. In so doing, they develop the attributes of effective leaders — Responsibility, Resilience, and Resourcefulness — that are essential for broad success. And we, as parents and teachers, can experience the peace of mind that comes with knowing we're on the right track.


You can find them on Amazon or on the START Website.

This Work Matters

We are up to something here that matters - in our families, schools, communities, and workplaces. You're an important part of it.

We invite you find additional resources that include our recently recorded webinars and to download a free chapter of the START Handbook for parents or teachers

We're expanding the reach of this work to students, teachers, and parents in a wide range of both under-resourced and well-resourced schools and districts and in communities and workplaces around the world. We invite you to join us. 

If you're already part of the START community, let us know what's inspiring you in this work. We love hearing what you're up to in your families, classes, communities and workplaces. Simply hit reply.

P.S. Please feel free to forward this to a friend or colleague.
We'll make them feel welcome too.
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