A few weeks ago, Anoushka and I were given a chance to lead our first session which was centred around team building. In the mind map below, you can see an overview of the activities we conducted and some things that upon reflection we have realise and/or decided to take action upon. However, I would also like the chance to speak about how the experience of leading was.
In Sky School, despite being ninth graders, the two of us have felt very welcome and included in all discussion. In fact, from time to time we have had the opportunity to lead mini reflection sessions or activities and it has always been a very open environment to express an interest in a skill you would like to develop (e.g. leading/presenting/investigating) and obtaining support in order to take action on it. However, this was our first session in which we were expected to plan ahead and be ready to conduct the activity and lead a reflection.
Personally, an important aspect of leadership that I learnt was how important facilitating a discussion was. I think it is instinctive to assume a leader of a team as the individual who makes all the decision and ‘controls’ the team. In this session, I instead learnt about how to support the team and how a leader’s job is encouraging the best effort and decisions out of the team.
In fact, the role of a team leader is more dependent on the whole team than any other role so it would make sense that their jobs would also be dependent on the team rather than individual actions and decision. A leader cannot exist without their team, however a finance officer, for instance, has a job description that is separate from a team.
I developed skills around listening and paraphrasing which is something I have always personally struggled with as I am always so eager to get on with the conversation and introduce as many ideas as possible, not realising that they are all pointless if you don’t take the time to reflect on them.
I also became more confident and fluent in speaking to others as the activities went on. It became more natural and casual as instead of feeling like an outsider who had to ‘control’ the team, I felt like a part of it and supported it.
Overall, I think I speak for both Anoushka and I when I say that we enjoyed and learnt much from this session and look forward of more opportunities to lead ourselves, experience good leading, and develop other skills as well.
