I was recently at an event which was put in place to promote youth culture and help to inspire our young men and women. During the event I spent some time at the NYLF or Nation Youth Leadership Forum where we got to discussing the benefits of teaching our students better when it comes to showing them what leadership looks like. Currently we don’t directly teach this kind of thing, at least not across the board, and if we do so it will bring a lot of benefit in the lives of our young students. Here are just some of the benefits which they can receive when they begin to learn about leadership.
Transferable Skills
The skills which are required to be a great leader are not exclusive to leadership and in teaching our young men and women these skills we can help to set them up for being successful in the ‘real world’. Communication skills for example can help to breed confidence, it can help in the work place and in someone’s private life. On top of this we have skills like decision making and responsibility which will also greatly benefit someone’s life and these are also skills which can help someone to progress in their career. Finally we have skills like management, teamwork and organization, all skills which are beneficial for leaders but which can also be easily transferred to all aspects of life.
Leaders
It is not just the transferable skills which we can teach our young men and women, we can also teach them how to be leaders, something which will help them greatly in their careers. Whether we have young, budding entrepreneurs who need to learn about leadership, or young and ambitious individuals who have lofty ambitions. If we can teach these students leadership from a young age we can greatly help their chances of reaching the heights that they have set their sights on in their careers.
Ready
If we are able to teach our young adults how to be leaders from an early age, we can help them to be ready for the workplace as soon as they have finished their education. In this regard we can almost speed things up for young people who will be more prepared to start their career, than the students who are leaving education and beginning their working life at the moment.
Core Values
Teaching leadership is about more than just teaching the skills that leaders require and as any great leader will tell you, there are certain core values which a leader must possess and in teaching students these values we can help to inspire more well-rounded and confident young men and women. Courage would be a great example of this, leaders must show courage in their roles and if we can teach our young adults values like this, they will undoubtedly benefit in their lives.
Let’s make more young leaders and more confident individuals through the teaching of leadership.