Leadership without a title

You do not need to be head student or team captain to lead. Leadership is about influence: helping a group move toward a shared goal. That can start in a club, a class project or a volunteering shift.

What leadership actually is

• The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) notes that leadership is less about one strong or charismatic person and more about a group of people working collectively.
• CCL's 'Fundamental 4' core leadership skills are self-awareness, communication, influence and learning agility.
• CCL says that early in a career, influence often means persuading people without formal authority. That is exactly the situation of most teenagers.
• CCL also stresses that these skills can be developed at any stage. Leadership skills can be learned and improved.

The Five Practices: a framework you can use

• Kouzes and Posner's Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, which also have a student version, are: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart.
• Model the Way: do what you say you will do. Arrive on time, meet your own deadlines and follow the rules you ask others to follow.
• Inspire a Shared Vision: describe what success looks like in a way others care about. 'Imagine if our charity bake sale funded a full term of school supplies.'
• Challenge the Process: look for better ways of doing things and learn from setbacks.
• Enable Others to Act and Encourage the Heart: build trust, share tasks and thank people specifically for their contributions.

Leading in school, clubs and volunteering

• Start something small: a study group, a recycling drive, a coding club. Plan a first meeting with a clear goal and date.
• Take on a defined role: secretary, treasurer, event lead or social media lead. Each builds a specific skill and gives you evidence for applications.
• In group projects, offer to organise the plan and timeline rather than doing all the work yourself.
• Volunteer for the jobs nobody wants, such as setting up chairs or tidying afterwards. People notice who does them.

Influence without authority

• Listen first. People are more open to your ideas when they feel heard.
• Connect your idea to what others care about, not only what you want.
• Build trust by being reliable over time. Google's Project Aristotle found dependability was one of the five dynamics of effective teams.
• Make it safe for others to speak. The same research ranked psychological safety first.
• Share credit publicly and take responsibility for problems.

Growing as a leader

• CCL lists qualities of effective leaders including self-awareness, respect, integrity, courage, gratitude and resilience.
• After each project, ask yourself: what did I do that helped the group, and what got in the way?
• Ask for feedback from teammates (see the feedback lesson). CCL describes learning agility as learning from mistakes, feedback and challenging experiences.
• Watch leaders you admire and note specific behaviours you could copy, rather than trying to copy their personality.