I spent Sunday at a CPD training workshop focussed on developing ‘Leadership, a winning mentality and grit’ in young footballers. As a tutor of Leadership and Management courses myself, I was particularly interested in how the content would relate to leadership training in more traditional settings, and how it would be delivered by the tutors – Wayne Burnett and Craig Hinton.

Honestly, the course was one of the most enjoyable I’ve been on, and the tutors were excellent. Such are the complexities of leadership, a few hours wasn’t a long time to get through it. However, the group was given food for thought, provocation for interesting discussions and inspiration to put ideas into practice.

On reflection, the success of the course really was as much about the tutors delivering it, as it was about the content. Here are a few key points about their delivery.

They provided an empowering environment of questions instead of ‘answers’.

An open, honest and respectful environment was quickly established, and every member of the group contributed valuable input on multiple occasions. Being given the opportunity to lead is an important factor in promoting leadership. This was one of the take-home messages for me.

They gave honest feedback that stretched learners out of their comfort zones.  

More than once, a credible idea was met with a challenging question, justified by the tutor’s claim of ‘I’m just playing devil’s advocate here’. This (seemingly unexpected at times) approach forced a quick analysis, justification and development from the learner of the initial idea that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

They helped the group to devise and share some great ideas.  

There was a lot of experience, energy and expertise in the group and ideas flowed freely. I have personally tried some of them already, and have been inspired to develop more. I find that the best courses often spark enthusiasm for a multitude of new ideas, and this was no different.

They demonstrated qualities that inspired leadership in the group.

One discussion point was about whether leadership is contagious. Admittedly the point wasn’t to develop leadership in the learners; rather to enable the learners to develop leadership in the young people they work with. But if the qualities of leadership are indeed contagious, and I believe they are, then hopefully the positives from this course will filter through as desired.

After all,

“No written word nor spoken plea can teach young minds what they should be, not all the books on all the shelves but what the teachers are themselves.” (Elbert Hubbard)

 

If you enjoyed reading this, then please check out our MAP programme, based on Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose.  Employee engagement can be a long and winding road but if you follow the MAP you won’t go far wrong.