What Does It Mean To Be A Leader?

About two years ago, on a cold snowy day working from home, I was sitting in my basement at the same desk I had been sitting at for 10 years (only this time I had finally added marble contact paper to jazz it up a bit), letting my mind wander after a rather difficult team call.

I was thinking about what it means to be a leader.

I had just gotten off a call with the leaders of an organization I was working with at the time and remember feeling a bit of admiration towards them. They were handling a particular issue that was less than pleasant.

Yet, they never made their staff feel burdened by it. At that time, my previous experiences with leaders had been quite different. If anything, the way they presented the solution to the issue and the work involved made us feel empowered, motivated, and willing to do the necessary work. They guided, supported and provided wisdom to get our team through the challenge.

Over the years, I’ve learned that one determining factor distinguishes those who lead and lead well from those who lead but don’t do it well: They genuinely care.

I’ve been lucky enough to come across quite a few leaders who fall into this category (not surprisingly, most of them were women).  But beyond the fact that they cared, and they cared deeply about their organization and their team, they had three things in common:

That isn’t to say all leaders who don’t fall into these criteria don’t care about their team.

However, leaders who genuinely care demonstrate this in all aspects of their work. This is demonstrated in how they respond to team members, guide their team through projects and challenges, strategize, and create action plans. Strung throughout each action and thought fueling that action is that they care. In my opinion, that is what distinguishes a great leader from others.

Youth Engagement Leaders & Why You Need One

Having a strong leader who champions youth engagement is vital for the success of your youth engagement strategy. Leaders who prioritize youth engagement set the tone and expectations for how committed an organization will be toward engaging youth.

They should have both the capability to inspire and equally take action to bring your initiative to life. While also motivating their team to do the same thing.

What does it look like?

• Listening to youth

• Empowering youth

• Trusting and collaborating with youth

• Creating a shared vision with youth and guiding them to bring it to life

A youth engagement leader is there to bridge the gap between your organization and the youth in your community. They are the ones offering the guidance, support and know-how to both sides.

Choosing the right leader is in large part a determining factor of how successful your youth engagement strategy will be. But remember, it’s up to everyone in the organization to adopt and implement the youth engagement strategy and efforts.

Quote of the Week

Practical Tip of the Week

When searching for the right youth engagement leader in your organization, I strongly recommend looking for someone who has a few of these traits or qualities:

Blog Post Recommendation

Youth Engagement Guide

Question For You!

I hope you enjoyed reading today’s newsletter and that it got you reflecting on leadership and how youth engagement leaders can help strengthen your youth outreach efforts.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, or anything you’d like to talk about in an upcoming issue don’t hesitate to respond to this email or contact me at [email protected].

Thanks for reading & see you in two weeks!