Summary
- Who is a leader?
- What are the important leadership skills in students?
- How to develop leadership skills in students?
Great leaders don’t tell you what you do, they show you how it’s done
A leader is one who knows the way, shows the way and goes all the way. It is also true that leaders are not born as leaders. Leadership qualities in students are crafted and honed over the years.
Leadership is required in every field, whether you are a student or an employee of a company. Honing these skills allows you to take charge and make quick decisions under unforeseen circumstances.
Leadership skills are life skills. When we talk of life skills, we mean the skills you need to make the most out of life. It is a skill that can help you at any point in your life when situations arise.
In the same way, leadership skills are useful life skills that come in handy throughout your life.
So, what are leadership skills for students? Leadership skills for students are important because such qualities prepare you for a brighter future.
7 Advantages of Possessing Leadership Qualities:
1. Good Decision Makers
Leadership skills in students can be identified in students who have the ability to make good decisions. Good decisions are an inherent quality of all leaders.
A leader is someone who can control the group from the front. Leaders naturally have people who follow them. People will follow them only if they prove that they are on the right path and make good decisions.
2. Great Listeners
Although leaders are great decision-makers, it does not mean they do not listen to other’s opinions.
In fact, leaders often listen to others then weigh the pros and cons before making important decisions. Good listening skill is an important leadership skill in students.
3. Positivity
Leaders always have a positive attitude. A positive attitude is necessary in order to develop various other important leadership skills in students. Here are some reasons why a positive attitude helps leadership skills in students:
- Positivity prevents laziness
- A positive attitude is important for good health and mental peace
- It helps students focus
- Leads to success
- Keeps students happy
All these qualities are important leadership qualities in students.
4. Builds Confidence
Leadership skills qualities in students help to build confidence. It helps to boost self-reliance and self-assurance.
5. Responsibility
Leadership qualities teach a sense of responsibility. With great power comes great responsibility and so is the case with leaders.
6. Looks Good on Your Resume
Being the head of something or taking the lead in a project looks good on a resume and enhances your prospects of a bright career.
7. Builds a Network of People
Leadership skills in students help to build a foundation for networking. The friends and acquaintances you make as a student will come in handy at a later stage.
Take a look at the people around you. Your friends and peers. Identify the ones who have leadership qualities. Notice that they have certain qualities in common.
13 Amazing Leadership Skills for Students
1. Always a Goal Digger
Students who radiate leadership qualities usually have their goals chalked out before them. They know what they want life to offer them and they make it happen.
Such students are go-getters. They know what they want and they know what to do to achieve it. If opportunity doesn’t knock, they build a door.
Such is the perseverance of these students. They have the will and they find the way. This is an important leadership skill in students.
They have a plan in mind because they know that a goal without a plan is just a wish. Great leaders never set out to be a leader, they set out to make a difference. It is always about the goal.
2. Be the Change You Wish to See in The World
One of the leadership qualities in students is that they are always motivated and motivate others too. They want to inspire and be inspired too. They don’t wait for change to take place; they are the change.
3. Hard Workers
Students who are hardworking are usually the ones that lead from the front. Perseverance and determination are their motivational watchwords.
A leader does not have to secure first place or rank number one in academics. This does not define a leader. A leader is one who is dedicated and committed to the task at hand.
Hard work and dedication is one of the best ways to develop leadership skills in students.
4. Social
One of the main leadership skills in students is the skill of being able to socialise with others irrespective of gender or any other difference.
Being able to socialise with the masses is a necessary quality of a leader. Being an extrovert helps to socialise.
Networking with people is a part of socialising. Socialising does not mean interacting with only the people you may benefit from.
Socialising necessarily includes interacting and networking with all people. Never be too busy to meet someone new.
Socialise and build your network base. It is one of the best ways to develop leadership skills in students.
5. Accept Backlash
As a leader, be ready to accept criticism as much as you accept praise. They will both come in equal quantity and sometimes criticism may even surpass praise.
However, leaders must learn to accept both. Learn from both and make improvements at every step. Accepting and acting are important leadership skills in students.
6. Communication Skills
Though the art of communication is not built overnight, it is a skill that every leader must possess. The art of talking or communicating takes a while to master.
Having command over several languages is one way of hitting the right chord with the masses. It is the job of a leader to be able to convince the people.
As Martin Luther King once said, “A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a moulder of consensus.”
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11. Root Cause and Analysis
Another must-have leadership quality in students is to find the root cause of a particular problem, analyse it and be able to make amends.
This helps in quick problem solving and arriving at effective solutions. It is imperative to be able to learn. Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
7. Humble
Students who aspire to be leaders must at all times be humble in nature. Willing accept failure and willing to learn from those failures.
Students must be able to communicate with all sects of people and be a face to reckon with.
By being more approachable to the masses your acceptance with the crowd increases and so does your popularity, which is a very important aspect of being a leader.
8. Problem – Solving Skills
As a leader, people will look up to you as a person who can solve problems. Therefore, it is necessary to have the capability to solve general problems and tough situations.
Problem-solving skills comes from being able to communicate and interact with people.
9. Self – Responsibility
Leaders must always take the responsibility for anything done in their capacity. Blaming others for any failure or mishap will not be conducive to leadership quality.
In these instances, it is necessary to evaluate yourself from time to time thereby deducing the steps to achieve success.
10. Honest and Trustworthy
One of the leadership qualities for students is to always be honest and trustworthy. Being able to win over the hearts of the masses requires years of relationship building and networking.
People should be able to trust you when it comes to fulfilling promises made.
11. Proactive
Being proactive is one of the main leadership qualities in students. By proactive we mean taking charge of things with an energetic and enthusiastic approach.
Student leaders do not sit and wait for opportunities to reach them. Student leaders create the opportunities they need.
Students must be willing to take risks and learning from new experiences. Students must learn to go the extra mile.
12. Action Speaks Louder than Words
Important leadership skill is to be able to put words into action because what you do has far greater value than what you say. Leadership is the quality of being able to translate vision into reality.
13. Empowering Others
One of the best leadership qualities in students is the ability to help others. Always remember as you help others up the ladder, you are reaching the top yourself.
Leaders become great not because of their power but because of their ability to empower others.
Having said this, it is also important to note that a person doing his or her own best becomes a natural leader by example.
Leadership is a necessary quality required for students today. In a competitive world, standing out in the crowd is very important. Every student has what it takes to be a leader, you just need to find the passion to achieve it.
How to Develop Leadership Qualities in Students
Now that we have seen the various leadership qualities in students, we must know how to develop leadership qualities in students. There are many ways through which students can develop leadership qualities.
According to an article published in Research Gate and written by Radhika Kapur, University of Delhi Apart from academic learning, it is essential for students to develop leadership skills among themselves.
When they develop leadership skills, they are able to lead and guide others in the right direction, inculcate the traits of diligence and conscientiousness, and differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate.
The educators are vested with the responsibility to assign students tasks and activities that may render an effective contribution in augmenting their leadership skills.
They make provision of duties to students, particularly within the classrooms to augment leadership skills.
These include monitoring and supervision, maintaining discipline, helping students, who are facing problems in academic learning, and so forth.
The article further informs educators on how to develop leadership qualities in students. Transformational leadership is used on an extensive scale to motivate and improve the lives of individuals.
Within the classroom setting, the educators are required to implement transformational leadership to not only facilitate the understanding of academic concepts among students but also enable them to achieve their academic goals.
One of the important aspects of transformational leadership is to augment the skills and proficiencies among students.
It allows the educators to implement the teaching-learning methods that would make provision of knowledge among students to enrich their learning potential.
Through transformational leadership, educators are able to motivate students to rise above their own expectations.
Conclusion
Having said this, it is also important to note that a person doing his or her own best becomes a natural leader by example.
Leadership is a necessary quality required for students today. In a competitive world, standing out in the crowd is very important. Every student has what it takes to be a leader, you just need to find the passion to achieve it.
