Stay in your lane

Over the last 5 weeks we have been with a great bunch of Yr12 students at St George’s School doing the Leadership Foundations course. I have been so impressed with the students so far, they have been enthusiastic and engaged, really wanting to learn as much as they can about being a great leader.

We have done 5 sessions so far. The topics have been teamwork, skills and qualities, influence, identity and character. This week we will be looking at the topic of perseverance. Each week they are not just learning tips on how to be a good leader or how to give a good speech or reflection, but we are encouraging them to learn about themselves to help them be the best leader that they can be.

The week that really stood out to me was the identity week and the activity that we did with the hats. During this week we were looking at our beliefs about ourselves, others and the world around us, our values and our personality and how these things can impact how we show up in the world and as a leader.

The students absolutely loved the activity where they had to choose a hat for each person in their group and tell them how it represented that person. They were so good at encouraging one another and thoroughly enjoyed receiving these positive words. The insight that they had about their fellow students even though they may have only journeyed with them for a few weeks was very perceptive.

One of the students exclaimed ‘This is such a good activity!’. This excitement reminded me that we often need encouragement just like a plant needs to be watered. Young people (in fact all people) really thrive when they are spoken to with words of encouragement and truth.

Sadly, we tend to remember the negative words spoken about us more than the positive (negativity bias), so I love that we get the chance to build the students up with our words and that they also get to practice this vital skill with each other.

One of the most important things about identity that I hope the students took away with them was to stay in their own lane - we shared this quote with them from Brené Brown:
“Stay in your own lane. Comparison kills creativity and joy.”

It is so hard when we are talking about who we are not to look to the left and the right to check out the competition but hopefully after these wonderful students have finished the course they will know that we have all been designed in such a unique way and that they are all a perfectly shaped piece in a puzzle and this knowledge will help them to stay away from comparison and be who they truly are.

Steph