3 Reviewing your own leadership experience

There's lots of ways to build your leadership experience up. And that can be absolutely in a voluntary and non-work based capacity before you get into work. So I'll move on to work shortly, because you can start building up your leadership experience once you've got a job, of course. But beforehand, if you're studying or you're not working yet, there's lots of ways to do it. You can volunteer. You can get involved in projects. Putting your hand up is the most important element of leadership. So essentially, putting your head above the parapet, volunteering, and saying I'll do that, I'll get involved- that's the fundamental essence of leadership. It's putting yourself above others and saying, I'll take on responsibility. I'll deliver something. I'll make something happen. In your studying capacity, that can be offering to lead a piece of work if you're working collaboratively with other students. It can be about taking on additional responsibilities. It could perhaps be about joining a club or a society. Maybe you are going to join a netball team, or a football team, or a sports team of some kind. Can you take on a leadership role there? It doesn't necessarily need to be captain. There are plenty of people who want to be treasurers as well as captain. And I think people often think leadership means that you have to be a real rabble rouser. You have to be great with people and happy to present to hundreds or dozens or thousands of people, even. Actually, some of the best leaders are thoughtful. They're quiet. They're people in the background, people who are treasurers or membership directors. So those kind of things can happen at your local church. They can happen in your local mosque. They can happen in sports groups. They can happen with youth volunteering. They can go down to your local school or your local library and offer to support people with reading. There are so many things that you can do that can demonstrate and develop those leadership skills even before you get into work. And the principle, essentially, of putting your hand up, and putting yourself out there and taking a risk- which is, for me, the fundamentals of leadership and learning as you go- extend right into the world of work as well. So if you go into work, and you can see something that's not quite right and need to be done, offer to do it, or simply do it. As a leader of an organisation, that is one of the most wonderful qualities that you look for in your team members- someone who can see a problem, solves it, and makes a difference. So put your hand up for employability groups, employer voice groups, employee committees, extra projects, opportunities to get involved. But at the most basic level, look for opportunities every day. Just make little differences. That's what leadership is all about. And you can start doing that right now.