How can you gain leadership experience while still in school?

One of the most important leadership accelerators in my life was team sports. As I have shared in prior posts, so much of who I am as a leader today mimics who I have *always* been as an athlete. For example, sports gave me rock solid confidence, a deep love of team, and (especially important for girls and women) permission to LOVE competing. And it taught me the most fundamental leadership truth: you are only as good as your team. At its most basic level, sport is all about doing hard work with good people, in pursuit of a common goal. And that is what corporate leadership is all about. So honing your leadership skills via sports is one great way to prepare yourself for leadership at work.

In my experience, the easiest way to gain leadership experience while in school is to join clubs and organizations. Organizations such as fraternities, student government, and ROTC all have significant value in shaping young leaders. When joining organizations, be sure to seek leadership positions within these organizations. These leadership positions will help you discover your leadership style while allowing room to make mistakes. I believe it is best to learn and make mistakes early to avoid pitfalls later in your career.

A lot of leadership comes from being led by a good leader. For me, I joined many clubs and communities on campus starting from my first year and worked with people having different leadership and mangement styles. In school, you have to understand that no one way is better than the other, because everyone is simply trying to learn and understand themselves better. As I gained experience working with different sets of people, I started narrowing down to the places that I felt best fit my interests. Growing in those teams, I actively took initiatives in projects, events and other key tasks to employ learned skills and methodologies. Eventually, I had became more confident to lead and manage projects independently.

Leading clubs and organizations while in school accelerates your own leadership in part because you need to lean on influence and consensus-building in order to drive change. Leading without the ability to offer financial incentives really helped develop my own emotional intelligence and ability to be strategic.

In my experience, volunteering for a non-profit can greatly assist in developing leadership ability. This is the sort of activity that helped me gain, and develop, leadership skills while I was still in school. Volunteering to lead teams and departments, in a non-profit setting, can give you valuable experience and help sharpen leadership skills.

My son's leadership journey began with a project to help laborers in local camps. He inspired others, managed funds, and got sponsorships, improving his coordination and influencing skills. His efforts didn't just make a difference in the community; they also led to him winning the Princess Diana Legacy Award. This experience showed how starting a club or initiative is a great way for students to develop leadership skills in a real-world setting.

Starting your own project or initiative in school is a great way to gain leadership experience. Once you identify a need or interest in your school or community, develop a clear plan to address it. Organize a team, set clear goals and objectives and manage the project to completion. This experience will help you develop key leadership skills like planning, team management, problem-solving, and communication, all while making a positive impact in your community.

It's very easy to fail, especially when it's your first time, but don't let that hinder you from trying. The best way to learn is to fall and to pick yourself back up. Once you have the idea, build the framework and set the timeline for execution, then recruit like-minded individuals who share the values in your idea and are people who are able to push through together with you.

Starting your own project or initiative is an extremely powerful way to build your leadership abilities, however, there is a large caveat to this. Particularly in career-driven universities, students often use these projects as a means to an end to securing some of the most competitive graduate jobs or internships. These students understand that these initiatives can be used in interviews to show competency and secure these roles. This approach is very sub-optimal from a fulfilment perspective as you undertake projects that you're not intrinsically interested in and you're merely doing this for external validation. When it comes to projects, make sure that you do them because you truly want to and not because you feel that you have to.

There are many subtle ways to engage in leadership while in school. While seemingly simple it is important to refer to your classmates by name rather than a "hey, how are you?" Nothing is more important to a person than their name and be sure to pronounce it correctly. In addition, always recognize a classmates accomplishments; high grade, success in a sport such as a winning shot or goal. You will find if you recognize others consistently the recognition of you as a leader will grow. Finally, in this practical aspect of leadership, whenever possible wish people a "Happy Birthday" if you are aware of their special day. Over time your consistent recognition of others will build and you will gradually see the results.

Whenever I step into a school class for a workshop, I keep crushing the social stereotype of family. Family is great, maybe best actually, or most important at least, BUT, having a coach or mentor has more to do than following always your parents' advice! Kids should seek for hearing new perspectives, new voices, creating a continuous brainstorming by igniting what they are having best..their imagination! Even reverse mentoring, is worthy, as you are always learning from kids! Do not ever forget that!

It is important to build out a well-rounded personal advisory board so that you have mentors for different skill sets and competencies. A mentor with deep subject expertise may be different from a mentor who has led successful teams. As a leader, you will need to cultivate a variety of skills for a variety of contexts. And as someone mentioned below, mentors can also be people you observe in action.

Remember, mentors can also be people we quietly observe. It doesn't always need to be an active mentorship relationship. If you see someone who has really good leadership skills, take time to just observe them in action, take notes of the subtle things they do as well as the bigger actions they take. There is much to be gained and learned just from quiet observation.

Mentorship is by far the best way to get a good look at the 'real world' after school. Look for one or two to help you grow your character, and then just meet up with anyone who is doing what you want to be able to do. Invite them for a coffee chat, tell them why you're interested in meeting up and what you hope to learn from them.

Teachers are happy to help, and eager to help. All you need to do is ask. They will help, guide and even provide you with help and mentorship from other teachers and seniors.

Volunteering is not only a great way to make an impact, but it can also help you get clarity on your leadership style in a lower stakes environment. By volunteering, you will gain insights in your natural patterns - do you help the team consider new ideas? Do you provide direction? Once the team determines a path, are you skilled at taking action? Use this time to really learn about and hone your skills. You will be more prepared to take on leadership roles in the business environment.

Experiential learning is an essential aspect of developing important leadership skills. This happens in a lot of ways, but taking advantage of volunteerism, getting an internship or an on-campus job, or even a job shadow are really important things. Not only can you do work related to your intended field, but you also can build important enduring/transferable skills that you will take with you no matter your career trajectory. You will also be able to build valuable networking connections, potentially leading to future job opportunities or meaningful mentorship from experienced professionals.

One of the marks of a great leader is servanthood. Great leaders cannot be self-serving. Volunteering is a great way to earn the art of servanthood. In addition, it also gives you real-life experience of organizations and people. You will be able to both learn from current leaders as well as possibly lead projects and/or people without having the pressure to produce at a high level. It is an incredible learning lab for both how you like to be lead and also how you lead others.

Remember that if you have a job on campus, this absolutely translates to leadership experience! In every role you are have a responsibility to serve others, directly or indirectly, especially on a school campus. Think about how your campus job influences, leads, or helps others - I have no doubt you will be able to see how a campus job prepares you for leadership. Many times, it is the expectation that those roles have intentional learning experiences built in!

I have worked with many student interns and volunteers and the best experiences come from co-creating the work. Non-profits have specific projects that need support yet within these are ways to “learn as you go” so that you aren’t merely labor, you are gaining valuable skills. Start by finding a cause that interests you and working with the department or person who does the things that you want to learn - example email marketing. Show up, ask questions, and pull up a chair to be part of the work. You will learn a lot and the mentor will enjoy the time together too.

If available, consider visiting your schools leadership development center/office to participate in their co-curricular offerings and workshops or joining leadership honor societies such as #OmicronDeltaKappa or academic honor societies connected to you course of study. These are all great ways to further enhance your academic journey that blend key people leadership capabilities with the core techniques of your academic program in a way that offers immediate opportunities for hands on application and fellowship with other like minded people.

I think that sports are a fantastic way to build skills. When I was in college, I was on the rowing team. I learned more about team dynamics, how to build a team (or hinder a team) from just participating in a team sport. Don't tell my professors, but I probably learned more valuable things out on the water than I did in any of my classes. haha

One important lesson I learned and will never forget is to strike a balance between your schooling and extra-curricular activities. Your education is your first priority because you need to be smart and knowledgeable as what your transcript of records should show (this is a qualification if you aspire for corporate management level) and of course your being elected in the school student government or any organization for that matter (this is an added plus points in your curriculum vitae). This in my opinion is a good enough recipe for success.

School is the best place to exercise your leadership skills and experiment different strategies to know what is your leadership style. It's a safe playground to realize your personality traits and understand its impact on others, especially in terms of ease of influence, conflict management, and communication style. But for me, the most benefit came from knowing WHO I AM AS A HUMAN and what super powers I had that can help me grow and learn faster, whilst helping others and making a difference at large.

Join student government, run for a leadership role in a club or organization, get involved with local community service organizations or launch your own.