Supporting a purposeful transition

Transitioning beyond school can be a daunting period in a young person’s life, and one that is pivotal for the next steps in their academic and professional journey. Individuals do not usually have the same level of safeguards or boundaries in place when they move on from school, therefore the need for more responsibility and autonomy is inevitable.

Students need to develop their self-leadership skills in order for this newfound autonomy to be of use for a successful transition. To be an excellent self-leader is to be resourceful, courageous, responsive and more, as captured below in figure one and explained subsequently. This article will delve further into the importance of self-leadership and encourage reflection on some of the core components in relation to transitioning with purpose.

The figure presented above illustrates various leadership elements essential for effective leadership, compiled from over a decade of practical experience and research in leadership. Leadership is typically thought of as an act of leading others. Alternatively, self-leadership is a term introduced to academic literature over 30 years ago (Manz & Sims, 1980) and is the focus of this article. Manz (1986) states that even though behaviour is often supported by external forces, actions are ultimately controlled by internal, not external, forces. More recent research from Neck, Manz and Houghton (2019) define self-leadership as a self-influence process by which people achieve the self-direction and self-motivation necessary to perform. Similarly, Prapavessis, MacNamara, and Doherty (2021) suggest self-leadership consists of specific behavioural and cognitive strategies designed to influence personal effectiveness positively.

The leadership elements in figure one are grouped into five areas – powerful mindset, resourceful, courageous, impactful, and responsive. Development in these areas will help students to transition successfully beyond school in their chosen pathways.

Being Resourceful

Two core elements within the resourceful group will be explored here. Firstly, making conscious connections. This element encourages you to reflect on the analogy of ‘who is holding your rope?’ Encourage students to imagine their life as a rope, with them in the centre and those in their life holding onto it. They should ask themself: are they helping me move forward or holding me back? They choose who holds their rope and how tightly and should consider letting go of those who hinder their progress. As individuals transition from school to other paths there will be new arrivals on their rope and long-standing influencers will no longer be present, making it a vital moment with potentially long-lasting consequences. One strategy is for students to reflect on the path those closest to them are on: is this a direction they are comfortable travelling too? The answer to this should determine how tightly they get to hold their rope.

Secondly, being time-sensitive, which is not to be confused with simply being on time. We all have 24 hours in a day and can consider this as 24 1-hour tokens. As students move to university or another pathway their time tokens become almost entirely their own to choose from. Some courses do take registers and require a certain level of attendance, but not all. Timekeeping is more structured if they go on to do an apprenticeship or move into employment. Therefore, time can be seen as an incredible asset that must be directed wisely, as once time is spent, it can never be returned.

Being Impactful

Developing effective systems for productivity and impact rely on being intensely and intently active. This can lead to considerable growth as individuals enter this new stage of their lives where they can build the habits that make development inevitable. Author James Clear (2018) is a tremendous advocate for developing impactful habits and he comments that you need to keep your daily actions small, strive to get 1% better every day, keep your daily mindset big, and think about how these small daily actions are contributing towards a bigger goal.

Improving your habits isn’t always about doing more, or saying yes to everything; there is great value in saying no, and saying it quickly and without regret. If you cannot say no, ‘say yes, but...’ and set your own terms too. As already mentioned, time and attention are precious, and they need to be used intently.

Being Courageous

Owning our choices is central in being courageous, although it is an often-overlooked component of personal growth. Underpinning this is the idea that whilst we cannot always control what happens to us, we can control how we feel about what happens to us. This peace of mind can be particularly valuable in turbulent moments in life, for example when moving into a completely new learning environment.

When we work hard for something we do not believe in, it can cause stress. When we work hard for something we love, it can be called passion. The tension here is that there is not a clear border between the two and it often takes courage to continue down a path that becomes stressful. The connected tension is that students need to make choices and the more difficult decisions they make, often to endure the discomfort that comes with the stress of working on things they do not like, the more their life will move forwards.

Further research has suggested that developing self-leadership can help develop creativity, innovation, and self-efficacy (Amundsen and Martinsen, 2014), indicating that self-leadership may become an explicit factor to be trained and taught to creative professionals and innovators of the future (Goldsby, Goldsby, Neck, Neck and Mathews, 2021). Additionally, Furtner, Rauthmann and Sachse (2011) reported that self-leadership is a process for improving socio-emotional intelligence, in that awareness and regulation of one’s emotional state is better enhanced by a person who takes accountability of their thoughts and behaviours. With this in mind self-leadership can be valuable for students to excel in the classroom and prepare them for their future careers (Goldsby et al., 2021).

In conclusion, in this article I have shared several key elements of self-leadership that will support students transitioning beyond school, and some related areas it can help develop. If individuals can be resourceful by being aware of the importance of time and the relationships they form, as well as having an eye for impact, and own their choices with courage, they will be much more likely to transition successfully and start the next stages of their journey with purpose.

Article in full; https://cirl.etoncollege.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/06/Issue-8-2024-.pdf

Edventurous Leadership; https://www.edventurousleadership.com/