Leadership Essentials Work Experience Blog

This month our blog is written by Jack, aged 16, our work experience student, who sat in on our recent Leadership Essentials course. 

Throughout my time observing the Leadership Essentials programme in action, I was intrigued to hear about all the very many different traits it takes to be a modern day leader, where feedback and forming personal relationships with team leaders has become paramount.

Perhaps most surprising to me was the effect the word “yet” can have. When a manager is giving constructive feedback to a team member, the use of “yet” can have a profound impact on the response to feedback. This inspires those receiving feedback to push themselves further

Psychological preferences were also a key element of the course. I learnt that everyone has natural psychological preferences, and, as a result, everyone does things differently. Preferences can include introversion vs extroversion, or being a thinker or feeler, as well as others. These preferences can have a dramatic impact on how the manager- team member relationship is viewed by both parties, and I found this fascinating.

I was intrigued by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and TypeCoach programmes, which can discover what your psychological preferences are through a questionnaire, as well as offering advice on how to take advantage of your preferences and how to interact with those who have different preferences.
and put more effort in to achieve their goals. This is because “yet” suggests that they are on the course to success and are able to achieve it.

Over the duration of the course, it became increasingly clear to me that to succeed as a modern day leader, it is crucial that you are people smart in addition to being business smart. Simple communicative adjustments can determine how a team member responds to failure, and are necessary in order to build trust and synergy in amongst a team.