Scholarship / Inspiring others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more. Leadership skills Chevening [5]

example of John Quincy Adams and Winston Churchill

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." That's what John Quincy Adams said. To me, Inspiration should best define a leader than any other word. Because the person who inspires or influences others to attain a coveted goal by mutual cooperation and cohesive behaviour is the true leader. To be such a great leader, you must personalise leadership, since leadership is largely behavioural. And to personalise leadership and be a behavioural leader, a leader must have definite strategies and skills. The leadership strategies that made me an inspirational and inclusive leader in the past were based on a cluster of three core interrelated ethical practice of leadership; namely, empowerment, accountability and humility.

Again, good leaders are characterized by their inherent capability to empower others to achieve maximum success. Empowerment is about including others in decision making, delegating and creating participatory roles, and giving power for others to handle a particular task thereby increasing their sense of commitment. This quality of empowering my followers helped me as the leader of my platoon during my one-year mandatory national service in orientation camp. In camp, there were a lot of activities -like sport, drama, dancing, parade, cooking- in which ten platoons compete against each other and the overall best platoon is selected based on their ranking in each activity. As a leader, I had the responsibility of leading our platoon to rank best, and to achieve this I delegated responsibilities to other members of my platoon based on their passion, interest and competency in each activity. At the end, we were ranked second from the ten platoons.

"The price of greatness is responsibility" according to Winston Churchill. This is where someone is being held responsible for the outcome of delegated duty whether good or bad. For example, when I told the heads of each group activity in the camp that they'll give account and feedback of their activities and decisions, they built senses of seriousness and commitment in their duty. As a result, they were efficient and effective.

The effect of humility can never be undermined in leadership. To display humility, I thought less of myself, but more of others. This made me to humbly accept my mistakes and to ask for suggestions from my platoon members.

No one leads a group of people or an organization to success on their own. It is the collective excellence of many that build success. So with the right strategies and skills, -like empowerment, accountability and humility- that brings inclusive leadership, others can be inspired and influenced to action. I hope to incorporate these strategies in the Chevening community.