Leadership and Influence: How leaders exhibit leadership and influence?

Chevening is looking for individuals who will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

(minimum word count: 100 words, maximum word count: 500 words) Word Count:476
Please, I need your corrections and thoughts about. Thank you!

contribution to the society

A leader inspires followers to do more for the common good and make the vision into reality. My leadership experience started when I volunteered in our church youth organization. We reach out struggling young people such as dropouts, delinquent juveniles and even those who are related to drug trade. I realized this to be a challenge therefore as the president I instituted groups to have a scheduled session with specified youth to establish a good rapport, friendship and to tutor them in their lessons. Then, I organized team building activities and camps to encourage communication and character development. We also let them join summer outreached programs visiting tribes, giving relief goods and feeding program for children. It takes patience, consistency, and integrity to stand as a role model and a leader worthy to be followed by these young people. All the hard work paid off since they are now professionals and are currently leading the organization continuing the work that we started and I with my team are current supporters.

Another experience that molded my leadership skills is when I was asked by the co-owner of a Restaurant to take the position as a store manager. When I accepted it, I discovered that the store faced problems such as low salaries, dissatisfied workers, weak sales, and poor management since the previous manager went AWOL. I do not have a business management background, therefore, I considered it a dare and used my background in management and supervision in education as a stepping stone.Firstly, I paid close attention to supervision and sales where I formed a team to mainly work on catering services and promotions. Inside the store hygiene, improving the menu and proper deployment of people were well monitored. These initiatives resulted in an increase of sales, teamwork, good communication between owners and employees helped me create a lighter atmosphere and be more productive. I was also able to convince the owners to increase the wages of the employees and was even awarded for their contributions to the increase of sales.

Though I enjoyed my job in the restaurant, I wanted to practice my teaching profession. My first assignment as an appointed teacher in the public was in Maguinda, a far mountainous area in Butuan. The school has classroom issue since most of the rooms are makeshifts which are not conducive for learning. Since most of us are newly assigned, including our head teacher we mostly assist each other in managing the school. I, with my co-workers, orchestrated fundraising programs for two years just to finish one classroom for the pupils.

With Chevening scholarship and the knowledge I will gain from my studies in the UK, I would be able to contribute to the development of Philippine education in a wider range. To create programs that would assist students from the poor community, especially those who are potential leaders.

Noeme, it is important that you understand the main requirement of this essay. The main requirement is that you have a profession related leadership and influencing experience. Therefore your first two experiences are out. You can't use that. Only professional experience should be presented, in the line of work that you are in at the moment. That said, you must focus on your most recent leadership and influencing activity as it relates to your given profession.

Your experience as public school teacher will fit this requirement. Rather than discussing leadership in terms of your co-workers, as it seems that you are merely a rank and file employee at the moment, you should focus on your leadership and influencing role within the classroom instead. As a teacher, you are looked up to as a leader by the children you are teaching. So focus on how you are leading them towards a better future. Discuss the difficulties you face in teaching them due to lack of proper facilities, yet you manage to lead them towards proper learning. Then explain how you inspire them to stay in school even though it may be difficult for them to keep attending classes due to say, the physical situation in the classroom or their residing far from the school, maybe even consider the dangers involved in their getting to the school while traversing a mountainous region.

It would be even better if you have a leadership experience that relates to the fund raising programs that you, along with your co-workers initiated. That will show that you have the professional ability to lead adults and influence others towards doing good things for other people. If you fail at that, then fall back on your classroom leadership experience instead.

@Holt
Thank you so much @Holt, as I understood the question it only asked for examples on one's leadership and influencing skills. Though it also crossed my mind to only use my recent activities. Thank you.