Leadership Training 2
Recently I was invited to conduct a leadership workshop at California State University of Monterey Bay for the Networking and Security Team. They wanted the training to focus in on getting things done, so I put together a few fun training activities that help with communication, self-direction, teamwork, and having more effective meetings. Activities build leaders faster than lectures in my experience. Check out the slides and try a few of the activities for yourself!
When talking about leadership a general discussion about what a leader is, is in order. When asked many of the participants shared ideas such as "A leader is someone who gets things done", "Someone who steps up", "An active listener", "Leaders are people that others follow". We didn't get too deep into what a leader was in this training and focused more on a few of the skills.
If you are interested in diving a little deeper into some of the details of leadership i've found the Freakonomics podcast to be an excellent resource. I suggest checking out these two links:
https://freakonomics.com/2007/08/13/how-much-does-the-president-really-matter/
If you are interested in diving a little deeper into some of the details of leadership i've found the Freakonomics podcast to be an excellent resource. I suggest checking out these two links:
https://freakonomics.com/2007/08/13/how-much-does-the-president-really-matter/
The 30 second pitch
The first activity is The 30 second pitch. Its really an adaptable exercise. The way it was presented was for summarizing and teaching about a cyber security topic such as:
Obfuscation (software) - Wikipedia
Cross-site scripting - Wikipedia
Digital rights management - Wikipedia
Email spoofing - WikipediaIf you can get an idea condensed down to 30 seconds it becomes easy to use that as a framework to speak about a topic for much longer, 5 minutes, even 30 minutes or more! It really helps you to focus your ideas into precise thoughts. It helps you to not ramble in meetings, and it's a good way of formulating an elevator pitch.
The action steps involve:
1) Beginning with a participant reading about their particular topic.
2) Writing a summary of your topic.
3) Presenting it to a partner in 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes. (I find 30 seconds the most effective when first doing the exercise then after they get that down increasing the allotted time)
The action steps involve:
1) Beginning with a participant reading about their particular topic.
2) Writing a summary of your topic.
3) Presenting it to a partner in 30 seconds, 1 minute, or 5 minutes. (I find 30 seconds the most effective when first doing the exercise then after they get that down increasing the allotted time)
4) Getting feedback from the other person and any questions they have.
5) Reviewing the topic, or rewriting a summary, or thinking about what you might change.
5) Reviewing the topic, or rewriting a summary, or thinking about what you might change.
6) Switching who presents and then Repeating steps 3,4, 5, and 6 a number of times.
The Human Knot
The next activity had everyone gather together in a circle, reach hands out and clasp hands. It needed to be someone who wasn't next to them, and each hand goes to a different person. The result is a tangled mess and participants need to figure out how to untangle themselves until they are in a circle. It's a good activity to see: who's self-directed, communication styles, and leadership styles. (Don't worry if some end up facing inside the circle versus outside the circle, it just means they crossed their arms when reaching across)
Effective Meetings
The last activity was a discussion about having effective meetings.
1) Set the Agenda
1) Set the Agenda
2) Follow up and Evaluate
3) Start on Time. End on Time.
4) End with an Action Plan.
The New York Times published a great article on running more effective meetings.
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/how-to-run-an-effective-meeting
I've done another leadership development training with a slightly different setup, if you are interested in more you can check out the video in that post.
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/how-to-run-an-effective-meeting
I've done another leadership development training with a slightly different setup, if you are interested in more you can check out the video in that post.
I'd like to thank Nawied Amin for helping with some of the content in the slides and for being the one who originally sent me the New York Times link.
Edited 1/11/2024 to add more clarity on the 30 Second Pitch.
Edited 1/11/2024 to add more clarity on the 30 Second Pitch.
Comments
Post a Comment