Leadership Development Exercises

The idea of a leader has changed over the years substantially, a leader is not someone who you fear. In modern times, a good leader is the one who motivates, encourages and leads by example. It is easier to list down what leadership qualities are, but it's difficult to find someone who possesses and practices these traits. Leadership is not about authority, on the contrary, it is about enabling people around to perform at their optimum. A leader doesn't have to be perfect, but should be able to perform at optimum efficiency in spite of the imperfections.

A leader should possess human qualities for others around him to appreciate and to emulate. They should create an atmosphere, which is conducive to free flow of ideas, suggestions and growth. An organization who understands the importance of developing leaders from within the company structure will prosper. As an organization, you have to identify individuals who fit the bill and arrange some leadership development exercises for such individuals to harness their qualities.

There are several exercises that you could arrange to cultivate leaders within the organization. Leadership styles may vary, but the basic principles and qualities remain constant. Identify these core strengths and design programs that will act as fodder for these qualities.

Card Castle
Identify individuals who you would like to groom and assign 3 - 4 members in their team and give each team leader a deck of cards and couple of cardboard sheets. Assign different areas for each team and ask them to build a castle. Add an obstacle to the task by putting a table fan on the spot near the site on which they have to build the castle. Individuals in the capacity of team leaders will be in charge of getting their team to build a castle while protecting it from the wind blowing from the fan. After the task is over, ask the team leaders to list down leadership qualities which they learned experiential while building the card castle and overcoming difficulties caused by the wind.

Room Design
Arrange an empty room and assemble a few pieces of furniture outside the room, also make a printout of the design of the room with the furniture. The task is to arrange the furniture inside the room as shown in the printout in a stipulated period. Add difficulty to the task by keeping a piece of furniture that can't be moved alone and needs at least 2 - 3 people to move it. Assign your teams to the leaders with expressed instructions that they cannot physically help in completing the task, they can just give instructions to the team. After the task is complete, ask the leaders to list down the difficulties they faced in getting the work done from their team members and how they managed to overcome it.

Leadership Development : A Few Tips

Anyone can learn a company's work procedure and work ethics codes, but only a true leader can implement them and get others to adhere to them. So, you need to identify and develop their basic human qualities that act as a driving force. Here is a list of some of the qualities that you need to concentrate on enhancing.

• Determination
• Empathy
• Discipline
• Perseverance
• Confidence
• Passion

Get them to develop the three 'I's, Integrity, Inspiration and Intellect. A leader should 'Learn to Listen and Listen to Learn', ingrain this habit into your leaders. Assign them tasks that work towards betterment of the community, something simple like collecting old clothes from employees and donating them to the salvation army will suffice. This will teach them to take responsible action keeping not just the organization but the whole community in mind.

Being a leader isn't easy, but identifying one and cultivating their talents is more difficult, but if you are able to do it the rewards will be unparalleled. Simple exercises can help you achieve this, you can also enlist the help of a firm who specializes in executing such activities for you or get ideas off the Internet.