Some people are natural-born leaders. However most leaders today are not born as leaders, but instead were made to become one. We often admire figures of leadership and the authority that they hold, and we wish that our children will one day become just like them. In this article, we’ll explore how young people can be trained today to become tomorrow’s leaders.
The right mindset of a leader
First of all, it is important to define what a leader is in order to teach the right mindset about being a leader. Fortunately, the gospel of Matthew explains this clearly. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26). Matthew took note of what Jesus had taught to His disciples about what leaders should do. He said that in order for us to be leaders, we must become servants first. We must put others’ needs before ourselves and ensure that we use our authority to benefit our followers.
What it means to be a leader in the modern world
The second trait that all good leaders have is insight and accountability. Leaders do not have to know everything and do every task. It is the duty of the followers to help leaders perform those tasks, so that leaders can look beyond the horizon and gain insight into the direction that the team is going.
Even though leaders do not directly perform tasks that their followers do, they are still accountable and fully responsible for the overall results of the teamwork. The most admirable leaders are not just excellent coordinators, but also someone who is willing to teach and wants to see their followers succeed.
How your teen can train leadership skills
Opportunities to take a leading role is admittedly not easy to obtain. However this doesn’t mean that your teen cannot learn leadership skills. Below are some examples of how you can teach your child to have certain qualities of a leader.
1. Humility
At home, your children can practice humility by recognizing that they can complete chores because they want to serve the family, not because their parents have asked them to do it. Giving credit and reward is good to build up their habit and confidence, but as they get older, they must learn to find satisfaction in serving others, especially the people they love.
2. Coordination
Communicating rules and boundaries at home should be the norm. If your children question the rules that you have set, they are not trying to become rebels. Instead they want to coordinate respectfully and negotiate with you to reach a win-win situation.
3. Accountability
Having accountability means your teens must recognize their faults and fairly discuss the faults of other people involved. This is different from putting blame, where people fight to claim blamelessness. In any conflict, all persons involved have partaken in faulty behaviors that create the problem in the first place. Teach your teens to own up their mistakes and not to worry about being hurt when they do so.
IPEKA Christian School
IPEKA is a Christian School in Jakarta and other cities across Indonesia. We believe that not everyone can be leaders at the same time, but every individual will take on a leading role at any time in their lives, whether it is to lead themselves or others. We hope that this article has been a beneficial read. Happy parenting!
To learn more about our school, you can contact us directly!
