Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes – Part A: What Is A Leader?
25 minutes – Part B: What Is Leadership?
45 minutes – Part C: Leadership Styles
60+ minutes – Part D: You As A Leader
15 minutes – Reflection

Part A: What Is A Leader?

Explain to students that this lesson is about leadership and leadership styles. It features clips and explores issues from the documentary film, The Leadership, about a leadership voyage for women in STEMM - science, technology, engineering, maths, medicine.

Step 1.

Write ‘What is a leader?’ in the centre of the board and circle it. You are going to create a mindmap.

Invite students to contribute their thoughts and note them down.

You could use a mind-mapping app, such as MindMeister and project it on the board.

Note: This is not an opportunity to name people, but students can consider roles that leaders are in, what a leader does and how they are perceived. Example responses might be role model, coach, captain, CEO, decision-maker, politician, parent, anyone. Whatever resonates for the students. This is an activity to tap into the students’ views and knowledge.

Step 2.

Now, invite students to break into pairs or small groups and discuss the following:

What makes a great leader?
Is the meaning of a great leader changing?
How might leaders have been viewed differently in the past?
How might leaders be viewed differently in the future?

Allow students at least ten minutes to discuss these questions and then provide some opportunities for them to feed back their key thoughts to the class.

Step 3.

Play this video:

What Makes A Great Leader? | YouthSpeak (https://youtu.be/bpcusZxgTw4)

Invite the class to compare their responses with what the youth in the video said about great leaders. You could use these prompts to drive the discussion:

What was similar between your views and their views?
What was different?
Do you think your answers were more or less complex? Explain.
Did you agree or disagree with what was said in the video? Explain.
Would you change your answer? Why or why not?

Part B: What Is Leadership?

Step 1.

Distribute the Student Worksheet to each student. Invite them to write individual responses to the questions:

What is leadership?
What is great leadership?
Does leadership need to change to meet the needs of the future for humans and the planet?

Note: These questions may be much more difficult for students to answer as leadership is an abstract concept. Without practical examples or personal experience, students may not have a developed understanding of what leadership involves.

Move around the room and help students who are still formulating their ideas. You might prompt them with the following questions:

Can you think of any behaviours you’ve seen that look like leadership?
Are there examples in the news of leadership?
Is there a leader who demonstrates traits or behaviours that you admire?
What role does leadership play in solving the problems of our generations and those to come?

Step 2.

Invite students to share their responses with a partner and discuss whether they found the questions straightforward or challenging to answer and why that might be.

Step 3.

Explain to students that the video they are about to watch is one perspective on leadership. It features Jane Goodall.

Explain that all perspectives are embedded in cultural and social norms. These norms change across times, generations and places. Students might notice that Jane Goodall talks about leadership as though it is intrinsically gendered. This is a common perception in mainstream society, but it is changing. This lesson will help us look at leadership through a lens of values and styles, rather than an intrinsically gendered behaviour or approach.

If students are unfamiliar with Jane Goodall’s work, you could read the following:

Jane Goodall is most famous for her 60-year scientific studies with chimpanzees and more recently, her Roots & Shoots education program in primary schools. She was interviewed by the Homeward Bound team (the leadership program featured in the film, The Leadership) and explains what kind of leadership she thinks the world needs now.

Note: Because this video was filmed for Homeward Bound, it focuses on women in leadership. This doesn’t mean that everyone can’t benefit from her advice. This lesson will continue to include a focus on women leaders to present alternative perspectives to the mainstream narratives on leadership.

Step 4.

While students watch the following video, have them write down the advice or recommendations Jane Goodall makes for leadership:

Jane Goodall - Homeward Bound Filmed Faculty (https://youtu.be/ufmDXXK1UZo)

Suggested answers: Work really hard, take advantage of opportunity and never give up, collaboration and partnership.

Step 5.

Show students this quote (also on the Student Worksheet):

“If anybody thinks they can do it alone, sure they are mistaken; because it can’t be done alone today. The problems are too complex. Everything [is], as we know, interrelated and we really need to work as a team with those people who get it right and the wisdom of one group will rub off and so it will be more like nature - all entwined - threads in a tapestry.” ~ Jane Goodall

Invite students to individually reflect via writing or voice recording what they think of the analogy Jane Goodall presents in that quote. They should respond to the following questions:

What do you think of the idea of leaders being “threads in a tapestry”?
Can you think of any examples of leadership like this today?
Sample answers: The United Nations, responding to the COVID-19 crisis.

Step 6.

Hand out copies or allow students to access digital copies of this article:

Leading with Kindness: Unravelling Jacinda Ardern’s Effective Leadership Style! (https://leverageedu.com/blog/jacinda-ardern-leadership-style/)

Give students time to read the article. Once they have done so, have them use the list of leadership qualities from the ‘table of contents (below) and describe and why or why not each item should be considered a great or effective leadership trait for today and into the future.

Leadership with Kindness
Open Communication in Crisis
Understanding the Power of Empathy
Valuing Equality in Every Form
Honesty and Open-Mindedness
A Dash of Humour
Solidarity in Community
Agility in Crisis
An Exceptional Approach to Motherhood and Multi-tasking
Addressing Climate Change
Always Ready to Learn from Children
Building Trust and Respect

Differentiation opportunity: Advanced students can write a response on each of the points. Other students could pick three to four to focus on. You might like to pair up lower literacy students to work on one trait together or they could work in table groups focusing on one trait each, then discuss their chosen quality with the rest of the group.

Note: This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list of leadership qualities, merely examples of what someone noticed in a recent/current world leader. Students may identify points they would prefer to be listed or are missing from the list above. You might ask some students to write a persuasive paragraph stating why they would include this item in a list of effective leadership qualities for today and into the future.

Step 7.

Round off this task with a short discussion or popcorn share allowing each student to rapidly share their answer to one of:

One thing I learned about leadership
One thing that surprised me about leadership
One question I have about leadership.

You might like to note down any questions and see if they get addressed during the rest of the lesson. You could find additional opportunities for students to explore their questions further.

Popcorn share

Students can remain in their seats or stand in a circle, The leader introduces a topic for sharing. Students voluntarily "pop" out of their seats or step forward and give an answer or comment. Each student's response is brief. When finished, the speaker sits down, which is the signal for the next person who wishes to pop. If two or more students "pop up" they nonverbally determine who will speak first.

A key to success is merging gracefully into and out of the conversation: waiting until the prior student is finished before "popping in" trying to avoid having multiple people speaking at the same time, etc.

Part C: Leadership Styles

Note: If students haven’t completed The Leadership: Viewing And Responding To The Film - English - Year 10 or watched the film (or just need some revision), play this trailer for The Leadership, before the clip from the film:

The Leadership Official Trailer (https://youtu.be/Tn7r8E_r-ZE)

Step 1.

Play this clip from The Leadership:

Leadership Styles - Fabian Dattner (https://vimeo.com/554136568/6b6585da88)

Show students this quote:

“So it’s the letting go I’m proud of. Half the faculty are alumni. Because no one person can do this. It’s stupid. You know the world is in such a perilous state, it needs all of us on deck giving the best we can to generate the solutions our species needs.” ~ Fabian Dattner

Invite students to summarise this statement so that it can be relevant to other contexts.

Possible response: We need everyone to work together, doing their best, so that we can create a better world for ourselves.

Remind students that this mirrors what Jane Goodall said in the earlier video - that collaboration and partnership were key to leading into the future.

Step 2.

Explain that in the film, Fabian’s leadership style was described as ‘inspirational’ (Kit Jackson). Some might also consider her to be a ‘visionary leader’ because she came up with the Homeward Bound idea in the first place and worked hard to make it a reality. The Homeward Bound Faculty demonstrated ‘adaptive leadership’ because they took on feedback and made changes to the program to improve. These are common terms that describe ‘leadership style’.

Learning support: Some students will need to look up definitions of the words ‘charismatic’ and ‘visionary’. They have an opportunity to explore these terms more fully in the next activity.

Step 3.

Explain that understanding leadership styles can help people make informed decisions about the type of leader they want to be, and better identify the kinds of leaders they are working with. These terms are more than just adjectives. They come with a set of core behaviours and values.

For example, Jacinda Arden, the Prime Minister of New Zealand (at time of publication), has been described as an ‘empathetic leader’ (source). Yes, it means she is described as empathetic (adjective), but more than that, it means that she values and demonstrates compassion, equality, openness, solidarity and trust which aren’t necessarily present, nor important in other leadership styles.

You might like to show students this description of Jacinda Arden from the Aquity Development Academy most eloquent world leader list:

"Jacinda Ardern employs an empathetic leadership style very effectively. She challenges the common perception that emotional communication shows weakness, instead choosing to approach the public with a softer, emotionally mature touch which makes her very relatable. She has a measured and authoritative sincerity about her – she is kind and compassionate, without shying away from tough issues which makes her a highly engaging and trustworthy public speaker."

Step 4.

Show students this collated (non-exhaustive) list of leadership styles:

Collaborative Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Empathetic/Compassionate Leadership
Authentic Leadership
Inspirational Leadership
Adaptive Leadership
Servant Leadership
Democratic/Participative Leadership
Authoritarian/Autocratic Leadership
Transformational Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Charismatic Leadership
Radical Leadership
Upward/Contributive Leadership

Differentiation opportunity: Choose, or allow students to choose from one of the following activities (Extension, Standard or Low Literacy):

Extension:
1. Create a table with three columns. It should have enough room to list all of the above leadership styles in Column 1.

2. Use books or the internet to find definitions of each style and write summaries of these definitions in Column 2.

3. Find 1-3 examples of people who demonstrate/d each leadership style and list these in Column 3.

4. Write a persuasive essay describing which leadership style you feel is most effective for solving our world’s most pressing problems, such as racism, war, poverty, gender-based violence, climate change, or other issues. The UN Global Goals specifically outline what the world’s priorities are at this time if that interests you: https://www.globalgoals.org/. You should provide evidence from the resources/videos in this lesson and The Leadership film.

Note: You might like to write about a combination of leadership styles, rather than focusing on just one, but you will need to justify your choice.

Standard:
1. Research three of the listed leadership styles. Here are some starting points for each:

Collaborative Leadership
Visionary Leadership
Empathetic/Compassionate Leadership
Authentic Leadership
Inspirational Leadership
Adaptive Leadership
Servant Leadership (#1)
Democratic/Participative Leadership (#2)
Authoritarian/Autocratic Leadership (#3)
Transformational Leadership (#4)
Transactional Leadership (#5)
Laissez-Faire Leadership (#6)
Charismatic Leadership (#7)
Radical Leadership
Upward/Contributive Leadership

You could make notes in a table like this one:

{Leadership style 1}	{Leadership style 2}	{Leadership style 3}

Take particular note of the leadership qualities or values that are demonstrated by this leadership style. You will use these in the next task.

2. Compare and rate the leadership styles in a table, like this one:

Quality/value	{Leadership style 1}	{Leadership style 2}	{Leadership style 3}
E.g. Trust	✔		✔
Collaboration	✔	✔






Rating	★★★☆☆	★★★★★	★☆☆☆☆

Note: Ratings should be out of five stars and be based on your opinion of what is great leadership.

3. For the leadership style you rated highest, write a paragraph, or more, stating why you think it is better than the other styles.

Low Literacy:
1. Watch this video:

Kid President Asks "What Makes an Awesome Leader?" (https://youtu.be/KdL4o7wU0CQ)

2. Create a video that explores leadership (alone, or with a partner). You can either:

Talk about how collaborative leadership is important in the world today and into the future
Interview the class on what they think is most important in a leader today and into the future
Clip together examples of great leadership today (from news, blogs or articles) with a voice-over of why you think these examples are great. Here is an article for inspiration: https://www.theceomagazine.com/business/management-leadership/women-in-leadership-2021/

Part D: You As A Leader

Step 1.

Read the following for students:

Now that you have learned that there are many different ways to be a leader and that leadership styles are mostly based on values, it’s time to think about what kind of leader you would most like to be.

Step 2.

Explain to the class that they will work alone to create a creative text that describes their own leadership styles, either presently, or sometime in the future. They can imagine what job they have, what problems they are working to solve, the people they are working with and their leadership style. Things to think about:

Why do you lead?*
What’s important to you as a leader? What do you value?*
Why are you respected as a leader?
What is it about your leadership style that makes you a great leader?
Who were your greatest role models?

*The first two questions are based on Fabian Dattner’s questions to Homeward Bound participants in The Leadership.

Students can choose any type of format they like to present their creative text. For example:

Write a speech (such as for university graduates)
Record an interview or ‘this is your life’ special
Write an obituary or award introduction
Write a letter or book for your children
Write a series of journal/diary entries
Write an autobiography or biography.

Step 3.

Allow students to swap their texts with a trusted peer or share with a small group if they so choose. If students don’t want to do this, they can submit it to you.

Provide some space for casual discussion and feedback. Students should be encouraged to self-reflect.

Reflection

Reflect back on the clip from The Leadership of Fabian Dattner reflecting on her leadership (or watch again):

Leadership Styles - Fabian Dattner (https://vimeo.com/554136568/6b6585da88)

Invite students to write responses to the following questions (on the Student Worksheet):

Do you think it’s important for great leaders to take on feedback?
How do you respond to feedback?
Do you agree with this quote from The Leadership?

“You should not fit yourself into the current leadership model. You have to change the current leadership model.” ~ Fabian Dattner

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

In Part A, Step 6, Advanced students can write a response on each of the listed leadership traits.
In Part C, choose, or allow students to choose, either of the Extension or Standard activity.

Provisions for Learning Support -

In Part A, Step 6, students could pick three to four of the listed leadership traits to focus on. You might like to pair up lower literacy students to work on one quality together or they could work in table groups focusing on one trait each, then discuss their chosen trait with the rest of the group.
In Part C, choose, or allow students to choose, either of the Standard or Low Literacy activity.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

The Leadership - Investigating Leadership Styles

Go to

Summary

Lesson guides and printables

In this lesson