How can you teach leadership skills to a diverse group of people?

A sign that you’re supposed to be a leader is the element of kindness. Humans respond well to kindness. Kindness helps our brains produce the hormones that help us relax, open up to others and helps us cooperate and share. Kindness can lead others to be more innovative. We evoke trust that failure will be viewed as a learning experience. People tend to be more inclined to work together to come up with new ideas and solutions. Before planning a leadership training program, take a pulse check and access your own kindness quotient. Leading others shifts the focus from you to others and their needs. Consequently, leadership becomes an experience rather than a method.

In my experience, the best way to create a learning community of people in which they are all using their skill sets to the best of their ability is to give them a problem to solve, even if it is fictitious. I opened each year as a board member, VP, and President of a non-profit that I was involved in with a simulation that helped us to see each other's strengths, rather than proclaim them. Next, be present and be genuinely interested in who everyone is. Accept them as they are, and create a group norm that is supportive and accountable to each member of the group. Celebrate and acknowledge differences in meaningful ways; not just symbolic. Set the expectation that should a failure happen, you fail together; assume the best intentions.

By understanding that no matter what the makeup of a class is, everyone deserves to be treated respectfully, fairly and consistently. All class spaces should be a safe place for adult learners. Diversity is not something to be afraid of, it is an opportunity to be embraced. In addition to racial & gender diversities, there is diversity in thought, how people approach learning, socioeconomic diversity, geographic diversity. All these things and life experiences determine who a person is and who shows up in your class. Be respectful, fair and consistent.

Leadership isn't just about leading, it's about inspiring, empowering, and creating change. Teaching leadership cultivates a culture of innovation, collaboration, and resilience. It's not just for the privileged few, but a skill we should all embrace. We rise by lifting others. Let's foster leadership, for a brighter and better tomorrow.

Recognize that individuals have unique needs and experiences. Offer a variety of learning resources and modalities to cater to different learning styles. Encourage open discussions about cultural differences to foster understanding and inclusion. Acknowledge and respect the cultural diversity within the group. Be sensitive to cultural norms, values, and communication styles. Incorporate storytelling as a teaching method. Encourage participants to share their own leadership stories and experiences, allowing for diverse narratives.

Leadership can certainly be taught. Many companies spend lots of money each year to train their people. The secret is to train widely, realizing that not everyone in the group will benefit from the training. Choose future leaders from those who embrace the opportunity to grow, learn, and move on. Realize that not everyone will seize the opportunity. And reality it not to waste time trying to jumpstart those who are going nowhere. Go with those who are eager and leave the rest where they are.

The practical aspect of implementing new leadership skills is often neglected in workshops. It is all about changing behaviours and getting out of the comfort zone. The 1st step to sustainable change is teaching skills. Their implementation starts by discussing everyday leadership situations e.g. by using case studies. Role plays can help. But here, workshop participants are exposed in front of their peer group - a quite uncomfortable situation for many. The real change starts through individual coaching after the workshop. Leaders learn to leave their comfort zone. Few people want to discuss personal topics openly in workshops, it is still often mistaken for weakness. So how about offering individual coaching in addition to a workshop?

Start with "None of us ever 'arrives.' Life is about perpetual learning and growth! Many come close to being supreme leaders but complete attainment is perhaps beyond human, just as perfection is. And to err makes us human and relatable to one another! In the earliest session, have everyone privately write their definition of a leader. Then create a posting of the composite responses. Remember: People will care when they KNOW you care! Invite the group to share what part of leadership they most enjoy and what area they want more preparation. Be interactive but not didactic. A book can achieve the latter. Have fun and at the end of each session share you have learned about leadership through mutual discussion today.

I often learn best through examples. While I like to come armed with a number of examples of my own and the leaders I work with, I find that it's most impactful when others in the room are willing to share examples from their own lives, which is why I always try to create space for those in attendance to share openly about their own real-life examples. Nothing beats real-world experiences from those in the room.

Everyone groans at role play. Two reluctant volunteers come up to the front of the room to play out a scenario in front of their colleagues. Very rarely does role playing solicit honest portrayals of what may happen in a give scenario. That’s why my company is so enthusiastic about using improv exercises and games in leadership training. A few things happen with improv: the playing field is leveled, the risk is shrunken, trust is increased, there is no focus on a “right answer,” the value of each team member rises to the surface and everyone has fun. The principles of improv are synonymous with the principles of leadership: selflessness, empowerment, effective communication, joy and listening.

Leadership principles can be taught - they may or may not be learned depending on the learner’s perspectives. Skills can be mentored and refined through experience. Skill is practice based for anything. Principles are not about diversity, i.e., they are principles. Skills can be unique to situations and diverse groups.

I love getting the whole room involved. Group experiential exercises are a great way to get people standing, moving and talking. It's helpful to have them tailored to their industry.

Highlight diverse leadership examples: Showcase a diverse range of leadership examples from different cultures, industries, and backgrounds. This helps participants see that leadership can take many forms and can be successful in a variety of contexts.

I love all the examples provided here and it's also important to have more than one activity to ensure you are engaging the different learners.

I find that starting leadership programs with everyone knowing their strengths is very helpful as this gets participants talking about what they are good at and where they have opportunities to improve. Once this conversation starts, feedback fits naturally into the conversation.

I've found it effective to help (potential) leaders see the ways they are currently providing leadership. This might be on their teams or through their actions with clients/customers. There are so many ways to be a leader, and when one is trying to bring others onboard or up, it helps to show them how good they are at this already. Everyone likes to hear that and it rings like a bell when it is true!

Another great way to create safety for people to provide feedback is to make the feedback forms anonymous. I found this has opened up more honest feedback from learners.

So many great contributions, very informative and firsthand experience. However, I disagree with one specific term “kindness” – I insist, I am not against kindness at all at any form or shape, however, kindness is not really applicable in leading, shaping a well performed and effective team. Because an effective team cannot be founded on kindness but on consistency and discipline. However, only either kindness or consistency and discipline can be applied. Cannot go either way because kindness is literally means binding the rules, and replacing policies to make exception (or be kind).

I have several stories I could share, but I will leave you with one. I was teaching a class of thirty-five students. They were young and just starting their careers. The class started at 8:00 AM. I would say the interest level was minimal. One young African-American man was alert and hung on every word. At breaks, he was there to ask questions. During our communal lunch, he asked if he could sit with me to talk. He was eager to learn. Today, he is a college professor with a Ph. D. and the head of a Call Me Mister Program at this school, mentoring other young men to success. Out of thirty-five, I had one leader.

At the end of the day, speak to.the humanity of people and allow them to share their own stories the help the concepts come alive. Leaders learn best from one another. Hold space for leaders to share and explore a topic. It will have much more impact than we could imagine!

In my experience, teaching others leadership skills comes from your example. You will teach them what to do or what not to do through your actions. Approaching every situation as a learning experience will develop junior employees into leaders very quickly.

As the core of my practice as a coach and leader, I understand that everyone is built differently and each has something valuable to offer the team. Exploring, recognizing, acknowledging, and embracing unique strengths and attributes of each individual is key in knowing how to develop each person’s leadership skills. There is no one size fits all approach to forming leaders. There are a plethora of options to train people, but we need to set expectations and build each person’s confidence and leadership abilities by focusing on how they lead best in order for them to flourish. We need the diversity of skills and talents each leader possesses to provide well-rounded experiences and opportunities to learn and grow in our own unique ways.

The best leadership skills aren't developed in a day or even a week. True leadership skills are habits that are honed over time, so think about including accountability over a span of time in your programs. You will then see growth and leaders will rise up from your programs.