Understanding Youth Leadership And Development - Essay Example

Understanding Youth Leadership And Development I. Introduction Tradition has it that youth development is a natural process and up until now, majority of us believe that there is indeed a natural process whereby a person grows his or her capacity to understand and act on certain circumstance. This process of growing into something is akin to the phenomenon of child or adolescent development. As the person unfolds and open him/herself to the world, his or her human potentials expand. With right education and guidance, that person can develop fully and be able to lead a productive, satisfying and healthy life. Contrary to what most people think, leadership is not just about leading others and making an impact on the lives of others. More than anything else, leadership is about self-development, about conquering oneself and directing ones potentials into more noble endeavors. In other words, leadership is not just the ability to lead a group but rather it is also the ability to master oneself and lead a more fruitful and satisfying life. II. Leadership Development Approaches Although many scholars believe that leadership skills are innate in the person, leadership is actually something that can be developed through proper guidance. The development of the leadership potentials is a non-linear process where we simply have to follow certain steps in order to attain our goal but rather it is a holistic process whereby the universal potentials of the human person is cultivated and geared towards more noble goals. There are many approaches to molding the characters and the honing leadership potentials of the youth. According to Urie Bronfenbrenner (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 1998), there are a number of solid theoretical approaches to youth development. Some of these approaches include the positive youth development, youth development or the adolescent development, youth leadership and the community youth development. All of these approaches espouse the importance of engaging in challenging activities which requires the exercise of sound judgment. Moreover, these approaches rely on the idea of supportive relationships. However, although these different approaches have many things common, they are different in some ways. The positive youth development approach features the intentional efforts of communities, government agencies, youths, adults, schools and others whether acting independently or concertedly, to open opportunities for young people to enhance and maximize the use of their skills (Benson et al (1999). The opportunity to hone the leadership potentials of the youth is ever present in such places as the school, the community and the home. With the positive youth development approach, the people around the young person make overt actions to encourage the development of the leadership potentials of the person (Benson et al (1999). For instance, in the school, the young people are given opportunities to exhibit their leadership skills through different types of school activities such as sports, arts and the likes. By providing programs that will allow the students to group among themselves, plan out activities and execute these activities, the school nurtures the leadership potentials of the youth. Parallel to the positive youth development approach, the youth development approach which gives emphasis on the process of developing the social, emotional and cognitive skills of the youth in order for him or her to attain his or her full potentials (Benson et. al 1999). Under the youth development approach, the development of the leadership potentials of the youth is said to occur at different levels. This means that leadership can be developed in both the formal and informal settings. Schools, churches, community organizations, and other formal structures provide a more structured leadership development while informal associations such as peer groupings and friendships creates an more free flowing development of leadership potentials. Both the informal and the formal leadership settings play vital roles in the development of the character of the youth. While the formal organizations like the schools provide a formal foundation of leadership, the informal organizations provide a more nurturing environment for young leaders to thrive and develop their characters well. While the positive youth development and the youth development approaches focuses on the outward application of leadership, the youth leadership approach focuses more on the exercise of the authority of the youths upon their own person. Technically, this approach hinges on the idea of developing the five C of leadership which includes competence, connections, character, contribution and confidence (Pittman, Irby, Tolman, Yohalem, & Ferber, 2002). Competence enables the youth to accomplish the goals that he or she set for her/himself. Character means that ability of the person to exercise sound judgment. Connection means that the youth is able to develop his or her relationship towards others. Aside from the five Cs of leadership development, Scales & Leffert (1999) also listed 40 development assets that can help a person development him or herself into a good leader. These developmental assets were originally developed by the Search Institute (Benson, 1997). Half of these developmental assets pertain to environmental situations of the person which includes the external factors like the people whom the youth interacts with, their adult role models, the support of the family, and the creative activities that they are involved in. the other half of the developmental assets pertain to the internal aspects of the young person which includes his or her sense of purpose, ability to relate to others socially, and their emotional stability. On the other hand, community youth development takes into consideration the unique relationship between the community development and youth development approaches. According to this approach, the youth has the natural instinct to create some changes in their surroundings. Harnessing the natural desire of the youth to create change through the development of community activities that will allow the youth to channel their energy towards more productive endeavors, the youth do not just development their natural leadership potentials, they are also experience satisfaction over their development. III. Conclusion Leadership and youth development involves both external and internal factors. Since the home as the basic social structure affects the development of the youth, the support of family members is very important if we are to develop the full leadership potentials of a person. Note that the emotional development of the youth is greatly affected by the kind of relationship that he or she has with the family and the people who are close to him or her. A supportive family helps the youth develop more fully both internally and externally. On the other hand, the community, the school and other formal structures can help develop the leadership potentials of the youth by providing opportunities and more challenging activities that allows the youth to exercise sound judgment. Bibliography Bronfenbrenner, U., & Morris, P. (1998). The ecology of developmental processes. In R.M. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology: Vol.1. Theoretical models of human development (5th ed.). New York: Wiley. Benson, P.L. (1997). All kids are our kids: What communities must do to raise caring and responsible children and adolescents. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Developmental Research and Programs, Inc. (2000). Communities That Care: Prevention strategies: A research guide to what works. Seattle, WA: Author. Pittman, K., Irby, M., & Ferber, T. (2000). Unfinished business: Further reflections on a decade of promoting youth development. Washington, DC: Forum for Youth Investment. Scales, P.C., & Leffert, N. (1999). Developmental assets: A synthesis of the scientific research on adolescent development. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute. Whitlock, J.L., & Hamilton, S.F. (2003). The role of youth surveys in community youth development initiatives. Applied Developmental Science, 7(1) 39-51. Peter L. Benson, Peter C. Scales, and Eugene C. Roehlkepartain (1999) A Fragile Foundation : The State of Developmental Assets among American Youth. Search Institute Read More