Cultivating Leadership

by Bev Herzog

2015-2017 Leadership Training and Development Chair

Jill Bowers and her colleagues recently published “Examining the Relationship Between Role Models and Leadership Growth During the Transition to Adulthood” in the Journal of Adolescent Research. I had the opportunity to hear her speak about the summary and thought she had some great tips for ASTRA clubs and Altrusa clubs that are trying to recruit young members. Her research was on “emerging adults,” with her research subjects being 18- to 25-year-old college freshmen to graduate students.

The emerging adults identified two types of leaders—role models (political figures, Gandhi, athletes, teachers, etc.) and relational leaders (parents, friends, school leaders, advisors, etc.). They saw the most important leadership traits (in no particular order) as work ethic, drive, persistence, interpersonal skills, listening, respect, and tolerance for others. This led Bowers and her colleagues to develop a role-model–driven framework for leadership development.

The critical components to this model are for relational leaders (e.g., ASTRA advisors) to build relationships with their mentees and to model the behavior you want your emerging leaders to exhibit. Sometimes the role of the leader is to give advice to those she is mentoring, and such advice is more likely to be heard and followed if she has a good relationship with the person being advised.

Bowers concluded that the overall implications of this research are:

• If you don’t want those you hire (or your club members) to be selfish slackers, don’t be one yourself. Those were Jill’s words, not mine. But it’s good advice for any club bringing in new members. Would you want to join a club where you perceive that you’re being pushed into a leadership role because no one else is willing to step up? Sure, it’s flattering to be asked, but it also makes you wonder why no one else will help.
• Be self-aware if you want others to also be self-aware.
• Offer specific training for those who work with new hires. This could be trickier in Altrusa, but you have or can recruit members who already work with ASTRA-age students or younger workers.
• Focus on ways to keep teams (and members!) motivated through encouragement, recognition, and listening.

What are your thoughts about cultivating leadership among younger members? Please leave your comments below. Start a conversation!