Lead On! Enriching Leadership Development Activities for College Students
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Lead On! Enriching Leadership Development Activities for College Students
One of the most critical steps to preparing college students for a successful future is helping them develop leadership skills. Through meaningful experiences integrated throughout curricular and co-curricular activities, students are empowered to build their leadership portfolio and distinguish themselves from the pack (or from a stack of applications).
Taking on a leadership role on campus is a fantastic opportunity to build real-world, resume-building skills. Fortunately, there is no shortage of opportunities to lead in a campus community, from participating in student government, getting involved in a club or sports team, volunteering, pursuing a passion project, serving as a student ambassador to incoming students and beyond.
This is great news for Student Life professionals who wish to activate new leaders and unlock the leadership potential in every student. If you’re looking for strategies to help students take charge and change the world, read on as we explore how leadership development activities can set students up for success well beyond campus life!
Key Leadership Skills and Assets
Great leaders stand out and inspire others because they are able to:
Communicate Effectively to share their vision with others, spread their message, generate a following and inspire change.
Define a Clear Purpose and explore their driving forces - what motivates them and what they would like to do or change. They can define their aspirations and devise an agenda to get started.
Motivate Others and inspire them to do good, letting their WHY (their identified purpose) guide them.
Develop Trusting Relationships with People through clear communication and expectations. They take time to understand the needs of their community members.
Tell Their Story, communicating their values and forming relationships in person and virtually via technology and social media channels.
Listen and Respond to Feedback from others and admit mistakes. This demonstrates their eagerness to learn and commit to continuous improvement, fueling productivity.
Collaborate Generously, showing openness to new ideas, opinions and perspectives of team members and appreciation for their unique knowledge, experience and creativity.
Manage Time Effectively as they take on a variety of responsibilities often requiring rapid turnarounds. Knowing when to prioritize some tasks over others and establishing deadlines helps ensure tasks are completed in a timely manner.
Set Goals and Evaluate Progress, visualizing problems as opportunities to solve and break up their vision into smaller milestones. They perform self-assessments and reflect on their progress regularly and look for creative and innovative ways to achieve SMART GOALS.
Effectively Make Decisions and advocate for or defend their cause. They take time to understand the whole story and contribute to big picture vision of an organization.
Embody a Mission Beyond Themselves, focusing on team over self and refraining from allowing their ego get in the way. They are open and willing to change proactively. They stick to their mission but are not inflexible to change - great leaders are able to adapt to changing needs.
Develop a Growth Mindset, with a deep belief that there is no limit to personal development. They embrace challenges as a way to learn and improve. (Mastering this skill is fundamental to becoming a resilient leader!)
Cope with Failures and Persevere, refusing to allow the fear of rejection or failure hold them back, but applying lessons learned to improve in future endeavours. They commit to being a learner for life, listening to and learning from others.
Establish a System of Accountability for themselves and their team. They evaluate progress toward goals on a regular basis and provide appropriate feedback to make improvements.
Cultivate an Empowering Network of supporters and advocates they can reach out to for advice navigating difficult challenges.
Build a Strong Team with Shared Vision composed of members bringing different experiences, complementary skills, diverse perspectives & solutions to the table.
Delegate Tasks Efficiently as responsibilities become increasingly complex and demanding. Strong leaders empower individual collaborators to contribute in meaningful ways and equip them with training, guidance and tools needed to excel and grow.
Helping Students Learn and Develop Leadership Skills That Will Last a Lifetime
Higher education professionals looking to take student leadership to the next level may be exploring the most effective ways to foster growth in students as leaders and expand their existing programming. We got you!
We have gathered 15 enriching and engaging activities to help develop these key leadership skills in college students.
Have students reflect on leaders they admire as an exercise. Elected officials, celebrities, teachers, business tycoons, journalists, podcasters...have students consider how their leadership styles could shape or inspire their own. What makes them good leaders? What is it that inspires people to follow their lead?
Set leadership development learning outcomes. As leadership educators, it’s helpful to be intentional about what student leaders will gain from their leadership experiences in programs and co-curricular involvement.
Explore connections and facilitate networking opportunities. Encourage students to reach out to people working on causes that are important to them and see how they can get involved. Implement a matching program to connect students with upperclassmen, grad students or alumni working in industries of interest, and remind students to keep in touch with their network of supporters such as favorite professors, managers or colleagues (who may provide future work references or letters of recommendation).
Foster mentorship! Help students find and connect with possible mentors. Encourage them to ask questions or invite them for a coffee meeting. Mentors are one of the best resources for empowering students to meet their goals, making key introductions, and breaking down the steps to get where they want to be. Building a relationship with a mentor provides many opportunities for self-improvement on one’s leadership journey.
Encourage students to join clubs on campus! When organizations are student-led, this reinforces that leadership roles are relevant and available to students. Students who take on an active role in a club demonstrate their dedication and commitment to a passion or cause. It also gives them the opportunity to act in impactful ways and collaborate with other officers to achieve their goals. Hosting an involvement fair on campus or virtually is a great way to help college students explore opportunities to get involved, learn, to lead and be led.
Invite students to join Toastmasters or other public-speaking clubs on campus to practice and improve how they communicate with and educate their peers.
Cultivate a collaborative environment by practicing open idea-sharing and valuing spontaneity in group settings such as club or officer meetings. Improv games are a fun way to get comfortable with taking some risks and learning to be receptive to others’ ideas. The end result? More productive brainstorming sessions and greater comfort for reticent students to offer up creative solutions they might otherwise keep to themselves!
Encourage delegation and appreciation, two essential collaboration skills student leaders have myriad opportunities to cultivate. Have students write out all of their responsibilities and tasks and select which ones could be delegated to other team members. Brainstorm to whom each task could be assigned, how to communicate asking for help, and creative ways to show their appreciation for their peers’ help (such as an appreciation board).
Feed self-confidence. Help students believe in themselves by showing appreciation often. Showcase their achievements on your school’s social media channels or newsletters. Shine a light on students’ hard work and accomplishments as leaders by awarding badges and certificates that can be applied to their Co-Curricular Transcripts. Introduce them to different leadership approaches and reflect on their own style to help them become more mindful about how they work with their team. (Developing confidence can make all the difference to someone scared of trying a new role!)
Add a First Year Seminar module that focuses on leadership best practices and issues. Have students work through different case studies together in small groups, rotating who serves as group leader. This is a great collaboration activity for students to practice receiving feedback, new ideas and solutions from other team members.
Continue providing professional development workshops beyond first year programming, taught by different instructors from unique backgrounds. Offering many perspectives helps demonstrate differences in leadership approaches.
Offer a guided pathway after freshman year for a structured leadership program including seminars, invited speakers, community service, capstone based on leadership experiences, opportunities for self-assessment and reflections.
Host leadership seminars and retreats for students with particular areas of interest such as student government, sports, wellness or residence life.
Hold informal gatherings for students to hear from faculty and staff as they share their own leadership experiences, successes, challenges and how they were able to overcome them.
Address challenges and obstacles faced by female students. Support Women in Leadership initiatives and student groups empowering female students in your campus community. Implement a mentoring program, speaker series and career services initiatives. Host events for students to spend time with female leaders on campus from different departments. Create opportunities for students to meet alumnae on or off campus, or even shadow them. Offer career workshops and programming to support and educate female leaders. (Great topic: Salary Negotiation!)
Connect students with Career Center advisors to help students market their leadership experiences and soft skills developed through co-curricular involvements.
Keep open lines of communication with student group leaders and develop effective training programs to equip them with tools to manage their group, communicate with their members and create successful and engaging events. Establish a consistent outreach schedule and ask for their feedback regularly to help shape future programming.
Pave your own path: Encourage students to dive deep into topics they find interesting! Some students may already be deeply passionate about an underrepresented issue (such as struggles with mental health, advocating for students with disabilities, or supporting student veterans returning from combat) -- and ready to create change in the community. Help them explore steps they might take to move forward - whether it’s creating a new club, launching a campus-wide campaign for policy change, or organizing a conference or event series.
The Many Faces of Leadership
Leadership doesn’t look the same for everyone. Not everyone is an assertive or charismatic natural born leader. However, with guidance and practice, any student can grow as a leader in their community.
Check out some of these alternative leadership roles students might consider beyond student government or club president!
R.A./Resident Advisor
Campus Tour Guide
Officer of a Club or Organization (such as Event Manager/Chair)
First Year Experience Peer Leader
Student Ambassador
Orientation Guide/Advisor
Captain of an Intramural Team
Volunteer
Participant in alternative spring break trips (e.g., Habitat for Humanity)
Dean’s Team or Project Lead
Getting involved in a Performing Arts production (such as Follies) or enrolling in designated leadership classes
Helping students establish themselves as strong leaders improves their ability to make a difference in their life and in the lives of others. As leadership educators creating learning opportunities, you are equipping them with key skills and connections to help them navigate challenges with confidence and conviction. With you as their guide, you’re helping students transition into effective leaders in your campus community and beyond!
Are you a higher education professional leading student leadership programs? What are some activities that have worked well in your leadership programming? Let us know in the comments!
Want to learn more? Please feel welcome to reach out to us to chat with a CampusGroups product expert about how we can help elevate, empower and equip student leaders with engagement tools to successfully manage groups, events, communications and more.
