2. To whom do adults turn for leadership roles?
Adults often intuitively sense which kids they look to for assistance in channeling the energy of other kids. One way I teach adults how to identify their leaders is by interviewing them. Listen for things such as, “I was the captain of my basketball team,” or “I was president of the fraternity,” or examples such as this. Adults have a way of picking kids who naturally exude an ability to steer their friends. One exception of this is when a young leader becomes labeled as a troublemaker, who steals attention away from adults and/or lacks self-discipline to lead responsibly. That is unfortunate, since many of these are strong leaders who merely need developing.
3. Who is noticed when she/he is absent?
While we may love all our kids, there are certain ones who are noticed more than others. Except for the obvious “challenges,” the ones we miss most or at least hear mentioned most when absent, are the leader types. One exception is the popular student who is not necessarily a leader, but when leaders are missing, people notice. You hear their names mentioned more in conversations.
4. Who has the ability to “steal” attention from an adult?
This is the child we mentioned earlier, who sometimes gets a bum rap or is labeled as a problem, because she/he is able to draw attention away from a teacher, children’s pastor, or worship leader. For every half dozen or more fifth grade boys cutting up in the back of church, I guarantee you there’s one ringleader who controls most of the influence. When we fail to understand that these are budding leaders trying to use their gifts, we get intimidated, angry, and often alienate these influencers, a mistake. We discourage them from using their gifts in church.
5. Who expresses opinions and/or suggestions?
In the adult world, these people tend to bug us as pastors, but many opinionated people are leaders, because leaders have a lot of ideas. When we fail to use leaders constructively and/or provide a positive means of unleashing and tapping these ideas, we’ll often create unhealthy environments for criticism. Opinionated children can really get under our skin at times, but many of these kids are sprouting leader minds.
In most groups, about 10% will control 80% of the social interaction. They are able to move the group out of the status quo. By identifying these young influencers, you can begin to develop them positively by creating a plan to do that.
For a more robust list of leader qualities, we’ve developed a Social Influence Survey. This is the first of its kind, leadership aptitude assessment, free, and online at www.kidlead.com. Click on “FREE Aptitude Assessment” and you’ll find a 25 question, multiple-choice survey that you can take for a child. Parents who do this get an automated tally along with a key for better understanding each question. This does not predict leadership success as much as it reflects those with observable aptitude. We won’t give you the averages, lest you’re tempted to bias the results, but it’s a good way to measure who it is you need to be officially developing.
