If the sixth year pupils of Bridge of Don Academy who are studying leadership are seeking a role model then they will be hard pushed to find anyone better than their teacher.
However Hayley Barr is looking to Chamber members to help develop the leadership qualities of her pupils on the PE and Leadership course. Hayley’s own leadership journey has been grounded in sport. She has been a gymnast since the age of four, a keen horse rider and competed at national level in the tetrathlon (shooting, swimming, riding and running).
She qualified as a gymnastics coach at 16 and studied to become a teacher at the University of Stirling. While there, she was offered a place on the UK Sport IDEALS programme (International Development through Excellence and Leadership in Sport) and spent six weeks in Zambia coaching sport and doing HIV and AIDS education.
The following year, aged only 19, she was selected by UK Sport to be a team leader on the programme and spent another four months in Zambia responsible for the wellbeing, welfare and professional and personal development of scores of undergraduates learning to be leaders.
“The biggest lesson I learned from them was the importance of emotional intelligence,” she said.
“Walking into a room and knowing when someone is having a bad day without even speaking to them; reading somebody’s body language; or even just reading somebody’s mood and knowing how to react to that as a leader.
“The Zambians are very intuitive people with social skills far above what we have here in the UK terms of noticing an individual as a person rather than a number.
“They have an intuitive sixth sense and for me that was a lightbulb moment and something that will stick with me forever.
“Zambia is the eighth poorest country in the world but I would say it’s one of the richest in terms of community.”
That is a lesson which Hayley has carried into the leadership course she has developed and which she has taught for three years. The pupils, of all academic abilities, learn the theory of leadership and also put it into practice, culminating in an event which they have to organise themselves.
This year it was a leadership continuous professional development (CPD) class held at Elevator which was aimed at their peers but was opened up to business people. It featured teambuilding, SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis, the whys of leadership, what makes people tick and what makes a good leader.
It was so well received that Elevator has decided to use the format as a blueprint for future CPD events.
“During the course I try to have people from different sectors come in each week to speak to the pupils about leadership in their professions and about the importance of soft skills.
“The ones they find most valuable are those who speak about leadership skills in their personal lives because they need to be able to see a purpose in it.
“Someone might tell them that the day they became a leader was the day they realised they wanted a certain career but it might have started simply with them getting up in time and wearing smart clothes.
“People do say ‘Not everyone can be a leader because there can only be one leader of a company or one leader of a group’ – but every individual can be a leader of their own life.
“That’s why this course is so special. I’m not saying it will create the next CEO of Wood Group or necessarily develop the business leaders of tomorrow but if we can have people who are leaders within their own right and can see their own potential and are in charge of themselves and have accountability for who they are, then they are going to be an asset to any company or any employer.”
If you or your company can help develop leadership in these pupils contact: bridgeofdon@aberdeencity.gov.uk with “leadership” in the subject line.
One of Hayley’s students, Samantha Wildi, wrote a blog for the Chamber on her experience of studying leadership. It can be read at www.agcc.co.uk/blogs
