So, you're trapped on a desert island...
Our group challenged the large group to come prepared with a list of five items they would have to take with them to a desert island. Then, the class broke itself into small groups of five or six people and were challenged to come up with a communal list of five items to take with them to a desert island.
In the debrief, we asked students to stand if they had to let something go from their original list of items. Then, we asked students to stand if they had to push for one or two particular items to be included on the group list. Lastly, we asked students to stand if they had to actively listen and engage in order to accomplish the task at hand.
These three tenants-- letting go, standing for one's ideas, and actively engaging with the group-- are three major themes of emergent leadership.
The purpose of this exercise was to engage our class in emergent leadership so they could understand quickly and with in relatively simplistic terms how emergent leadership generally works as well as the general ideas within it. Understanding that major learning can take place within the 'doing' of a task, our group chose a task that didn't much matter. What mattered, and where our theory is centered, is the process of the task.
In the debrief, we asked students to stand if they had to let something go from their original list of items. Then, we asked students to stand if they had to push for one or two particular items to be included on the group list. Lastly, we asked students to stand if they had to actively listen and engage in order to accomplish the task at hand.
These three tenants-- letting go, standing for one's ideas, and actively engaging with the group-- are three major themes of emergent leadership.
The purpose of this exercise was to engage our class in emergent leadership so they could understand quickly and with in relatively simplistic terms how emergent leadership generally works as well as the general ideas within it. Understanding that major learning can take place within the 'doing' of a task, our group chose a task that didn't much matter. What mattered, and where our theory is centered, is the process of the task.
Anybody Wanna Dance? |
Remember the Island |
Emergent leadership is about encouraging the group to all get together in the process, to dig in and get to work. Our team encouraged our class to get into the dance, to move from the balcony to the floor with this video by Gladys Knight and the Pips. To be more truly present, one must fully engage with the process of emergent leadership, as Ms. Knight engages with her audience-- moving among them, encouraging harmony and engagement among her dancers.
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"Attention, attention to the here and now" - Aldous Huxley
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