from The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner:
The Second Survival Skill: Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
Mike Summers, who is vice president for Global Talent Management at Dell Computers, told me that his greatest concern was young people’s lack of leadershp skills. “Kids just out of school have an amazing lack of preparedness in general leadership skills and collaborative skills,” he explained. “They lack the ability to influence versus direct and command.” In other words, the only kind of leadership young people have experienced is one that relies on obedience versus the kind of reasoning and persuasion that is the new leaderhip style demanded by businesses organized in teams and networks.
He went on, “Students have a naivete about how work gets done in the corporate environment. They have a predisposition toward believing that everything is clearly outlined, and then people give directions, and then other people execute until there’s a new set of directions. They don’t understand the complexities of an organization – that boundaries are fluid, that rearely does one group have everything they need to get a job done. How do you solve a problem when people who own what you need are outside your organization or don’t report to you, or the total solution requires a consortium of different people? How do you influence things that are out of your direct control?”
How can teachers and librarians help students develop this skill?
This really IS a problem. One solution would be to provide better modeling of leadership than the type young people see everyday. Showing them the “nuts and bolts” of an organization sounds like the perfect opportunity for a field trip to a corporate headquarters or even a factory. With the economy in the state it currently finds itself, field trips are being axed left and right. Without making the situation real and relevant to them, students will NOT ever see beyond the at-hand examples of leadership. This situation needs to be posed to upper administration so district funds can be set aside for meaningful opportunities to be made available.
Instead of giving kids a specific task to complete, we should be giving them “open-ended” assignments where they are forced to make their own decisions about how and what they will create. If a group has to come together to complete a research project, but there are no specific requirements on the form (essay, brochure, etc.), they must work together to create a product that showcases their talents AND relays the information.