Democratic? Laissez-faire? Or maybe transformational? Before we determine our leadership style, of course we need to understand the basics of leadership and also comprehend the essence of leadership itself. Leadership is one of the important skills that should be owned by everyone, including teenagers. Not solely the ability to lead oneself, but also the ability to lead others to achieve both personal and group goals. Therefore, Titian Foundation Bayat in its Sunday Gathering (SG) activities along with Generation 14 Titianers carried leadership as the theme. This activity was attended by 44 scholarship students on Sunday, November 13, 2022 at SMK Negeri 1 ROTA Bayat, Klaten.
This SG activity was organized by Titian Foundation and Ikatifo, Titian’s alumni association. The activity began with an opening by the MC in SMK ROTA’s multi-purpose building, followed by prayers, making promises and reviewing the action plan, then continued with ice breaking to escalate the concentration of the participants. Next, each group headed to their respective post to play the games that had been prepared by the committee. In the first post, the participants played blind shape games where each group is challenged to make a square shape using a webbing rope with their eyes closed by slayers except for the leader who gave instructions. This game aims to build cooperation in groups, especially between leaders and members, in order to achieve common goals. The leaders must be able to lead and direct their members and participate in the process for the achievement of group goals. On the other hand, members must be able to trust their leaders.
In post 2, the participants played crazy frame games. In this game, each group is challenged to be able to lower the frame from chest level to knee level using their two index fingers in groups. Where the two diligent fingers must always stick to the frame, if there are participants whose forefingers are detached from the frame, then the game would be repeated from the starting point. This game aimed to make each group able to work together to complete the challenge through good communication between members. Each team member must suppress each other’s ego and prioritize the interests of the group. The leader must also be able to listen to the opinions of each member and give appreciation for all the processes that have been passed.
In post 3, participants watched videos related to self-leadership. In this post, the committee had prepared two videos that must be watched therefore the participants could take some essence of learning from the video. This post aimed to make participants aware that before they are able to lead others, the most important first step is to be able to lead themselves first. In the first video, the lesson they could take was to not limiting themselves to keep growing and keep improving. Because those who are able to change ourselves are us, not others. In the second video, they could learn to not being afraid and avoid hesitating to make their dreams come true.
Just like in previous sessions, this Sunday Gathering used experiential learning method, where students experience things that related to the learning material, then it continued with sharing sessions also additional learning materials from the facilitator and presenters. Vaisha Adhim Nazalia, one of this Sunday Gathering participants shared her feelings after joined this SG, “I began to realize that we are all leaders, we should start leading ourselves before leading others, and believe in ourselves that we have the ability to achieve something we aim for if we try our best. Because the only thing that can change us is ourselves. Veronika Nafisa Nada, another participant also said, “I got experience in understanding of the basics of leadership. I understand now that we are all leaders.” Along with life experiences and all learning phases, the function of our leadership will always be tested. (IP)
