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Author: Linda Mayoux
An individual leadership plan with the individual leadership vision, target outreach, opportunities and challenges and timebound steps.
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Steps
Step 1 future leadership vision
Reflecting on the discussion of leadership in Tool 1 Visioning, put your own personal leadership vision in a large red sun circle at the top right hand corner of your page. Remember to put details and draw in a way that will inspire you to pick yourself up, and continue to move forward if you fall and stumble on the rocks along the road.
Step 2 present leadership situation and drafting the road
In a smaller current circle at the bottom left hand corner of the page put your current position as leader of member.
Draw two straight lines as a single road to link both circles.
Step 3 opportunities and constraints
Thinking back to the discussion on the Challenge Action Tree, on either side outside the road draw:
at least 10 opportunities at the top of the road – the things which will help you up if you fall down. The more opportunities you can think of, the easier it will be to advance. Think particularly of skills and experience you may have of leadership eg as a mother or father, or elder daughter or in a friendship group.
at least 10 constraints go under the road because these are the things which can drag you down. It is important to foresee and avoid them if possible.
The things which are most under your control nearest the road. The things which you cannot control go furthest from the road.
Step 4 Leadership target and milestones
Every journey starts with small steps. Now you need to plan how realistically, with the opportunities and challenges, you can start to move.
Draw a circle next to the vision where you will fill in the numbers of people of different types that you aimed to reach in your leadership chain map.
Then put 3 circles at equal distance along the road as milestones for each 3 months. Leave enough space in between – that is where you will put the actions.
Step 5 SMART action plan
Then between each milestone you put in the actions needed to move from one to the next – revising the milestones and target if necessary.
Step 6 Tracking
You will then track your progress over time, and adjust your drawing as needed to get as far as you can towards your vision.
Facilitation
This is an individual exercise facilitated interactively by participants. If facilitation so far has been participatory from the back, the facilitator at this level should not need to intervene. A good time to take photos or polish notes.
Materials and preparation:
– blank flipchart and markers at the front for participants to remind people of basic steps
– participants should have their own notebook diaries and coloured pens
The Leadership Action Tree (or Challenge/Action Tree) identifies actions that address leadership challenges – but the aim is action not getting depressed with all the many challenges.
The Leadership Tree builds on the Action Tree against Child Marriage (an Action Tree for combating Child Marriage should be done first if it has not been done to identify the various arguments used and how to counter them. It is done first individually.
The Leadership Tree looks at different contexts with three roots: informal peer sharing with those one is close to, group sharing and wider advocacy.
Steps
Step 1: Leadership Vision Trunk
Draw two lines for the trunk in the middle of the sheet of paper.
Place a symbol for leadership vision/ MNCP logo from Tool 1 at the top of the trunk.
Put a circle for current leadership position at the bottom of the trunk.
Step 2: Leadership challenge roots
What are the challenges that prevent your leadership? Divide the roots into 3 parts: group on the left, advocacy/government/powerful people on the right linked by the informal peer sharing in the middle. This informal leadership is likely to be the most significant in change and also achieving change on the other roots.
Step 3: Branches or potential solutions
For each root draw one branch: group on the left, advocacy/ government/ powerful people on the right linked by the informal peer sharing in the middle. Then for each element on the roots identify an appropriate action, or series of actions which can be taken. Put these in the corresponding position along the branch.
Step 4: Forces on the Trunk
What are the external context forces acting on the trunk or the subsoil? These can be opportunities or challenges.
Step 5: Action fruits for tracking
Looking at the challenges, forces and solutions identify 5 actions that you can take in the next month to start to make the tree grow. Put these as green fruits on the branches that you will try to turn red and ripen. When you have achieved them put a big red circle.
Step 6: Leadership shared: Win-win tree
Then individual trees are shared and combined as a ‘win-win’ tree. All elements are colour coded for women and men to see which challenges, solutions, forces and actions are gender-specific and which are common. And establish how women and men can work together for change and support each other’s leadership.
In iLEAD everyone develops their vision and shares this with others, and works together with others for change. Each person is like a friendly spider at the centre of their leadership web, bringing people into their vision. Linking them together and supporting them to develop their own webs.
The Leadership Movement Map is done first on an individual level. Each person thinks about their own networks, who they can work with and how they can develop strategies to change those who might challenge them.
This map also serves as a basis for each person to develop their own peer sharing process within these networks. They then share these so that they can work together rather than duplicate effort if they are in the same groups and organisations. This then helps identify ways of increasing the leadership networks as a chain process where those trained then go on to train others in a type of pyramid marketing process for exponential upscaling of the change movement.
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Step 1 How do I look as a leader?
First draw yourself in the centre of the sheet of paper, at the centre of the web you will build. Draw in pencil so you can change at the end if you wish.
Think first how you are now. Are you happy or sad, confident or frightened, healthy or sick, educated or not, never had the opportunity to attend school, what work do you do?
Step 2 Who is important in my life?
Then draw around you the different people and institutions who are ‘important’ in your life; working outwards from the centre, putting those who are most important closest to you. Make sure you draw people in different colours, shapes, sizes etc so you can recognise them later.
Include any groups you are a member of eg savings groups, religious groups, ‘important people’ are not necessarily only your immediate household or even the wider family. It could include eg banks, or even the president.
Step 3: Building my networks for change
Of these people/institutions:
- ring in red any who are already working against child marriage. These are people who will be part of your leadership web. Put a very thick ring around those who are most powerful in support.
- ring in green any who are likely to be sympathetic but who you need to talk to. These are also people who you can bring into your web. Put a very thick ring around those who may be most powerful in support.
- ring in blue any who are likely to oppose your vision. Put a very thick ring around those who are most powerful in opposition. These are people you can either leave, or persuade through working with others.
Step 4: Growing the web
Considering your most important allies, put also for them the people they may know or be able to influence as further circles with lines. Be sure to talk about this when you talk to your allies.
Step 5: Sharing webs
Either in plenary or small groups by area or organisation, share your webs and appoint a moderator to put all the webs on one big one. Then post this on-line and share.
Step 6: Leadership Action
Each person then amends their own web as appropriate after hearing the ideas from others.
And put a timeframe and symbols next to at least 5 people to indicate who you will meet with in the following month.
Step 7: Track, continue and update your ‘leadership self’ drawing
When you have done this, put a red circle around the person and action. And identify 5 more people. And so on. Working with others as you go. And creating your collective web on a large flipchart.
Finally after about 3 months look at your pencil drawing from Step 1? How are you now? Change the drawing – rub out the pencil and draw boldly with colour in pen.
The Soulmate visioning exercise is a review tool that brings together individual visions of a world without child marriage, sharing with others. Then with people who share the same vision, discussing what has been achieved through the project and what is still to be done.
Step 1 Individual Drawing
(15 minutes)
Participants are asked first to close their eyes, and think of what they think ‘a happy life’ without child marriage would look like. For example:
- What does a Happy Family look like? Who would be in their household? Who would be in their wider family? What is their expression? How are they feeling to each other?
- What would each person be doing? What would each person have? Who gets the money? Who spends the money? What decisions would they make?
- What would the community look like? Who would be their friends? What does the community environment look like?
Participants then draw this vision on a sheet of paper in their notebook, still thinking further how they want things to be for themselves, their family and community.
!!Insert photos of drawings from the on-line discussion
Step 2 Finding soulmates
(15-20 minutes)
People share their visions on-line and decide how to into groups with people with the most similar views.
Step 3 Collective drawing
(20 minutes)
Each group then discusses what they think has been achieved (ring in red), and what remains to be done (ring in green). Adapting and adding to their own drawings to reflect their own views, and making sure the drawings are clear.
Each person takes a picture of their drawing and posts it to the group.
The elements of the visions of each person are noted by a group moderator in an Excel or Word sheet and posts it to the group.
Step 4 Movement Logo and name
15 minutes. Plenary 15 minutes.
This could be by process, by organisation or for the process as a whole.
Design a drawing with the main elements from the discussion
Homework
The logo, name and visions should be shared with the networks of each participant.
With their networks they should discuss which songs they can use, and how to change the words to better reflect the vision. As the movement ‘anthem’ or set of songs.
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iLEAD Tool 6: Leadership Flower
Growing the change movement
Brings together the individual vision journeys as a flower diagram where each member’s journey is a flowerlet around a central stem. The flower and all the flowerlets need to flourish and send out nectar and pollen and increase the numbers of flowers.
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Steps
Step 1 Draw the leader stem to represent the leadership journey
Referring back to the Leadership Diamond, the tip of the stem represents the characteristics of a very good leader – what distinguishes them from normal members – then moving down to qualities which are basic and more normal.
Step 2 Flowerlets to represent ideal membership qualities
Both members and leaders each have flowerlets with their name or symbol representing their individual leadership vision journeys. Leaders’ journeys should be at the bottom because they are supporting the others to move up. Members who have least confidence should be at the top because everyone will succeed only if the most disadvantaged also succeed.
Step 3 How many ripe and unripe seeds are there currently in each flowerlet?
Referring to the criteria in the stem, each person puts along their journey red circles to show which criteria they have already reached, green circles to show which criteria they are planning. They do not need to have everything in their plan.
Step 4: What are the diseases of the leadership stem? the gnawing insects of the flowerlets?
Starting with the qualities identified as most important what are the most significant causes. Which are gnawing insects which just affect one or two flowers or just gnaw one bit of the stem? Which causes are general and undermine the whole plant?
STEP 5. What are the types of nourishment needed for the roots and flowers?
Then quantify on a chart which are the characteristics most people have and which most people want. Then plenary brainstorm of what sorts of fertiliser are needed to help them attain these qualities.
Step 6: Review individual targets
For any people who think they have all qualities – what next so their flower can become even more beautiful and spread to others? Each person must then put on a sheet their target qualities and strategies to put on their Vision Journeys when they go home.
Facilitation
Materials
Preparation
Timing
Step 1: Ask one person to draw the stem and then one person from each pair to come up and place what they think is the most important distinguishing feature of a good leader and put it at the appropriate place up the stem. They must justify their choice and placement.
Step 2: Ask the other person in each pair to come up and draw a flower and place the card they think is most important at the appropriate place, justifying their decision and placement.
Step 3: This can be done in plenary, or more privately over a break or while others are eg finalising the song.
Step 4: Ask people to come up and draw what they think are the most significant causes. In order to make this fun you could ask people to draw insects and diseases which look like the causes and ask people to guess what they are eg very mean looking bees or fat greedy caterpillars.
Step 5:
Step 6:
Documentation Checklist
- Different criteria identified in a form suitable for comparison with criteria identified by other groups.
- Numbers and percentage of group members identified in each category
- Types of solutions proposed for increasing participation which are of broader relevance for other groups.
An individual leadership plan with the individual leadership vision, target outreach, opportunities and challenges and timebound steps.
Insert animation
Steps
Step 1 future leadership vision
Reflecting on the discussion of leadership in Tool 1 Visioning, put your own personal leadership vision in a large red sun circle at the top right hand corner of your page. Remember to put details and draw in a way that will inspire you to pick yourself up, and continue to move forward if you fall and stumble on the rocks along the road.
Step 2 present leadership situation and drafting the road
In a smaller current circle at the bottom left hand corner of the page put your current position as leader of member.
Draw two straight lines as a single road to link both circles.
Step 3 opportunities and constraints
Thinking back to the discussion on the Challenge Action Tree, on either side outside the road draw:
at least 10 opportunities at the top of the road – the things which will help you up if you fall down. The more opportunities you can think of, the easier it will be to advance. Think particularly of skills and experience you may have of leadership eg as a mother or father, or elder daughter or in a friendship group.
at least 10 constraints go under the road because these are the things which can drag you down. It is important to foresee and avoid them if possible.
The things which are most under your control nearest the road. The things which you cannot control go furthest from the road.
Step 4 Leadership target and milestones
Every journey starts with small steps. Now you need to plan how realistically, with the opportunities and challenges, you can start to move.
Draw a circle next to the vision where you will fill in the numbers of people of different types that you aimed to reach in your leadership chain map.
Then put 3 circles at equal distance along the road as milestones for each 3 months. Leave enough space in between – that is where you will put the actions.
Step 5 SMART action plan
Then between each milestone you put in the actions needed to move from one to the next – revising the milestones and target if necessary.
Step 6 Tracking
You will then track your progress over time, and adjust your drawing as needed to get as far as you can towards your vision.
Facilitation
This is an individual exercise facilitated interactively by participants. If facilitation so far has been participatory from the back, the facilitator at this level should not need to intervene. A good time to take photos or polish notes.
Materials and preparation:
– blank flipchart and markers at the front for participants to remind people of basic steps
– participants should have their own notebook diaries and coloured pens
Purpose: Fun process to start discussion of 6 characteristics of 1) good leaders 2) bad leaders 3)good members 4) bad members with role reversal plays and ranking and voting on a Leadership Diamond. The aim are to break down barriers and distinctions between leaders and members and to build confidence and listening skills of all participants, particularly leadership visions of poorer and more disadvantaged women and men. The activity provides a good basis of conceptual understanding of leadership for discussions of peer sharing experiences and individual vision journeys in the next tools.
Steps and facilitation
Materials:
– cards in different colours for each group and pens in two colours: green and blue for each group
Preparation:
– large blank parent diamond diagram placed at the front of the hall
– if possible arrange to play a leadership song from another process as people arrive eg download the You Tube video on this page to a laptop with speakers and screen if possible.
Timing: 3 hours with break
Step 1: Leadership Drawing
20 min: As people arrive divide them into 4-6 groups of 2-6 people:
1) women leaders and better-off 2) men leaders and better off to work on membership qualities.
3) women members and poorer 4) men members and poorer to work on leadership qualities.
Each group is given cards of a different colour, 4 cards per person.
Sufficient marker pens are given to each group in two colours – green for good and blue for bad leadership.
Each person draws in green 2 good cards and in blue 2 bad cards.
Step 2: Group sharing and discussion
10 minutes in each group each person presents and places their cards on the wall at the front. First good cards in rows on top, then in a second round their bad cards in rows lower down.
Step 3: Role Reversal Play
20 min role play preparation: from each group half the people move taking with them the relevant cards so that there are new gender-segregated groups with both members and leaders 1) women’s good leadership 2) men’s good leadership 3) women’s bad leadership 4) men’s bad leadership.
Each group prepares a short role play with members playing leaders and leaders playing members in their respective groups.
10 minutes presentation and discussion per group .
As the groups come up they place their cards in their respective ranked position on a leadership diamond pre-prepared by the facilitator.
Step 4: Voting
10-20 minutes: Each participant is given 3 votes for the best leadership characteristics and 3 votes for the best membership characteristics. They do not have to vote for their original ideas, and they can give 3 votes to 1 criterion, or 1 vote to 3 criteria. Depending on numbers, time and sensitivity, this can be done by a simple plenary show of hands or in a more private way over a health/meal break or while others are doing Step 5.
Step 5: Leadership Song
30 minutes to write, 10 minutes to perform per song.
Now participants form three groups to write the short chorus of a song:
– women and men leaders to write a good membership song of how they want members to be.
– women members write a good leadership song.
– men members write a good membership song.
Each will be progressively developed in each group with verses in the following exercises(see song writing facilitation guide) and finally combined into one performance at the end.
Documentation
Video the Diamond plenary with translation, role play with notes and songs.
Photograph of all diamonds first without annotation. Then put small sticky notes with the meaning of the symbols and take a second photograph.
From this make an Excel sheet of the good and bad leadership and membership qualities, disaggregated by leader/member and women/men. See sample sheet.
Photographs of the diamond process and song-writing
Words of the chorus of each song on two large flipcharts placed at either end of the room for future use
Translation of each chorus and both texts in a Word document.
Qualitative process notes and implications for facilitation of following tools eg issues of sensitivity, particular participants who may need more support and encouragement to speak and come to the front or be encouraged to listen more and speak less and stand further back to let others forward.
After 3-6 months more advanced versions of the same tools are introduced for the most active champions emerging through the catalyst phase through:
- core skills strengthening (eg livelihoods, health, climate change) (3 days) to: introduce more advanced versions of the basic diagram tools adapted for livelihoods (increasing incomes challenge action tree, household business tree, market map, livelihood calendar vision journey) and examine areas for collaboration to increase incomes. This starts to look at how the business/efficiency case for gender and PALS could be established and how to collect the necessary information.
- leadership strengthening (3 days) introduces tools for leadership development (leadership soulmate visioning, leadership diamond, leadership challenge action tree and leadership vision journey) and reflect on PALS facilitation and peer sharing experience.
- initiating monitoring system reviews experience so far looking at the achievements (red ripe fruits) on the original diagrams and introduces the core PALS monitoring tool for the whole process (Multi-lane Vision Journey).
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