Leadership Strengthening 2 day workshop
Leadership Vision: Why do you want to be a leader
Participants were asked to why they wanted to be leaders. All participants came up with 5 different reasons why they wanted to be leaders. The next step was to draw a good leader, how a good led community would look like, and what does a good leader do? Different drawings came from all the participants explaining qualities of what they thought a good leader is! Discussions came around what they highlighted as qualities of a good leader for example one participants drew a fat man seated in front of thin people giving instructions to them as his car was parked by the side. From different discussions came from the group on what they all agreed as qualities of a good leader:
- cooperative
- hard working
- listens to people
- visionary
- optimistic
- contributes to the needs of the society
- cares for people
- is a doer
- is a good advisor
- is a good manager
A leadership song was composed based on the qualities of a good leader and participants were asked to draw in their notebooks qualities of a good leader based on the decided upon qualities.
Leadership Diamond tool: Good and Bad Leaders, Good and Bad Members
Participants were asked to draw a shaped diamond and two lines were drawn to split and a middle line was drawn, on the left side qualities of a good leader were drawn, and on the right qualities good members were drawn and down wards left side, were qualities of bad leaders and right side qualities of bad members.
After the discussions, the similar qualities of both members and leader were drawn in the middle of the diamond tool; also the bad qualities were changed into positive and drawn in the middle, participants came to a consensus on qualities of both members and leaders.
Consensus on good leadership and good membership
| Leader | Qualities for both | Member |
| Good manager | ↓ | Good implementer Good advisor Good listener |
| Cooperation | ||
| Hard working Attendance Visionary Responsible Contributor Caring | ||
Organisational governance map
The participants then came together to draw an institutional relationship map of Vuasu and the primary cooperatives. They discussed
- how the system worked for decision-making and benefits – which decisions are made where and by whom
- how far leadership was a challenge at the different levels
- specific barriers to women becoming leaders
The conclusion was that much of the challenge was due to political interference in approval of candidates and into the voting meetings themselves. This meant that even if good people were proposed and accepted their nomination, they could not even be presented for election.
Leadership Vision Journey
After the discussion on the Diamond the champions reviewed their leadership visions and drew their own vision journey for leadership in their community and/or cooperative.