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