As someone who participated in over 10 different leadership trainings, I have had a lot of hardships to overcome. Be it not liking who I was as a person, or not knowing how to communicate my ideas to others. Leadership trainings have given me a newfound confidence over the years from 2011, where I went to my first training to last month where I helped teach that same training for the fifth time. I'm still learning more about being a better leader, and being a better version of myself.
1. Trouble working with others
Team building exercises are one of the biggest parts about introduction to leadership training. Working well as a team is very important in every day life once you get out of school. If you can work well with a group of strangers, and even people you don't like spending time with you'll be even more prepared for the real world, since your boss may be a total stick in the mud. But, with learning new skills about compromising and problem solving, working with others becomes that much easier.
2. Making friends
For me I had a harder time making friends when I wasn't being myself. But by being my true self, which is much easier around a group of strangers, I seem to make friends so much quicker. I have made life-lasting friends in Rhode Island College's Spring Leadership Weekend, while being myself, instead of being someone else. Don't be afraid to express your feelings and emotions, people will like the real you way more!
3. Lack of self-confidence
Being aware of yourself, and having the knowledge to do so is key. If you don't know your place you're far more likely to withdraw from situations and go into your shell. But with training and learning new skills you become much more confident. Learning is an important thing for us to grow into new and improved people, and with knowledge comes confidence.
4. Trouble following through with projects
Project planning is definitely not one of my strong suits. I still procrastinate and push things off until I get overwhelmed and do everything in a hurry. But going through leadership training, you learn the skills to properly follow through with project planning. Skills like time management, and how to properly execute service projects. Time-management skills are very important for college students and employees on time restraints, knowing how to utilize your time effectively is unbelievably important for leaders, because without it your team can't get the job done.
5. Setting goals
Making goals is difficult and quite honestly terrifying. Thinking about the future is scary because the future is just full of unknowns. According to Kristen Laliberte, "without leadership training you could have a plan, but not know how to close the gap of where you are and where you want to be." Kristen was the most recent Senior Patrol Leader of Narragansett Council's National Youth Leadership Training. But having a vision of what you want to accomplish can be attained using goal-setting tools taught in many different leadership training programs.
6. Public speaking
Kristen Laliberte at the NYLT Graduation June 2018
The number one fear, more feared than death, public speaking. Going through a training that makes you speak in an accepting, and non-judgmental setting where you're allowed to make mistakes is the perfect environment to practice speaking to a group. Having a small group to present to and working your way up to larger and larger groups makes communicating far less anxiety-driven.
