Building Confidence And Leadership Qualities In Our Youth

After the finals of a national essay competition (2011), prizes in the form of international travels were awarded in Accra to the winning youngsters selected across the regions. Out of the hundreds of essays submitted, 10 were screened for the final selection of the best three.

At the end of the ceremony, the mother of a youngster, who happened to be in the top 10 but did not qualify for the first three slots, approached me. [I had served as an examiner and a judge, and at the ceremony thanked the sponsoring airlines, travel agents, the participating students and parents.] She asked, “Sir, what would you suggest my daughter do to focus and win future competitions”.

She was the only parent to come up to ask. Her question was beyond appropriate, it was a decisive one: the 10 selected essays being more or less of similar worth, the answers to her request revealed the very qualities that determined the top winners.

Of course, in essay writing contests, the very best are the ones selected. But for candidates to win the topmost spots, the interview process does not focus on “The Cognitive Domain” only. The cognitive or intellectual ability to write a good essay succeeds merely in bringing the best candidates into the interview. But interviewers look for other things. And those special things reside in what is called in teacher education parlance “The Affective Domain”.

To have a feel for what the “affective” does or achieves, check the following questions that rally in the back of the interviewer’s mind in arriving at the best choices: Which of the candidates is better poised or comported to represent Ghana in an international forum?

Who better exhibits confidence - the belief in themselves and Ghana? Who has a commitment to what they themselves had written about in their essays, and could be trusted to pursue some of the nobler aims in the future? Who has values worthy of support and emulation by the group?

In the end, which candidate can be trusted in a leadership role as a bona fide, up-and-coming ambassador of Ghana to the international community?

Personal qualities such as poise, confidence, commitment, trust, values, and leadership potential invariably float to the top of key requirements. In a nutshell, the affective domain scouts for the individuals worthy of exemplary leadership roles.

Dr Myles Munroe defines leadership as “the capacity to influence, inspire, rally, direct, encourage, motivate, induce, move, mobilise, and activate others to pursue a common goal or purpose while maintaining commitment, momentum, confidence and courage.”

The definition seems long, but it is an excellent one to be adopted as a mantra by our high schools and tertiary institutions. It identifies some key leadership verbs: to inspire, to activate, etc.

The key affective nouns – commitment, momentum (i.e., drive, stamina, etc), confidence and courage - included in the above definition typically inform the judgement in the selection of the best candidates wherever; and they surely informed our selection of the superior candidates to, more or less, represent Ghana abroad.

The qualities that define leadership or win interviews are hardly the cognitive pursuits only, that is, reading and answering questions, writing essays and reports, etc. Cognitive pursuits are what are typically taught in classrooms and in lecture halls; they are also what we test and score for grades and certificates.

But the affective pursuits are brewed in a different pot; they have to be created and made to happen. They have to be planned for and they happen through specially designed activities that engage students in other meaningful ways. Such activities are rare in classrooms and lecture halls. Also, the affective domain is typically not the stuff of tests or exams. Isn’t it ironic that the more creative and superior activities that entail some of the most valuable learning experiences are hardly done much less evaluated or assessed?

Two other affective qualities that interviewers look for in the screening process are language fluency through presentation (that is, speaking to the points in the essay with conviction), and lastly, the interest a candidate shows in serving others rather than being served.

John C. Maxwell, in his book, “Talent is never enough,” asked, “What are your commitments? Where are you going? What are you going to be? You show me someone who hasn’t decided, and I’ll show you somebody who has no identity, no personality, no direction”.

In an interview situation a candidate may have written one of the great pieces, but if he himself has no goals or dreams, if he is uncertain or lost, he loses the final interview as well.