Take me to your leader - Layla's story

In The Nine to Five with Stacey Dooley on BBC iPlayer, Stacey takes five teenagers into four different industries for the ultimate work experience. Each school leaver spends two days trying out real jobs and if they impress, Stacey will pay them the national apprenticeship wage at the end of every shift. But she also deducts money for poor performance and so those who don't come up to scratch can find their wage packet empty.

Stacey talks here about Layla, a very capable 17-year-old who had an attack of nerves when she was asked to supervise her teammates. For Layla the big test was: could she find the confidence to be a natural leader?

Although we might not immediately realise it, we are all leaders in our own lives. We all make choices and plans and we may not associate those decisions with leadership but we are starting somewhere close to home – ourselves. What we might see as small practical steps are actually the green shoots of leadership – taking control of our future, making a big plan and having goals and ambitions.

Apart from famous world political and business leaders, we mostly encounter leaders at school and in our job. They may all feel very different from each other – who can forget a very strict teacher or a tough boss! But I think the essence of every strong leader lies with two qualities: one is the ability to paint a clear vision and the second is the ability to make that vision a reality. And if you buy into that vision and reality, the whole group can gain from being a part of it. At its simplest level, if you want to lead people, you have to know what you’re leading them towards and that means being confident in making decisions.

One of our teens, Layla, had a heart of gold and taking the lead was not something she was familiar with, or so she thought. During a two-day stint on an oyster farm, she was hoisting bags nearly as big as her and the bosses could see that Layla also carried bags of potential. But she wasn’t so sure about that herself and with every task, she needed reassurance that everything she was doing was right.

Put your ideas out there

Bosses were so impressed with Layla that on her second day they asked her to become the team supervisor of a major group task. Layla’s inner confidence was immediately put to the test. The group now looked to her to be told what to do and suddenly there was no boss to hold her hand through it. She had to trust in her own judgement. She had to overcome her embarrassment about being a boss to her peers.

The truth is, as a leader, you might not always make the best decisions. You may not be the most experienced or the most skilled but never forget that your opinion and ideas still carry weight. As colleagues, we may not always agree with our leader’s choices but we can respect their commitment to try something new.

At a base level, a team needs clarity to believe in something. It's hard to know where you are with a 'yes' person, a people-pleaser who can't make up their mind because they're worried about gaining everybody's approval. There are lots of different ways our teenage group could have collaborated to run the final stages of oyster processing and Layla explored just one of them. At first, she got stuck in herself because she thought that was the best way to supervise and help. Then, the oyster boss pointed out that she was doing too much, she was being too hands-on and she needed to take a step back and be confident about delegating to her team and only step in when needed.Once she understood that key difference, she took to supervising like a duck to water! Her team knew she could do the individual parts of the job herself and then they saw she knew how to manage the bigger picture too, so that they would all finish on time. She made her plan clear and kept spirits high as they stormed forward. As a group, they could all get behind her.

Let listening take the lead

Communication is a tool we use everyday. To communicate in a way that motivates people towards a common goal - that’s a skill! People commonly mistake a strong motivator for someone who likes to speak a lot. As someone who likes chatting myself I totally get that! But never underestimate the power of listening. When people feel heard, they feel respected and in return you will gain respect. This doesn’t mean rolling over when everyone puts in their two-pence worth, but listening to others can help you build a happy and willing team. As a journalist, I have learnt what it means to truly listen. I don’t make assumptions, I make judgments on what I’ve heard afterwards. I might decide to keep those thoughts to myself. So, this means understanding the power of staying silent when necessary, watching what is unfolding before me and listening to people’s stories to truly gain perspective. Only then, do I feel confident in expressing where I believe a problem might lie and how it might be solved.

What does it mean when we use the expression ‘take the lead’? It means taking in the situation at hand and then standing on the frontline and showing people what you’re made of. If you want a failsafe way of gaining respect as a leader, then prove that you are willing to put the work in yourself. Layla eventually flourished and became a brilliant leader because of her willingness to delegate and lead by example. Moving from post to post to support her teammates, she never asked someone to do a job that she would not do herself. Watching from the sidelines, I saw how hard the group worked because they knew Layla supported them. With a gentle hand on their backs, she led from the front - I think she’s a leader in the making.