Joining Voices

Josie began her presentation by asking those present to think of a person they admire as a leader and write down the qualities that make her or him a good leader. She then segued in a brief discussion of two common pitfalls that leaders sometimes make:

• It's easy to be busy without being effective, and
• Achievements often come at the expense of things that are more valuable to us.

To avoid leadership traps, it's important to begin with an end in mind so you have a clear vision of where you want to go and how you want to use your time and energy. A big part of leadership is answering the question, "What do I want to accomplish?"

Josie continued with a PowerPoint slide of a montage of well-known leaders: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, and Margaret Thatcher. She pointed out that it's easy to identify leadership skills in others, but a bit harder to identify our own strengths and skills. The next several slides were also photos of leaders - parent leaders who figured out how to turn their own experiences in positive agents for change. One slide featured a dad whose wife died of AIDS, who is now caring for his son who is also infected. This dad worked hard with care providers in his community to establish supports for dads as caregivers in HIV. He also worked with national representatives to make sure dads' voices were heard.

What qualities do we each bring to our leadership roles? Using the handouts, Josie had the participants work together to identify their own strengths, things they need to work on and what they can to do improve each skill. Afterwards, she shared the following strategies for nurturing our leadership skills:

1. Be true to yourself
2. Find a mentor
3. Set priorities
4. Do your homework
5. Stay in touch with other parent leaders and work in partnership
6. Share the wealth
7. Get rid of old baggage - or as Jan Glidwell said, "You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present."
8. Know when it's time to move on
9. Have patience, courage and a sense of humor
10. Evaluate your goals and priorities regularly

The PACER Center (Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights), a nation center in based in Minnesota, has developed an IEP - Individual Effectiveness Plan - for Parent Leaders in Advisory Positions. This four-page worksheet has 10 goals, each with a comment area, for parents to track their strengths, weaknesses and progress in each area.