Lead yourself —
Leader of one, leader of many; if you can't lead one, you can't lead many. How true!
In my daily life as a tourist guide, I see this happening all the times. Of course when I stand in front of everybody, they have no choice to listen to me you would think, right? Wrong. While adults are usually pretty respectful, when it comes to children or even better teenagers, it's another ball game all together!
So what do I do to get their attention? I go down to their level.
"What does that mean?" In essence it means that I speak to them in a language that they can relate to. I figured that if I were in their shoes, would I want to listen to someone about historical facts for a couple of hours? Honestly maybe not always, it would all depend on how it was presented to me. In other words, in order to lead them and get them to do what I want, which is to listen, I have to captivate their attention. I'll admit that sometimes it requires me to be very creative. In general though, I have found that humor and getting them involved, i.e. for them to participate in an activity is what works best for me.
Everytime a student comes to compliment me on how much they have appreciated the tour, I feel 10 times more rewarded then if it would come from an adult. Why? Simply because I had to work harder to get it, but also because I was able to transfer some of my knowledge to the younger generation who are the leaders of tomorrow. Fear not, they have eyes and ears and even though sometimes you may think they are not listening, they are watching your every moves. Bottom line is they will connect with you if you take the time to connect with them.
So how do I lead? I always lead by example because in the end, no matter what I say, it is what I did for them that they will remember. It's like the saying "Don't ask what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!"
In my daily life as a tourist guide, I see this happening all the times. Of course when I stand in front of everybody, they have no choice to listen to me you would think, right? Wrong. While adults are usually pretty respectful, when it comes to children or even better teenagers, it's another ball game all together!
So what do I do to get their attention? I go down to their level.
"What does that mean?" In essence it means that I speak to them in a language that they can relate to. I figured that if I were in their shoes, would I want to listen to someone about historical facts for a couple of hours? Honestly maybe not always, it would all depend on how it was presented to me. In other words, in order to lead them and get them to do what I want, which is to listen, I have to captivate their attention. I'll admit that sometimes it requires me to be very creative. In general though, I have found that humor and getting them involved, i.e. for them to participate in an activity is what works best for me.
Everytime a student comes to compliment me on how much they have appreciated the tour, I feel 10 times more rewarded then if it would come from an adult. Why? Simply because I had to work harder to get it, but also because I was able to transfer some of my knowledge to the younger generation who are the leaders of tomorrow. Fear not, they have eyes and ears and even though sometimes you may think they are not listening, they are watching your every moves. Bottom line is they will connect with you if you take the time to connect with them.
So how do I lead? I always lead by example because in the end, no matter what I say, it is what I did for them that they will remember. It's like the saying "Don't ask what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country!"
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