The first characteristic of a great leader is excellent communication skills. People look to leaders for solutions, for instruction, and for support. Leaders can recognize how to interpret key elements of a situation. They know how to recognize people's needs. Whether the leader is speaking or writing, the presence of a leader is clearly evident. When no leader is present, people are frustrated, less productive, and less confident.

The "Leadership Challenge" is a project to identify a situation that calls for communication leadership in which no leader is otherwise assigned or available. Your first challenge is to identify a context that is relevant to your life. It can be a workplace, a recreational activity, or even your own home. Once the context is established, the challenge is to identify three to four other people who might be affected by improved communication. The ultimate goal is to change the world in a small, positive way by providing leadership to these people in the situation you share.

This will be accomplished in three stages: proposal, intervention, and summary. The complete project will include written plans, reflections, and evaluations that will be submitted as short reports. Each of these short report documents will combine to complete the final grade.

Step 1: Identify the situation and design a proposal. Seek approval for your proposal.

A. Obtain permission from any parties who might be directly involved in your intervention.

B. Establish a timeline for your project (you should plan what will happen throughout approximately 10 weeks.)

C. Explain the intended changes and your expectations for improvement of communication.

Step 2: Initiate your project.

Keep a running record of what happens; include copies of any written documents you create as part of your intervention. Make changes.

A. Analyze the reactions and response of the other people in your project.

B. Determine the effect of the intervention.

C. Make adjustments that you need to make to ensure your project achieves the intended outcome.

Step 3: Reflect on your project and provide an evaluation of your progress.

Reports

Each report must contain the following four paragraphs and should not exceed one page.

1. Context Analysis

Provide a detailed description of the context and the communication problem you hope to influence. As you proceed through the project, you will experience conversations and observations that will provide you with new, relevant insights into the context. Therefore, as your experience grows you will have more information to include in this section of your report. You may develop this section by answering the following questions: what is the setting of the situation? what is the nature of the relationships of the people involved? what is at stake when communication fails to be effective? how has the situation changed?

2. Character Analysis

Name the people involved in the situation. (You may use a pseudonym if you prefer to protect individual privacy.) Provide a character study of the other people who will be assisted through your intervention. The point of the character study is to imagine the points of view of the other people in your story. How might each one interpret the communication problem? How might each personality and vested interest affect the quality of the communication? As you learn more about the responses of the various parties to your intervention, you should consider how new information and understanding affects your efforts. This section must track specific people through the project. You may include yourself as one of the people, especially noting how your relationship with others is affected as you intervene or attempt to lead the quality of the communication.

3. Intervention

Describe your actions and efforts at each stage of the project. The first report will include your assessment of the problem and how you propose to work to improve communication. The second report should include a description of what happened, how people responded, and what went wrong that you had not expected. The final report should include your honest assessment of your intervention efforts and how you believe communication is affected by leadership.

4. Personal Analysis

Specify a weakness or concern about your leadership that you will attempt to improve through this experience. Identify what you have learned about leadership and communication, or what you are coming to understand about yourself as a leader. Your first report should include a proposal to focus on a skill of leadership you hope to employ or develop. In the second report you will assess the usefulness of that leadership skill in improving communication. Finally, analyze what you have learned about yourself and what you hope to do in the future as a leader.

Review the sample as a model of one short report. The sample is available on the page entitled Leadership Challenge Example Documents in the File Menu.