We’ve all heard the saying that “leaders are born, not made.” But is that really true? What traits make someone a leader? And can those traits be learned or developed?

Nevertheless, leadership is not about position or title. It’s an approach to life and work that anyone can adopt. And when you do, it will show how you live, work, and relate to others.

“It is easy to see who are leaders and who are not. You see it in the way they act and command awe from others. Leadership is a lifestyle; you will know someone is a leader when you one,” says Lincoln Beck, human resource specialist of Biz Hero—the premiere resource website for all things business.

Do you have what it takes to be a leader? Read to find out!

1. You Are A Visionary

A leader knows where they want to go. They have a clear vision of the future and can articulate it in a way that inspires others to follow them.

You have the capacity to see the bigger picture and have a clear understanding of the goals you want to achieve. When you’re a visionary leader, you see opportunities where others see obstacles.\

2. You Are Confident

Leaders are confident in their abilities and believe in their own vision. They are not afraid to take risks or make decisions. When you are a leader, you take risks and make decisions without being afraid of the consequences. You can handle criticisms well and learn from your mistakes.

3. You Are Passionate

The passion of a leader is evident in everything they do.  Leaders have the power to motivate others with their passion and commitment. They have a strong sense of purpose and are always looking for ways to make a difference.

When you’re passionate about something, you put your heart and soul into it. You’re always looking for ways to make a difference and inspire others to do the same.

4. You Are Innovative

Leaders are always excited to look for new and better ways to do things. They are open-minded to change and willing to experiment.

Having an innovative mind is one of the key traits of a leader. You also have the ability to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions to problems.

5. You Are Resilient

When you’re a leader, resiliency is one of your most important qualities. Leaders are able to bounce back from setbacks and learn from their mistakes. They have the strength to keep going when things get tough.

No matter what life throws at you, resilient leaders always find a way to get back up. You learn from your mistakes and use them as opportunities to grow and become even stronger.

Unleash The Leader In You With Burn Bright!

If you want to develop your leadership potential, it’s important to start with the right mindset. Believe in yourself and your capacity to lead people. Be open to new ideas and willing to take risks.

Burn Bright’s Leadership Camp is your key to unlocking your true leadership potential. Explore your passion as you make a difference in the world. When you have the right mindset, anything is possible.

Start developing your leadership skills with Burn Bright’s Leadership Camp today to reach your full potential. Contact us now!

Young people are extremely technology efficient, and if educators don’t keep up, you’ll find students’ attention and desire to be involved fade.  What may seem unimportant to you, for young people is make or break.

Over the past 18 months Burn Bright have become quite the Zoom experts. We have facilitated many school programs, the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australia 3 day 500 students Student Leadership Conference plus Perth College Leadership Camp from Sydney all via Zoom Meetings.

While we incorporate many functions into our Zoom capabilities such as external broadcast software, professional standard lighting, external sound boards and audio interfaces, these tips are NOT those! Whilst we’d be more than happy to offer some help and advice if you’d like, we thought we’d start with 5 things that every educator can implement TODAY to dramatically improve the engagement and quality of your own Zoom classes.

Turn chat on and off to minimise distraction and gain maximum engagement.

As educators we can use the chat function to our advantage – however the chat box provides a distraction at times. The last thing we want is to be discussing a serious or important topic while your students are busy chatting about the new Kanye West album about to come out. As the host of a Zoom meeting, you can easily turn chat on and off during and throughout the meeting. By clicking the security icon and unticking/ticking the chat option, you can turn it off and on as you please.

Use the Spotlight feature for yourself & students.

 Using the Spotlight feature in Zoom is a handy function that pins a certain or multiple people for everyone. Using this feature allows you to Spotlight your camera screen for the whole group, but more importantly if you are asking a specific student or students a question or wanting them to share with the group you can add them as a spotlight too. To learn more check out this SHORT VIDEO

Are you streaming in full HD?

The people at Zoom are a little sneaky. First your account may not be set to have HD video turn on. If not, we recommend enabling HD video as this will dramatically increase your video quality and the quality of your class! Some accounts will also have the option to choose 1080P video – which if this is an option for you you should definitely take it! To learn how to turn on HD video take a look at this short video HERE.

Enable 49 Participants on Gallery View.

If you haven’t done this already, you definitely should. This will mean that on gallery view you will be able to see 49 participant windows instead of 25 and will be able to keep an eye on your students more effectively. Do note however, that this option is only available for if your computer is capable – so if you don’t see this option, please don’t spend hours trying to figure it out as if it’s not there it unfortunately isn’t a possibility for you on that computer. To watch a short video on how to enable this CLICK HERE.

Regularly check your internet speed.

Unfortunately, for some of us our internet speeds aren’t always regular and there’s nothing more off putting on a Zoom call than someone not being able to hear or see you clearly. It’s handy to regularly check your internet speeds before you have a Zoom call so that you can either reset your router or worst-case scenario, hotspot. While the official recommendations are a lot lower, we always try and aim for a minimum of 25Mbps download speed and 8Mbps upload speed. You can easily check your internet speed HERE.

If you found these helpful or would like to look into Burn Bright running an ONLINE 1.5 Hour Zoom Program with your students, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We understand that stay at home lockdown is challenging but we believe we can still have an impact on your young people’s leadership and wellbeing development.

Looking for Ways to Bring Energy to Your Classroom?

Maintaining an energetic environment in online classes is a challenging thing to do. Having some activities up your sleeve to keep the investment and focus of your students can be a game changer in creating a positive learning environment online.

Click here to get 5 easy-to-use activities that will energise your students.

5 Sept 2019 – Sydney -Burn Bright has just been announced for the second year in a row as the Number One Not-For-Profit Innovator in Australia in the 2019 GiveEasy Innovation Index as a result of their influential leadership, wellbeing programs and national camps for young people. In 2019 Burn Bright finished in the equal top place with Thankyou. Other charities in the top 10 included the Movember Foundation, Cure Brain Cancer, Batyr, Starlight Children’s Foundation and The Shepard Centre. The 2019 Innovation Index is supported by EY, the University of New South Wales and eWAY.

https://www.nfpinnovationindex.com.au/2019-results to download the detailed report.

Burn Bright delivers Student Leadership, Wellbeing Programs and National Camps for schools and young people across Australia and New Zealand, working with over 15,000 students each year.

Burn Bright has been recognised by the GiveEasy Innovation Index as a leader in innovation for the not-for-profit sector for their innovative workplace culture, for modelling positive influence through genuine relationships and measuring the impact their work is having on schools and communities.

Two Years In A Row

Burn Bright’s CEO Andy Skidmore said “the Burn Bright team are humbled to have been recognised as the most Innovative Charity In Australia for the second year in a row, everyday Burn Bright strives to make a difference in the lives of thousands of young people every day and show young people that they have influence and they can use it to serve the world around them”.  Burn Bright in 2019 were named alongside Thankyou who are a household name across Australia for their innovative approach as a social enterprise.

A Vision For The Worlds Young People

Burn Bright’s vision is a world where all young people flourish, understand their influence and impact the world selflessly. Andy explains “this is a huge vision for the world and one that we can only achieve in partnership with other organisations and Burn Bright plays a small role in achieving this”. Burn Bright hopes to achieve its vision by building connected communities to grow authenticity, hope, awareness and meaningful relationships in young people.

Burn Bright is recognised as a preventative mental health organisation, providing young Australians with the tools to look after their wellbeing through experiential learning in all the programs and camps Burn Bright run.

These programs and camps challenge students to see how they can use their influence for good, both in their schools and wider communities, exploring the power of positive influence and the idea that every student has an opportunity to lead.

Taking a Social Enterprising Approach

Burn Bright has been recognised as one of Australia’s leading social enterprises. “At Burn Bright’s foundations are a social enterprising approach meaning whilst we are a not-for-profit organisation we don’t rely heavily on government grants or donations and this allows us to provide our services where required to all young people across Australia. It’s also the core of our innovative approach and allows Burn Bright to stay on the cutting head of innovation in the charity space” says Andy.

Using Technology To Enhance Program Delivery

Since last years award Burn Bright has focused on harnessing the power of technology to increase the impact of their service delivery and give the team more time to focus on delivering programs in partnerships with schools and community organisations that truly have an impact. Andy states that “Burn Bright believe that technology is one of the greatest enablers to innovation, by giving their team greater access to information and freeing them up routine tasks the team have more capacity to build our culture and innovate in new areas”. Burn Bright have also just invested new technology in online program delivery to increase their reach and access to young people across Australia.

Modelling Authentic Team Culture

Born in 2014, Burn Bright exists to build leadership capacity and self-awareness in young people and believe this is best demonstrated through their leadership team and the culture and values they model to students.

The Burn Bright team demonstrates authenticity in relationships which is powerful when modelling this behaviour to the students they work with.

Andy says, “For us it’s important that if we’re going to go to a school and we’re going to talk about great relationships, looking after your wellbeing, being able to serve others and thinking about your leadership capacity, then that needs to start with our team.”

Resilience As The Key To Young People’s Success

A recent survey conducted by Burn Bright of young people across Australia has indicated that 75% of young people will turn to their most immediate relationships for help when something difficult in their lives happen, being their parents and friends, 38% parents and 37% being friends.

Andy says “a teenagers relationships have the greatest impact  wellbeing either positively or negatively. If we want to raise resilient young Australian’s then we need to focus on the quality of their relationships with peers, family and the their community”.

The survey also found that the leading cause of stress for teenagers was their school work with 73% of young people surveyed saying it causes the most stress in their lives. The survey also showed that year 8 and 9 students are 5x more likely to often experience bullying than their older peers students.

Andy says “developing grit, and a growth mindset towards challenge is also a non-negotiable for young people in today’s social climate – these qualities coupled with a strong support network and foundation of genuine relationships is the key to overcoming struggles facing young people.”

 Proving the impact

Burn Bright have been able to prove the mind-shifting impact they have, seeing positive behavioural change, shifts in mindset and personal wellbeing through innovative data collection methods.

This data collection has been a game changer in understanding the young people Burn Bright works with as well as providing a unique insight to the schools about their student’s wellbeing.

“We use scientifically backed wellbeing research to measure the students before and after attending our trainings. What we have found is that often the bottom 20% that move the most for the young people that we work with. If you look at the resilience scale, students are moving from zero up to 30%.”, Andy explains.

12 Sept 2018 – Sydney -Burn Bright has just been announced by the 2018 GiveEasy Innovation Index as the Number One Not-For-Profit Innovator in Australia as a result of their influential leadership, wellbeing programs and national camps for young people. Burn Bright finished in the top place ahead of other charities such as Thankyou, beyondblue and the Movember Foundation. The 2018 Innovation index is supported by Westpac, the University of New South Wales and eWAY.

https://www.nfpinnovationindex.com.au/2018-results to download the detailed report.

Burn Bright delivers Student Leadership, Wellbeing Programs and National Camps for schools and young people across Australia, working with over 15,000 students each year.

Burn Bright has been recognised by the GiveEasy Innovation Index as a leader in innovation for the not-for-profit sector for their innovative workplace culture, for modelling positive influence through genuine relationships and the implementation of wellbeing surveys, measuring the impact their work is having on schools and communities.

Innovating the wellbeing conversation

Burn Bright is recognised as a preventative mental health organisation, providing young Australians with the tools to look after their wellbeing through experiential learning in all the programs and camps Burn Bright run.

These programs and camps challenge students to see how they can use their influence for good, both in their schools and wider communities, exploring the power of positive influence and the idea that every student has an opportunity to lead.

Burn Bright CEO, Andy Skidmore says that innovation is the only way forward when working with teenagers, “Young people are constantly pushing the edge of what’s new and interesting – it forces us to stay innovative. The way we deliver our leadership programs has to be relevant, cutting edge and interesting.”

Modelling authentic team culture

Born in 2014, Burn Bright exists to build leadership capacity and self-awareness in young people and believe this is best demonstrated through their leadership team and the culture and values they model to students.

The Burn Bright team demonstrates authenticity in relationships which is powerful when modelling this behaviour to the students they work with.

Andy says, “For us it’s important that if we’re going to go to a school and we’re going to talk about great relationships, looking after your wellbeing, being able to serve others and thinking about your leadership capacity, then that needs to start with our team.”

Resilience As The Key To Young People’s Success

A recent survey conducted by Burn Bright of young people across Australia has indicated that 75% of young people will turn to their most immediate relationships for help when something difficult in their lives happen, being their parents and friends, 38% parents and 37% being friends.

Andy says “a teenagers relationships have the greatest impact  wellbeing either positively or negatively. If we want to raise resilient young Australian’s then we need to focus on the quality of their relationships with peers, family and the their community”.

The survey also found that the leading cause of stress for teenagers was their school work with 73% of young people surveyed saying it causes the most stress in their lives. The survey also showed that year 8 and 9 students are 5x more likely to often experience bullying than their older peers students.

Andy says “developing grit, and a growth mindset towards challenge is also a non-negotiable for young people in today’s social climate – these qualities coupled with a strong support network and foundation of genuine relationships is the key to overcoming struggles facing young people.”

 Proving the impact

Burn Bright have been able to prove the mind-shifting impact they have, seeing positive behavioural change, shifts in mindset and personal wellbeing through innovative data collection methods.

This data collection has been a game changer in understanding the young people Burn Bright works with as well as providing a unique insight to the schools about their student’s wellbeing.

“We use scientifically backed wellbeing research to measure the students before and after attending our trainings. What we have found is that often the bottom 20% that move the most for the young people that we work with. If you look at the resilience scale, students are moving from zero up to 30%.”, Andy explains.

Every boss, CEO, leader, manager, employer, or supervisor has probably asked themselves the question: how can we increase individual performance, while maintaining their wellbeing and motivation?

Enter: the human-centered innovation approach.

Taking a human-centered approach to innovation within an organisation means developing solutions to hurdles by calling on the human perspective, and people in all parts of the brainstorming and problem-solving process. It starts with people and conversation, and ends in innovative solutions. It means that the pressure is removed for staff to be “experts” in a field, and instead asks staff to simply get really great and problem solving.

Studies have confirmed¹ that:

• Better quality leadership leads to higher, better, and more enjoyable workplace performance
• Leadership is more effective when it is based on integrity, openness, transparency, genuinely valuing others, being able to resolve problems, and being decisive
• Leadership capability is a significant predictor of staff self-confidence and a sense of team effectiveness
• It is incredibly important that a leader engages with others. It’s a leaders’ role to act in a way that promotes engagement!

Since engagement within a workplace is closely related to team performance, it also increases positive emotions, levels of motivation, job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and general wellbeing. Putting all of these pieces of the puzzle together means that an organisation practicing human-centered innovation and focussing on employee engagement will be more equipped to cope with change.

It’s a cycle: social support and engagement in a workplace lead to increased innovation, and increased innovation leads to more social support! When the cycle is in gear, everyone benefits: servant leaders benefit from the experience of others, and a workplace thrives.

¹ Beverly Alimo-Metcalfe, John Alban-Metcalfe, Margaret Bradley, Jeevi Mariathasan, Chiara Samele, (2008),”The impact of engaging leadership on performance, attitudes to work and wellbeing at work: A longitudinal study”, Journal of Health Organization and Management, Vol. 22 Iss: 6 pp. 586 – 598

Literally.

Traditional leadership often involves the employment of power at the top of a pyramid, where servant leadership takes a bottom-up approach to share power and a focus on enriching lives. Research in recent years has given rise to quantifiable, recognised ways that servant leadership has been proven to impact a workplace.

Who are servant leaders?

Servant leaders are agents of morality, who are committed to a service. By modelling positive relationships, purpose-driven action, and putting the needs of others first they improve the wellbeing of the community they serve.

 Why is service revolutionary?

Servant leadership impacts the wellbeing of their followers, the wider community, and themselves; this is an important cycle because it means that as a leader seeks to enrich the lives of others, their lives are also enriched and they are propelled to continue to serve instead of burn out, like so many business leaders do. We know that this relationship between service and personal enrichment exists because social psychologists (like Albert Bandura) have identified that the three human needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness are key to general wellbeing. Through helping others, servant leaders attain personal growth which leads to enhanced wellbeing through the fulfilment of one’s own values, and their positive relationships 

How will it impact your culture?

The outcomes of service-based leadership business models vary from good, to great. Workplace cultures that support servant-hearted leadership boast reduced turnover intentions within staff, higher commitment to an organisation, and increased workplace satisfaction.

It won’t just transform a culture; it impacts an individual’s personal growth, too. Because servant leaders encourage people to express their “true self” in alignment with their values, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings, it means that people usually feel more recognised and validated… Which probably isn’t the reason your organisation exists, but is certainly a welcome by-product of a leadership shift.

 What does that look like in an effective workplace?

Research has identified seven workplace habits¹ that can make a difference to any organisational culture:

1. A leader who puts “subordinates” or staff first
2. Helping staff grow and succeed, both personally and professionally
3. A leader who seeks to empower
4. Placing value in emotional healing
5. Creating value for the community
6. A team who behaves ethically
7. A leader who grows a team’s conceptual skills

¹ Liden, R. C., Wayne, H. Zhao, & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment, Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161-177.

Read on for five of the incorrect biases people hold about what it takes to be an forward-thinking charity, along with five tips for moving any team into a space of innovation.

MYTHS

1. Brainstorming equals innovation

Generating innovative ideas means nothing without a platform or a plan of action. Instead of only creating a detached space for throwing ideas around, making lists, and filling up your whiteboard, there needs to be a focus on integrating idea generation into a charity’s processes and systems, so to nurture non-stop innovation; it’s not something you can schedule.

2. Technology leads innovation

While technology moulds society, technology is nothing on it’s own. Most new technology is only “new” so far as the way we think about it and endeavour to use it! It’s the change and shift in thought and action that leads to new, innovative technology.

3. Some people and teams “just have it”

Innovation is a process, so a team needs to play to their strengths. You may be skilled at one part of the process; another team member may be effective at a different part! No team “has it all” or got to where they are without effective leaders refining the well-oiled machine.

4. Creativity and Innovation are synonyms

People often mistake innovation for creativity. Instead, think of creativity as the preamble to the process of innovation… Creativity is the generation of the idea, and a starting point; innovation is the long process that comes next!

5. That autonomy is the enemy, and control produces outcomes

Google headquarters are considered somewhat of a beacon for innovators; their philosophy lends a lot of ideas for small-scale charities, too. At Google, every employee is encouraged to devote 80% of their time to their “role” and 20% of their time on a side project that doesn’t require overhead approval… That’s where the transit info in Google Maps came from! This kind of open operation leads to an autonomous staff and wonderful innovations without loosing “control.”

TIPS for Promoting Innovation

1. An innovative business model beats an innovative idea/technology

Hands down, any day… Enough said.

2. Embrace data to quantify and communicate your successes

A quantitative trend in the NFP sector has seen businesses realise and utilise the power of data. Gone are the days that statistics are feared by all; in fact measurable and visual representations of growth, impact, and performance are powerful tools for marketing and communicating a charity’s vision.

3. Refine your reward and recognition processes

Celebrate individual successes in the same way you’d celebrate team wins. The “best” charities to work for are the ones with hearty recognition programs, focus on employee engagement though targeting relationships, and emphasising how important it is for innovation to jump quickly on new ideas.

4. Collaborate rather than compete

A charity exists to execute a unique and (most likely) specific purpose; the competition next door might be in your field… But are they really the competition? Or do they exist to serve a slightly different purpose? Collaboration is an important part of innovation which leads away from stagnation toward a path of growth, new skills, and innovation.

5. Link innovative ideas to objectives

The power of innovation is having a vision, and a team who works to serve that vision. Once you’ve got the innovative ideas, link them to staff objectives so that the results start to speak for themselves.

FURTHER resources:

1. Worldwide Innovation Blog: http://innovationexcellence.com/
2. ImagineNation: https://www.imaginenation.com.au/play-the-lean-start-up-way/
3. Innovation Ecosystem: http://innovationecosystem.com/
4. Game-Changer: http://www.game-changer.net/blog/#.W5XNbZMzY1g
5. Leaning about Data Visualisation for your business: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/learning-data-visualization)

¹ http://www.philanthropy.org.au/tools-resources/fast-facts-and-stats/