Adapt as a leader: key theme during latest CapDev session

Last Thursday, 16 June, we hosted our tenth Capacity Development session, "Introduction to Leadership”. We had members from all over the world tuned in, all engaged in the discussion of what makes a good leader, especially in the context of road safety. 

It was led by YOURS - Youth for Road Safety Capacity Development Director Manpreet Darroch and featured one of our very own youth leaders, Laura Daniela Gómez from Bogota, Colombia.

During the session, we gave special focus on adaptive leadership and how our youth leaders could leverage this unique approach to effectively head their different organizations, teams, or projects. Essentially, adaptive leadership focuses on using new attitudes, skills, and coordination to find solutions for both common and unique challenges.

From the discussion, members were given an idea of what it means to be an adaptive leader. While our members had good guesses of what an effective adaptive leader is, here are ten specific traits that the leader must have; creative problem solver, empathic, openness and communication, collaboration, expertise, explorer, strategic thinker, lifelong learner, proactive, and enabling. 

Coming in to give context to the topic, Dani - our three-time local actions winner - gave some examples of how she uses these traits to lead her projects and perform her responsibilities as project manager of Despacio.

To give the members an opportunity to learn from Dani’s experiences better, participants were given the opportunity to ask questions during a Q&A as part of the session.

Dani was joined by another of our youth leaders, Estiara Ellizar from Indonesia, to talk about the different obstacles that come with being a youth leader. They touched on topics like imposter syndrome, gender equality within leadership spaces, and the importance of accepting failure within the leadership journey. 

The session ended with our leaders reminding members of their abilities as young people. Dani had represented the Youth Coalition in a UN High-Level Meeting last year, highlighting the importance of involving young people in all stages of development. Estiara will also be representing the Youth Coalition in the upcoming Meeting on Road Safety this June to push the youth and road safety moving forward.

Become a road safety leader yourself by taking part in our Capacity Development opportunities! You can get started by enrolling in our latest platform, YOURS Academy.