Peer Leadership and Facilitation
Preface
If you are interested in taking a leadership role on your campus team, this module will support you to understand leadership theory. It will support you to take the material we have covered throughout the rest of the training, and specifically the Core Values of peer support, and apply them to your leadership style. If you are a facilitator, you will also be able to apply these leadership theories to build on your existing facilitation skills.
It’s recommended that you read all the other modules that come with this training before beginning this one, as we will be building on concepts covered in those modules.
This module does not need to be covered in its entirety. Read and work with whatever topics are meaningful to you and will support you in your leadership and facilitation goals.
We have broken this module into three major sections:
- Leadership theory
- Personal leadership exercises
- Facilitation skills
Purpose of the Module
As part of your peer support work, it’s highly likely that you will take initiative and leadership on other campus projects from time to time. You may lead workshops, plan events, and support other team members. The time you invest doing these things now will support you to develop some foundational skills that you can apply in any future leadership opportunities.
Many people find themselves in management and leadership positions without any real understanding of basic leadership principles. In this module we’ll give you some foundational principles that you can use in your work now, and that you can continue to build on into the future.
In this module we will break down some tired and unhealthy definitions of leadership, and we’ll explore what it means to deconstruct and decolonize leadership as we know it. We will explore what it means to lead others from a place of humility, with a strength-based approach that builds others up. In essence, this module will encourage you to take all the information and knowledge you’ve learned throughout the peer support training and integrate it with principles of healthy leadership; you will be invited and equipped to begin developing a clear leadership lens that has application in many aspects of life, beyond just managing a team.
The study of leadership is complex and layered. In this module we will take a high level, principle-focused approach to leadership. The goal is that you can take these ideas, blend them with the core values and principles of peer support, and feel equipped to lead others in your work. We won’t be able to tackle specific details or management situations that could come up. However, it is our goal that the information and tools in this module will support you to be able to make those decisions when situations arise.
Group facilitation tends to be a common aspect of campus peer support work. One definition of the word “facilitate” is “to make easier.” Facilitation is a leadership skill and is about guiding a group process. It is different from teaching; while teachers are expected to be subject matter experts, facilitators are not. They are guides that support a group process. In this module we will share some principles that will support you to grow and develop your facilitation skills.
Prerequisite: Prior to working with this module, please make sure to read all of the other modules in this training, as this module will build on the concepts we have already shared throughout the training.
Learning Objectives
- You will be able to describe the five expressions of Indigenous, Decolonizing School Leadership.
- You will be able to demonstrate how the core values and principles of peer support compare with other paradigms of leadership, including servant leadership and decolonized leadership.
- You will be able to take the peer support core values and apply them to different aspects of leadership.
- You will determine your vision, as well as some personal goals for your work within peer support.
- You will be able to identify some key facilitation skills, and incorporate them into your facilitation work.
Core Values
Throughout this module, please consider and reflect on the Core Values. When you are finished going through this module, please come back to this page and jot down some thoughts about how you will apply the Core Values in your work related to this topic. If you need a refresh of the definition of the Core Values see the graphic at the end of this module.
- Hope and Wholeness for All
- Acknowledgement
- Mutuality
- Strength-Based
- Self-Determination
- Respect, Dignity, and Equity
- Belonging and Community
- Curiosity
Media Attributions
- Hope and wholeness for all by Drawing Change is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 licence.
