RH 1.  Leadership means successfully motivating and enabling a group towards the achievement of a shared, articulated goal.

Criterion A1.  Initial measure:  Percentage of students who hold a leadership role in academic or co-curricular activities.

Criterion A2.  Explain the role of a leader in a specific context.

Primary traits:  A passing submission for this criterion must:

1.       Name at least two attributes indicative of the leader in the given situation.

2.       Distinguish the attributes or actions unique to the leader. 

3.       Describe a specific context.

Potential documents:  Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to):  Essay, biographical report, case study.

Additional information: 

1.       The student does not have to discuss an example of his/her own leadership.  The leadership situation the student discusses can be hypothetical, rather than actual.   

2.       The student should not provide a critique of leadership or outcomes, since critique is covered in another criterion.  Implicit in the document is the assumption that the attributes and/or actions would or did result in successful leadership.

Criterion B1.  Describe your experience as leader of a group.

Primary traits:  A passing submission for this criterion must:

1.       Describe what the student did to act as a leader within a group for a specific situation.

2.       Describe the group, the desired goal, and the outcome.

3.       Describe the student’s role in the group’s success or failure, regardless of whether the goal was achieved or not.

Potential documents:  Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to):  Journal or an essay, oral presentation, project report.

Additional information: 

1.       The student does not need to describe a leadership experience that had a successful outcome.  The student should focus on a personal experience he/she has had as a leader, not provide a description of someone else.

Criterion B2.  Develop and articulate a direction for an organization or group.

 Primary traits:  A passing submission for this criterion must:

1.       Describe the student’s vision for the direction of the group and the desired outcome.

2.       Provide a vision and not a plan for improvement.

3.       Describe a vision that is appropriate to the target group.

Potential documents:  Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to):  Vision statement, essay.

Additional information: 

1.       The “vision of direction” does not dictate how to get there, and the vision does not necessarily need to have been implemented.

2.       The situation the student discusses can be hypothetical.

Criterion  C1.  Motivate and enable a group to successfully achieve a specific goal.

Primary traits:  A passing submission for this criterion must:

1.       Describe how the student motivated and enabled a group, the nature of the group, and the goal they achieved.

2.       Discuss the student’s techniques for motivation and the resulting action(s) of the group.

3.       Describe a successful outcome.

Potential documents:  Documents appropriate for this criterion include (but are not limited to):  Essay, journal entries, reflective statement.

Additional information: 

1.       As a guideline, the student should consider “motivation” as a call to action (getting a group to action) and “enabling” as removing impediments to action (either interpersonal or resource related impediments).  The student should also note that success can be achieved for a preliminary goal, as long as something has been achieved.  The achieved goal does not need to be the ultimate goal of the group.

2.       The submission should not be the product of or accomplishment of a group; the focus is on the process, not the product.

Revision History:

April 18, 2008 by CASO