ON Language values and promotes global leadership at all levels of our institution, for everyone from corporate officers to language learners and every faculty, staff, and administrative team member in between. One way we accomplish this is to incorporate research-based student leadership competencies (Seemiller, 2014) into the curriculum by embedding them into language lesson texts and related tasks at the appropriate proficiency levels. In this way, learners can develop leadership skills while simultaneously acquiring English language skills.

Reference: Seemiller,‌ ‌C.‌ ‌(2014).‌ ‌‌The‌ ‌student‌ ‌leadership‌ ‌competencies‌ ‌guidebook‌.‌ ‌Jossey-Bass:‌ ‌San‌ ‌Francisco‌.

Selected Leadership SLOs

Civic Responsibility

1. Recognize and actively promote one’s own and others’ exposure to people from a variety of backgrounds, beliefs, and/or experiences to enhance individual and group effectiveness and/or functioning

2. Understand the conditions and/or situations of other individuals and/or groups and integrate it into one’s behaviors so as to be inclusive and demonstrate a sense of care

3. Identify engaging ways to cultivate a welcoming environment that includes others in roles, processes, and experiences to foster a greater sense of belonging and/or a shared commitment

4. Recognize that one has an obligation, and create ways, to act in a manner that benefits, not detract from, the welfare of society and its members

5. Understand that serving one’s community is essential in creating and maintaining a thriving community and identify ways to demonstrate community service

Personal Behavior

1. Demonstrate initiative by taking charge of a situation, voluntarily and unprompted by others, especially when one has the expertise or opportunity to do so or when others are not able to

2. Function without assistance or guidance from others, such as finding answers to questions on one’s own and monitoring the progress and timeliness of one’s own work

3. See things through to the end even in the face of adversity in an effort to carry out a commitment to complete a task well as demonstrate trustworthiness and dependability

4. Take responsibility for one’s own behavior by admitting mistakes, apologizing, rectifying the situation, and accepting the consequences of one’s actions

5. Uphold standards of conduct based on socially and institutionally accepted values

6. Respond to an unpredictable situation by adapting one’s plans at the last minute, shifting gears as new information is presented, and/or moving forward without all the information

7. Quickly, positively, and smoothly transition in response to a known or unknown change

8. Identify ways in which one can bounce back or recover after a setback

9. Exhibit an optimistic outlook by identifying the positive aspects of a situation and displaying a “can do” attitude

10. Give one’s best effort to tasks at hand

Self-awareness and development

1. Identify, and enhance one’s understanding of one’s personality, beliefs, capacities, and interests so as to develop a greater depth of understanding of oneself in order to engage in more authentic and productive behavior

2. Act in alignment with one’s own values

3. Contribute one’s own ideas, strengths, knowledge, and/or abilities to meet a specific group need so as to enhance the group’s effectiveness and productivity

4. Not engage in tasks outside of one’s competency level and refer these tasks to those who have the competency level necessary to effectively complete the task

5. Consider feedback from others in an effort to develop one’s own capacity and increase effectiveness with others

6. Engage in self-development opportunities to develop one’s competencies

Interpersonal Interaction

1. Identify strategies to cultivate connections or associations with others that contribute positively to the well-being of those involved

2. Objectively assess a situation and engage in culturally-appropriate interactions, relations, and exchanges based on what is suitable for the context and person of people being interacted with

3. Demonstrate a deep understanding of others by attempting to experience their thoughts and feelings

4. Use one’s expertise and experience to teach, coach, share resources, and challenge individuals with less experience and/or knowledge so that they can reach their potential

5. Utilize others’ ideas, strengths, knowledge, and abilities so that each person is operating at his or her highest capacity both for the success and morale of each individual as well as higher productivity and effectiveness of the group

6. Offer critiques, confirmations, and/or advice in a manner that is timely and respectful in an effort to improve another person’s decisions, effectiveness, productivity, or interactions with others.

7. Provide direction to supervisees so they are clear about what they need to do, the process for doing it, and expectations the leader has

8. Work with others toward a common objective through the sharing of ideas and distribution of responsibilities across team members

Communication

1. Effectively communicate verbally with others one on one, in groups, and/or in front of a large audience

2. Use body language, gestures, facial expressions, and/or contact with and proximity to others to either complement verbal communication or serve as communication in and of itself

3. Engage in active listening strategies to assist one in accurately receiving a message that some one conveys through verbal communication

4. Communicate effectively in written format, including demonstrating a clear organization of one’s thoughts, using words that reflect one’s intended meaning, and delivering the information in a readable, clear, and concise manner

5. Effectively manage the group process during a meeting, presentation, or gathering without inputting one’s opinion by directing the flow of the discussion, asking questions, and keeping the group on track

6. Effectively manage disagreements, including keeping tension and emotion to a minimum, focusing solely on the issue at hand, balancing the needs and interests of all involved, and finding common ground

7. Effectively communicate one’s beliefs, opinions, or ideas so that others clearly and fully understand both the meaning and significance

Learning and reasoning

1. Identify and evaluate legitimate research and utilize reliable resources when researching and navigating through the vast array of information to effectively find the necessary information

2. Consider perspectives other than one’s own and allow new information, differing opinions, and others’ experiences to impress upon one’s thinking and understanding and appreciation of others

3. Reflect on experiences, considering the learning gained through reflection, and acting in accordance with this learning

4. Make connections between individual parts in a system to anticipate how the relationship between these parts affect each part and the system as a whole when solving complex problems

5. Divide information into smaller components for critical examination in an effort to identify causes, factors, features, and impacts of the information as a whole

6. Identify a central theme by integrating separate elements into one unified whole

7. Use one’s judgment to estimate the significance of particular information, thus determining its value

8. Generate new ideas by expanding one’s thinking beyond convention in order to best address an issue; going beyond one-size-fits-all

9. Identify and examine a problem, develop and assess possible solutions, and select the most appropriate solution to the problem

10. Make decisions that are appropriate to the context they are situated in