APPLICATION OF INNOVATIVE METHODS FOR STUDENTS' LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
APPLICATION OF INNOVATIVE METHODS FOR STUDENTS' LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Summary/Abstract: Leadership is one of the most researched fields in social science, however, our knowledge about leadership process is still limited. With increasingly changing environment, more focus is being put on the innovative ways for leadership development, particularly self-leadership, as means to prepare for future challenges, where leadership will be only skill needed for certain in uncertainty defined environment. This is way leadership development is essential in leadership emergence which has particular importance for the participants of future job market which will require people management, emotional intelligence and other leadership related skills. Leadership development refers to the experiences, training, and growth opportunities that help a leader mature and gain the knowledge and skills necessary for success in leadership positions. In order of more young people to take the role of leaders the systematic attitude to this question is necessary and one of the aspects is that it is needed to begin preparing professionals for the leadership already at a higher school. Although there are many facts that universities play an extremely significant role in creating and developing the quality of leadership in the contemporary society and about the importance of developing of leadership competences at higher schools, there is a lack of research on the subjects (1) how innovative study methods could be applied for more effective development of leadership competences of students and (2) what is students’ opinion about using these methods. That is why the research considering these issues is relevant practically and quite new scientifically. The aims of the study are (1) to reveal the possibilities of using innovative study methods at the university for leadership development and (2) to reveal students’ opinion about using these study methods. Research has shown the high demand of students to develop their leadership competences during the studies at the university. Applying innovative study methods for leadership development can be seen as a student - centered approach. There are plenty of possibilities to use innovative study methods at the university for leadership development. Playing many games do not require any additional place or space, only the regular classroom. It needs to be said that students did not need to be forced to get into playful activities. They enjoyed them very much. First of all, games helped to break down the barriers and helped to communicate better. Playing games as practical activities during the “Leadership” classes helps to create good environment for understanding oneself and others better, for acceleration of creative thinking, for developing fruitful discussions and finding different sides of leadership. These results show the effectiveness of innovative activities for leadership development and display the need for large study finding and describing innovative and non-traditional practices.

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