Leadership Styles

On the third day of the Duke of Edinburgh’s expedition when it was my turn to lead, we were being accompanied by our Mountain Leader for the first and only time, owing to the area normally being marsh and it was written in the risk assessment.

I was asked to lead only a short leg, however, as the most experienced of the group, it was a harder leg, and I was put on the spot by the mountain leader for several reasons, one of which was to test my skills, as Simon didn’t know at what level I was personally at, another was to demonstrate to the others some different techniques that it was unlikely that they had come across before, owing to them being less experienced in the field.

After assessing our position, coming up with a plan for the route; I then began, using differently styles of leadership. It became clear that although the rest of the group although they had experience in the hills, they were not know aware of certain techniques that would assist them should the situation arise that they need to extricate themselves from the area. The skill that was taught was pacing. The guided discovery style, Mosston and Ashworth 1990, was used when teaching about pacing, as it was something that has a definite distance, however it is down to the individual to work out their own personal step count for 100 metres.

Throughout the section which I was leading, guided discovery was mainly used, owing to the fact that there was not actually much teaching done aside from the pacing section. In accordance to Lewin, Lippitt and White (1939) cited in Woods 1998, study on leadership styles, the style that I found was mainly used on my part was Laissez-faire; when the rest of the group were allowed to get on with the hike in their own way and style. This suited the group very well as every member was very laid back, and happy going at their own pace.

With the gift of hindsight, if I could re-do that particular leg, I would probably use the same style of leadership, with some subtle changes to the presentation. Instead of keeping the “story” of the route in my head, I would tell it to the group, therefore I had not only my mind on the different areas and sections that needed to be checked, there were 5 more people looking out for the markers too. This approach would allow me the chance to “look after” the group more, using more senses than mainly my hearing; as if I had, there would have been more of a chance to actually speak to the group to establish how they were doing and whether there was anything that they wanted to change or learn.

Applying Psychology to Sport, B. Woods. 1998

Acquiring Skill in Sport, B. Sharp. 1992

Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming, S. Priest and M. Gass. 1997

http://www.teachpe.com/A_level_skill_acq_files/mosston_ashworth_teaching_styles_information_sheet.php