The H-Training Award & Extended Award for Young Leaders are exciting new Programmes that seek to expose younger people, between the ages of 14 and 24 years old, to the principles of leadership and resilience. Drawing on research conducted across a wide range of high-level leaders, the evidence highlights that learning about leadership from a young age has far reaching benefits.
This programme examines the fundamental messages young people hear or give themselves about the world, unpacking how these either help or hinder them in life. As well as guiding learners, our programmes offer support and have positive ramifications in every area of life. We focus on specific goal achievement among young learners, such as better exam results, building confidence or achieving results in a particular sport.
In today’s world we increasingly find young people who are confused about making progress in their lives and there is a generalised sense of anxiety about the future that has only been compounded by Covid 19. We now look towards a future that will very likely be different from the world we left behind in March 2020. The H-Training Award & Extended Award for Young Leaders seeks to empower young people to build and rely on support networks and filter out the noise surrounding them in the pursuit of their goals.
H-Training’s approach is primarily supportive and challenges people to achieve what they want in a constructive environment. This includes examining their support networks they have or helping them to build upon these and in places utilise them better.
This is an insightful programme that can be applied to a range of activities. We are here to support our younger clients to get an advantage on their journeys. Coming to understand the potential that lies within our younger generations is one of the greatest assets we have in confronting a troubled and increasingly uncertain world.
Having worked across an eclectic mix of society from policing to prisons, social care to private schools along with mentoring many young entrepreneurs and leaders in the corporate world, H-Training is very passionate about making a difference in the lives of others. Supporting young people to understand that finding support and asking for help is a skill, has been some of our most rewarding work to date. Being a part of continuing this journey will equip our students with the skills they need to achieve what they want.
H-Training will partner with our learner’s parents or guardian in order to learn how the programme can best support them. We are committed to supporting not only our students but their parents in this work. Covid 19 saw an enormous surge in demand for this programme as many families sought the opportunity to reflect on what they were doing and bettering themselves and, (like so many of us) reflecting on what is really important and how we can move closer to it together.
Resilience is the ability to persevere in the face of setbacks. H-Training has a diverse experience in working across Law Enforcement, the Irish Prison Service, the education sector and the corporate work. However, one thing that we see more often than we would like to is a generalised lack of awareness when it comes to Self-support. In competitive environments there is a very little space for vulnerability, that often leads people to believe that they can’t be honest about where they are. H-Training’s experience has taught us the power of talking and support. Each of our team members has a robust support network as part of the requirements within our business. This module discusses how we pick ourselves up, how important it is for us to talk to others about what is going on, while emphasising one of the most important lessons of all: The first person any of us leads is ourselves.
This module looks at leaders. Not just famous one from history, such as musicians, athletes, artists, revolutionaries (although we do look at some of them), but also the unsung leaders that comprise our societies. The Moms and Dads who persevere and inspire. The teachers who care and the social workers who are always there. The single mothers and the people who know how to keep going. Drawing on an array of examples from H-Trainings experience, we discuss precisely what leaders are? What makes them leaders? Who are your heroes and why? These questions can tell us a lot about ourselves. They show us why we are inspired in the ways we are and they also ask us how we can deal with people who see things differently. As with each module there is a practical element to this, whereby the learner is asked to lead a team, either in a sporting, volunteer or family capacity. The tools you will learn here will last a lifetime.
As passionate mentors, we at H-Training are delighted to show our learners how you can employ these skills across many areas of your life. This reviews what mentoring is and how you don’t need to be older or more experienced to mentor someone else. All you need is to understand something they don’t. We regularly tell our Young leaders that they can mentor us on how to use SnapChat, as despite our experience this is not a skill we have. Learners are then encouraged to seek out opportunities to mentor others. The Digital Skills shortage has featured a lot in this module, whereby Young Leaders empower both their parents and Grandparents alike in how to use technology and everything from FaceTime to WhatsApp, Netflix and other social media. The skill here is how you transfer this learning and furthermore recognise what it is you have to offer. Maybe you don’t like technology, now problem, what else can you use? Music, sport, books? When we dig into this deeper we often find an obvious passion that hasn’t been celebrated enough or goes unrecognised. But this is the primer to starting your journey as a mentor and building both confidence and skill.
This is a very popular module amongst our learners and affords young Leaders the opportunity to give back and get involved. The skills required here are very transferable and they involve teamwork, more leadership, communication and commitment. The opportunities have become that bit more difficult to trackdown in a remote world, but many of our learners have found ways to contribute safely. A recent client provided training to elderly people in her community on how to access Zoom, and from here established a network of young people who regularly check in with these same isolated members of their community and supported them through the difficult days we have recently known. The principles of volunteering are reviewed here along with a host of safe practices and the attendant requirements to practice safe volunteering and understanding the role and value of the volunteer.
In a time that can be seen a watershed moment for Equality & Diversity, this programme is increasingly relevant. From the #Metoo Movement to #Blacklives matter and the surprising rise of the far-right in recent years, never has there been more opportunity and urgency for Young Leaders to get involved and understand how they can help. This has become our most popular module since the death of George Floyd in the United States in 2020. And the result is a stream of more informed and deeply conscious Young People eager to help and understand. We manage this module closely with the Guardians and Parents of our Young Leaders and ensure that the learners are engaged in safe and suitable activities at all times throughout this work. The module involves discussion around what Equality and Diversity means, why it is important and what they can do in their everyday lives to improve it. In a world of increasing information and conflict, understanding the basic premise of why people fight for Equality and Diversity is key in helping not just our Young Leaders, but their larger communities to build positive dialogue and support unity. A range of case studies will be presented in order to provoke thought along with H-Trainings extensive experience of how Equality and Diversity are practiced in workplaces.