Army officers put our students’ practical leadership skills to the test as part of their Business and Management course.
Learning to be an effective leader is important for students studying BA Business and Management at the University, so a visit from the army provided them with the perfect opportunity to test their skills by completing a series of challenges.
Creating leadership opportunities for students
Taking place inside St Paul’s sports hall, 26 BA Business and Management students took part in 5 leadership tasks, including attempting to navigate through a ‘minefield’ blindfolded with only a whistle as a guide, and traversing through a giant spider web.
Each student had the opportunity to take on the role of leader to steer their team through a tricky task, which needed communication, coordination, team building and problem-solving skills, much like the skills that the army focuses on in their own training.
Alba Alcani, third year BA Business and Management student, said: “Being under pressure was quite stressful but as a team we managed to complete the task really well. I actually really enjoyed leading, telling people what to do, but also taking their ideas on board - it was really enjoyable.
“I’ve not really done many leadership activities before, but I do want to go into management, so today is useful to get feedback on my leadership skills.”
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Omar, another student who attended the workshop, said: ““Today is like a ‘fun’ version of real life, but it’s like a practice version of what you can expect in your future career in the real world.”
After the tasks, students had the unique opportunity to receive feedback from the supervising officers to help them improve and prepare for future leadership roles and challenges, a fact appreciated by many of the students.
One of our students, Jorge Ribeiro, said: “I wanted to get some feedback on my leadership skills, and what people think my strengths and weaknesses are. After leading a task some of the feedback I received was as I expected but some feedback surprised me, which was good.”
Dr Andrew Stewart, the University representative on the Military Education Committee, Senior Teaching Fellow in the Faculty of Business and Law and module coordinator for the Critical Leadership module, said: “It’s really nice to see the students here participating in the event and learning from their experiences today. All students receive feedback on how they led a task, which they can then include in their portfolio and are presented with a smart individually printed certificate which they can later use for job interviews if they wish.
“The experience gives them the confidence to take charge and lead a task: something they may not have done before. I just love seeing the students laughing together and having a bit of fun outside of the classroom, but learning valuable skills at the same time.”
The military team who ran the practical leadership skills workshop is itself part of the University’s Defence Undergraduate Technical Scheme, which provides officer cadets training in the army with the opportunity to study a technical degree during their military training.