C6 How to choose leaders

• Discuss the purpose of the group. What kind of leadership style will be needed? What particular knowledge and skills might be helpful? The likelihood is that there will be no-one in the group who will make a perfect leader, but there may be someone who could develop into a good leader.
• Take time to consider who should be nominated, based on all that has been discussed.
• If a vote is needed to allow members to choose between two leaders, decide how this can be done to allow each person to vote privately without being under any pressure. What is happening in the drawing below?

• Encourage participants to first discuss what might be needed in a leader for the particular local needs they have.
• What rules should a group have for selecting leaders and for deciding how long people should remain as leaders. Make sure these are agreed before choosing a leader.
• Encourage useful discussion of the practical requirements needed to allow people to feel free from pressure both when nominating people for leadership and in their choice of vote.
• Paper ballots, show of hands, placing stones in piles or in containers are all ways of allowing people to vote. Discuss if these, or other methods, might be useful in your own situation.

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This page was last updated on 04 August 2005