Leadership Object Lesson Ideas
From: Sharma Worthen Anderson
On the beautiful Oregon Coast
One that I tend to use on the first presidency meeting with a new class
presidency might work for you. I tie four or six strings to a 3-4 ft 1-inch
wooden pole (or something similar that I can find). Everyone takes a string.
If everyone pulls on their strings then the pole will stand. If even one
person lets their string slack then the pole will fall.
Another one I have done is to tie two girls together at the waist with their
backs together. (I have done more before at times, but find two works
better) I place two chairs several feet on either side of them with the two
of them in the middle of the chair. I then place a candy bar or something
similar on each of the two chairs and tell them that who ever can get the
candy in 30 seconds can have it. If the girls work against each other then
usually neither one of them will get it, but if they cooperate and let one
get it first and then the other then they both can get it easily.
Everybody’s Task is Nobody’s Duty
There were 4 people and they represented all of us. They were: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody. There was an important task to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Now, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Well, Somebody got angry because, after all, it’s
Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody should do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. So, it ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.
Are you one of these?
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Whose job is it, anyway?
Once upon a time in an office were four people. Their names were Everybody, Somebody, Nobody, and Anybody. When there was important work to be done, Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. When Nobody did it, Everybody got mad because it was Anybody’s job. Everybody thought that Somebody would do it, but Nobody
realized it wouldn’t get done, so Nobody did it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done in the first place.
Parable of the Popcorn
Behold at the time of the harvest, the ears of corn did bring forth kernels which we dried and prepared for the popper’s hand.
And then it was that the popper did take the kernels, all of which appeared alike unto him, and did apply the oil and the heat.
And it came to pass that when the heat was on, some did explode with promise and did magnify themselves an hundred fold, and some did burst forth with whiteness which did both gladden the eye and satisfy the taste of the popper. And likewise, some others did pop, but not too much.
But lo, there were some that did just lie there and even though the popper’s heat was alike unto all, they did bask in the warmth of the oil and kept everything they had for themselves.
And so it came to pass that those which had given of themselves did bring joy and delight to many munchers, but those which kept of the warmth and did not burst forth were fit only to be cast out into the pail and though of with hardness and disgust.
And thus we see that in the beginning all appear alike, but when the heat is on, some come forth and give their all, while others fail to pop and become as chaff to be discarded and forgotten.
One of my advisors did this for a value lesson but it could work with leadership.
She had 7 “colored raw eggs” (7 values!) You could name them with callings (Pres, secretary, counselor, etc) she put them in a group and placed a book (she put new labels on the books) on top. (the book could be conducting on Sunday’s) Nothing happened. Then she placed another book ( the book could be calling everyone to remind them about and activity. Repeat several times….
She actually had about 10 good sized books (you may want to try this at home with your own books to make sure of the weight. None of the eggs cracked. Then she unpiled the books and took out an egg, repiled the books – the weight was still ok. she repeated it until there were only a few eggs left (probably about 3) and I believe the 2nd or 3rd book crushed all of them (and made a big MESS!) (You might want to place a trash bag under your tablecloth.
It was very effective that it takes all the eggs to hold the weight. It takes all the presidency to carry the weight of their callings.
we had an activity at one of our leadership training meetings with the youth that was fun… we had labeled balloons with the responsibilities the girls had… we then invited the class president to come up and try to keep all the balloons up in the air without letting any one of them touch the ground… there was absolutely no way she could do it all… then we invited a counselor… together they did a better job… then another counselor was invited… did even better… then the secretary… all balloons were kept afloat in the air… You really have to have a lot of responsibilities to make this successful… (the class presidencies do have a lot of responsibilities, but we tend to do most of them. 😉 )
Hope there is some kind of activity here you can use… these are not necessarily ones I have used just saved because I thought they would be great to use sometime.