Leadership and advocacy
The Leadership and advocacy series includes six videos where members of parliament and young advocates discuss their leadership journeys, what motivates them and what they've learnt so far.
Video 1, Meet Victorian MPs and young leaders, introduces you to the five members of parliament and the two young advocates that were interviewed for the series, and provides some background as to what their leadership journey has been so far.
In video 2, Advocating for your community, the MPs and young people answer such questions as why advocating for the community is so important, how they go about advocating for their communities, and how they represent a diverse range of voices.
Video 3, Leadership is about listening and taking action, everyone reflects on the importance of leading by example, advocacy and making decisions and judgements about what is important.
Throughout video 4, How to manage conflict, everyone discusses the importance of engaging with a diverse range of people whose views may not align, how to manage these conflicting views, and ultimately, how to make decisions about how to represent those views.
Video 5, Advice for aspiring leaders, provides not only advice for everyone on their own leadership journey, but some strategies on how to get started and take action.
In the final video, The leadership journey, MPs and the young advocates reflect on their leadership journeys and what they have learnt along the way.
Meet Victorian MPs and young leaders
Discussion questions
- What does the backgrounds of the people interviewed tell you about the skills and experiences that are needed to be a leader and advocate?
- How do the experiences of members of parliament contrast (or not) with the young leaders?
Advocating for your community
Discussion questions
- How do people advocate for thier community/communities?
- Why might it be important for people to advocate on other people's behalf?
- What actions might you take to advocate on behalf of your community?
- What might be some of the challenges of advocating for larger communities? Consider geographic area as well as diverse demographics.
- How might the size of the community change the actions you take or the way you advocate for change?
Leadership is about listening and taking action
Discussion questions
- What does it mean to 'lead by example'?
- How do leaders balance different viewpoints and make decisions about what is important?
- What are some of the examples of action that leaders take?
- Are some actions better than others or does it depend on the issue and/or the leader?
How to manage conflict
Discussion questions
- Why is it important to engage with a range of people across your communities?
- How might you better manage the different perspectives and viewpoints of people in your community?
- What strategies might you find useful to help manage conflict?
- What does effective communication look like? What makes it effective?
Advice for aspiring leaders
Discussion questions
- What do you think were the best pieces of advice? Why?
- How might you implement, take-on, or action that advice?
- What are some of the biggest barriers young people/leaders face? How might young people/leaders overcome those barriers?
- If you had to provide your own advice to young leaders, what would it be?
The leadership journey
Discussion questions
- Each MP and young person has had a very different leadership journey. Which of their lessons do you find most interesting or inspiring? Why?
- What inspires and motivates you?
- What actions would you like to take to make a difference across your community/communities?