USING A MEANING-CENTRED LEADERSHIP MODEL TO IGNITE A FIELD OF INSPIRED CONNECTIONS IN YOUTH LEADERS

Abstract

This paper investigated whether teaching student leaders about the Meaning- Centred Leadership Model results in a significant improvement in their leadership potentials. The participants were two groups of student leaders (N=18) from a satellite campus of a university of technology in South Africa. The paper utilised both quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data was collected using Purpose in Life Test (PIL) and Youth Leadership Test (YLT). In addition, qualitative data was collected on the participants’ subjective experience of development in leadership potential. A non-equivalent control group design was employed. A ‘repeated measures’ t-test was used. The qualitative data was analysed by means of themes. The findings from this paper indicate that a meaning-centred leadership model can be used to inspire young people in their leadership development. The levels of meaning of student leaders in the experimental group were significantly better after the intervention than before. In addition, there was a significant increase in the leadership aptitude of student leaders in the experimental group after the meaning-centred leadership model. Notable differences were also observed between the two groups, in the sense that the Purpose in Life and Youth Leadership Test scores of participants in the experimental group was significantly better after the intervention than before. The findings indicate that it is possible to inspire youth leaders in their leadership development for meaning by means of a meaning-centred leadership model, and that this helps in their transformational self-knowledge.