The leadership skills demonstrated in different aspects since the school days; Question of Chevening

Chevening is looking for individuals that will be future leaders or influencers in their home countries. Explain how you meet this requirement, using clear examples of your own leadership and influencing skills to support your answer.

I have demonstrated leadership skill since my schooldays in different aspects. As a class president during my schooldays I used to be the 'voice' of 50 students of the class. I was chosen as a leader by my fellow classmates because of my versatility. I was a debater, 27th International Letter Writing Competition Runner up (national level); I was one of the editors of School Magazine and active organizer of different cultural festival in the school. I was also elected 'Officer' for the science club of our college and organized inter college science fair. During my university days I used to lead the group of 5 fellow students for all the assignments and projects. These activities and responsibilities shaped my personality in a way that later I found myself highly competent for leadership role in my professional life also.

I lead a research project called 'BRAC Financial Diaries Project" for more than a year. This is the largest diary project ever led by an NGO. As the project lead, my first task was to form a team. I selected 17 people for my team. 11 of them as enumerator and 5 as the supervisors of the enumerators who are reportable to me. It was the biggest challenge for me because I had to choose my team from a group of people who had no prior idea of research. I built the relationship of trust and loyalty with all my team members. I always let them express their thoughts and feelings to make them feel that they are empowered. I designed and facilitated rigorous training on the financial diaries research method, data collection tools and techniques, research ethics and effective communication to make them proficient. Then the project was inaugurated in five districts across the country covering 400 respondents of different social tiers. I monitored the progress of the project by making on sight visits and kept the respondents and my team members motivated for the research interviews for a whole year. When I found that respondents faced difficulties in retrieving data, I developed a pictorial diary for the respondents to help them record all the transactions they had every day. This instrument was much appreciated among the respondents that it was handy for not only record keeping rather it was designed in a way that the respondents were able to find the trend of their income and expenditures. The success of this project has opened up the avenue for conducting the research in a global context. A 3 country financial diaries on RMG workers is going to be started very soon with the funding from C&A Foundation. I have been selected to lead that project as well for my excellent performance.

I believe leadership cannot be delegated. It is an instinct that drives one towards success by taking the charge of a situation. I am that kind of person who takes initiative and be in charge of a situation to make the most of it.

Waliza, if you would just remove the reference to your leadership abilities during your school days, along with the accomplishments that you had which were not really based upon leadership, the essay will be more direct to the point. The best example of your leadership skill for this essay will be the the work you did with the "BRAC Financial Diaries Project". Opening the essay with that paragraph will definitely show that you have current, profession related leadership skills. Bringing the reviewer's attention to that accomplishment immediately will have a stronger impact than telling him you were class president. Remember, when you are applying for a masters degree scholarship with an important world wide institution, it is always best to use your strongest selling point at the very start .

You need to further discuss your participation in this project in order to highlight your leadership skills. Try to give some more information about the situations that called upon your leadership abilities. I noticed that your story includes some conflict regarding the problems the researchers faced and also, the methodology by which the research was supposed to be done. The solution to all of those fell upon your shoulders as the leader of the group. So discuss how you addressed and resolved the situation in detail. It is not enough to just mention it, we need to see how your leadership skills grew out of the situation.

There is a part in your essay where you say that another project of the same kind of being placed under your leadership because of the way that you handled this particular assignment. As such, I expect that you received some sort of accolades or awards pertaining to leadership. If you did, kindly mention it in the essay as that will be one very strong point that will drive home your leadership abilities in the eyes of the reviewer.

As a leadership essay, your work only requires some minor adjustments. Your work as a leader is notable and thus, makes this a very interesting essay to read. Good luck!

This is a nice write up. I guess it's a little more better now than your first write up on your leadership skill. In short, it is a STAR(SITUATION/TASK, APPROACH AND RESULT) analysis of your leadership experience.