Tool

Leadership Lesson Plan

VET Compass

Lesson Plan: Leadership and Initiative

Skill 9 | Transversal Skills Toolbox

Lesson overview

Lesson title	Who Is Leading This? A Leadership and Initiative Workshop	Skill focus	Skill 9: Leadership and Initiative
Target group	VET teachers, trainers, and staff	Level	All VET levels
Duration	90 minutes	Group size	12 to 20 participants
Delivery mode	Face-to-face (adaptable to online with breakout rooms)	Materials needed	Printed scenario cards, flipchart or whiteboard, sticky notes, pens, initiative self-assessment sheet (one per participant)

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

Identify the behaviours and habits that distinguish a person who takes initiative from one who waits to be directed
Practise making an independent decision and taking ownership of an outcome within a structured group scenario
Reflect on their own current approach to leadership and identify one specific behaviour they will develop in their vocational context
Support a peer in taking on a leadership role through active encouragement and constructive feedback

Session plan

Time	Stage	Trainer activity	Learner activity	Resources
0-10 min	Introduction and framing	Welcome participants and introduce the session theme. Ask the group: Think of someone you have worked with who took real initiative. What did they actually do? Collect two or three quick responses and note them on the flipchart. Briefly introduce Skill 9 and explain that this session will be about practising initiative rather than just discussing it.	Reflect individually on the opening question. Share a short example with the group. Listen to the session overview and outcomes.	Flipchart or whiteboard
10-20 min	Short input: What does initiative look like in VET?	Deliver a ten-minute focused input covering: The difference between waiting for permission and acting with confidence within your role How leadership in VET is less about status and more about taking responsibility for improvement Three common barriers to initiative in vocational settings: habit, fear of getting it wrong, and unclear ownership Use brief examples drawn from construction, health and care, hospitality, and other vocational sectors to ground the input in real contexts.	Listen and note any examples that resonate with their own experience. Ask clarifying questions.	Trainer slides or notes (optional)
20-55 min	Scenario activity: The Initiative Challenge	Divide participants into groups of three or four. Give each group one scenario card describing a realistic vocational situation where a problem or opportunity has arisen and no one has been told what to do. Examples: A trainer is absent and a session needs to begin. No cover has been arranged. A learner notices the workshop is running low on a key material with three days of practical sessions remaining. A new piece of equipment has arrived but no one has been trained to use it yet and a deadline is approaching. Instruct each group to read the scenario and decide: Who takes the lead? What is the first action? What would you actually say or do? Groups must commit to a specific course of action, not a general plan. After fifteen minutes, each group presents their decision to the room. Trainer facilitates a brief debrief after each: What made this an act of initiative? What would have happened if no one had acted?	Read the scenario card as a group. Discuss and agree on who leads and what the first action is. Commit to a specific decision and prepare to present it. Present the group decision and respond to debrief questions. Listen to and discuss other groups’ approaches.	Printed scenario cards (one per group, three to four scenarios prepared in advance)
55-75 min	Individual reflection and self-assessment	Distribute the initiative self-assessment sheet. Ask participants to work individually and silently for ten minutes. The sheet asks: When did you last take initiative at work without being asked? What happened? What is one situation in your current role where you could take more ownership? What is one thing that stops you from acting when you could lead? What is one specific action you will take in the next two weeks? After individual reflection, invite two or three volunteers to share their action commitment with the group.	Complete the self-assessment sheet individually. Identify one concrete action to take within two weeks. Share commitment with the group if comfortable to do so.	Initiative self-assessment sheet (one per participant, printed in advance)
75-90 min	Closing and commitment	Bring the group back together. Ask each participant to write their two-week action commitment on a sticky note and place it on the flipchart under the heading: I will take the lead on… Close the session by returning to the examples collected at the start. Ask: Would the people you described at the beginning have recognised any of the scenarios we worked through today? What made their initiative stand out? Encourage participants to share their commitments with a colleague for accountability.	Write action commitment on a sticky note and add it to the group board. Reflect on the opening examples in light of the session. Identify a colleague with whom to share their commitment.	Sticky notes, pens, flipchart

Trainer notes

Preparation

Prepare four to five scenario cards in advance, drawing situations from the vocational sectors represented in your learner group. The more familiar the context, the more useful the discussion.
Print the initiative self-assessment sheet one per participant. This becomes a personal record they can refer back to after the session.

Facilitation tips

During the scenario activity, resist the urge to guide groups toward a particular answer. The quality of the discussion matters more than the decision itself.
If a group is slow to commit to a decision, prompt with: You have two minutes. What are you going to do? This recreates the realistic pressure of workplace leadership.
The debrief after each group presentation is the most important part of the activity. Focus on: What made this initiative? What would passivity have looked like instead?

Differentiation and adaptation

For less confident groups, allow pairs rather than individuals to complete the self-assessment before sharing.
For online delivery, use breakout rooms for the scenario activity and a shared digital board such as Miro or Jamboard for the sticky note commitment wall.
The session can be shortened to sixty minutes by combining the input and scenario stages and removing the group presentation element, asking groups to share one key insight instead.

Assessment and follow-up

Formative assessment	Observation of group decision-making during the scenario activity Quality and specificity of action commitments on the sticky note wall Voluntary sharing during the reflection stage
Follow-up suggestion	At a subsequent session two to three weeks later, invite participants to report back on their action commitment: Did they follow through? What happened? What got in the way? The initiative self-assessment sheet can be revisited at the follow-up session to track any shift in confidence or approach.
Link to VET Compass resources	This lesson plan is designed to be used alongside the Skill 9 case studies and tool templates in the VET Compass Toolbox Library.