Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy held its Jan. 11 meeting at R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company.
KYLA moderator Tony Ciriello welcomed the students and introduced Human Resource Manager Ann Lash-Branson.
Lash-Branson gave a company overview of R.R. Donnelley and spoke about the responsibilities of the human resource department.
Lash-Branson lead the students through group discussions and activities to learn about the different aspects of leadership.
Some characteristic and traits of an effective leader are: maturity, humility, self-discipline, compassion, poise, flexibility, endurance, confidence, decisiveness and a sense of humor.
Lash-Branson challenged the students to use their experiences from having good and bad leaders to help themselves become better at leadership.
During a group activity, Lash-Branson pointed out that as a leader you have to make decisions that affect other people’s lives. Your value system is typically what initially influences your decision, but you need to consider other views and need to be willing to compromise.
Through another interactive game called Traffic Jam, the students learned the importance of communication and teamwork to be an effective leader.
Ciriello concluded the session by encouraging the students to continue working on their community service projects.
The next session is Wednesday at the Bowen Center where the students will learn about social services of Kosciusko County.
