The Seven NOLS Leadership Skills

Not Jim's actual school bus. 

When I'm not directing wilderness courses for Outward Bound, or guiding outdoor trips locally or running teambuilding at a local university's ropes course, I drive a school bus.  I've gotta say, I love it. 

Aside from the awesomeness of driving a huge vehicle, the kids are... always an adventure.  And if they're not, I inject adventure into my work.  So if I'm driving a sports team to another school for a competition, I get on the P/A system and make like an airline pilot.  "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Airlines flight [insert bus number], flying non-stop to [this other school].  My name is Jim and I will be your pilot today." 

Later, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are now beginning our descent into [this other school's] airspace.  The weather at [this other school] is 14 degrees (Celsius -- we're in Canada, remember?) and sunny, a perfect day for a [insert this group's school name] victory!"  And everybody cheers. 

Driving a school bus is humbling.  It's not sexy, it's not a six figure job.  But for a dad who's worked with kids his whole life, it's fun as heck.  It's also fertile ground for an essential NOLS leadership skill: tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity.  More on that later.  

In the 4/7/1 NOLS Leadership model, there is one signature style (your own brand of personal awesomeness), four roles (see my last post), and seven essential leadership skills:

They include: 

1. Expedition behaviour -- how you behave on course (or at work, or...) 
2. Competence -- you can always develop more competence 
3. Communications skills -- verbal, non-verbal, written, you name it 
4. Judgment and decision making -- when it's time to pull the trigger 
5. Tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity -- can you shine when the lights go out?  
6. Self-awareness -- know thyself 
7. Vision and Action -- putting feet on your dreams 

By design, the skills are interdependent, they feed off each other, and they build upon one another.  Synergism.  

Next:  Up close and personal: the first of the seven skills.

Note: This is the third in an occasional series on leadership, drawing from the NOLS Leadership Education Notebook. The National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) is a non-profit outdoor education school based in the United States dedicated to teaching environmental ethics, technical outdoors skills, wilderness medicine, risk management and judgment, and leadership on extended wilderness expeditions and in traditional classrooms.