Soft Leadership

 
 
Every January, myself along with a tremendous committee of caring leaders gets to organize and host the Southern Regional Utah FIRST Lego League Regional Qualifier at Sunrise Ridge Intermediate in Saint George, Utah.

I had such an amazing experience watching these remarkable youth program and build autonomous robots, complete missions on the field tables, give presentations on their innovative inventions, and exhibit teamwork, gracious professionalism, and cooperation.
 
 
It was National 4-H Week October 7-13th and my program in Washington County, Utah really represented! I'm very proud of what we were able to accomplish together so I'm going to brag about it for a moment.
First, I was in Washington D.C with one of my teen leader's accepting an award for his 4-H project he did on technology education. Read about it HERE.
Then I flew home and the very next event on my agenda was Farm Field Days. We had nearly 2000 4th graders come out to a local farm to learn about where their food comes from. Read about it HERE.
Right after that it was National Youth Science Day! We worked on the Eco-Bot Challenge after school for three hours and made science fun.

I love 4-H!
 
 
I am proud to announce that one of Utah's 4-H Robot teams in SLC won one of the top awards given at the Utah FIRST Lego League Championship State Finals!  The team “Lego Bistro” earned themselves the "Innovative Solution Award!"
VOTE HERE

This award is given to the team who comes up with the best idea and presentation on this topic: “Can FIRST® LEGO® League teams improve the quality of food by finding ways to prevent food contamination?”VOTE HERE

Learn more about their project by visiting the Lego Bistro Blog. Lego Bistro has an incredible idea, but we need your help to take them to the next level.  The next step is earning a development grant that will allow them to take their idea to market. Here's the scoop:
  • Lego Bistro is eligible to win big--$250,000 -- through the FLL Global Innovation Award.
  • We are asking you to vote daily to ensure their idea makes it to the top 10 competitors. You can help by voting as often as you can.  I believe the voting continues on into March.
  • The top teams are reviewed by a panel of judges for the final award. We need to get them in a place where the judges will even look at them.  How cool would it be if our Utah 4-H team won this award!
  • Please send this out to everyone you know. Post it on your website, blog Facebook page, on Google+ or in Twitter.  Just get the word out that a Utah 4-H team needs your help.
  • You can vote once for each 24 hour period!
VOTE HERE
 
 
Here's the situation:

You need people to volunteer, to take initiative, to lead. You have responsibilities to be filled.

You call a meeting, you announce what you need and ask for volunteers...I bet your response goes something like this:

How do I know this? I just experienced it! This kind of impersonal invite does not work.

Here's a situation that does work:

Observe the people who you would like to serve in the various capacities you need filed. Who's the best match? Make notes, figure out who your first choice would be along with alternatives.

Call or meet with each person individually. Compliment them on their skills. Tell them why they would do well in the role you need them in. They will respond positively and the likelihood of them accepting your personal invitation is much greater. It takes longer, but you'll get what you want. 

I learned you've go to "Prime the Pump."
 

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