30-Minute Activity Plan: Mini Leader Challenge

Leadership isn’t always about standing at the front and giving instructions.

Good leaders need to listen, communicate clearly, make decisions and help other people succeed. The Mini Leader Challenge gives Scouts a chance to experience these skills through a series of short, simple leadership tasks.

The activity is designed so that different Scouts get an opportunity to lead. It can be adapted for different ages and confidence levels, making it suitable for Cubs and Scouts and, with simpler tasks, older Beavers.

Before You Start

Prepare several short tasks that can be completed in a few minutes.

The tasks don’t need to be complicated. The challenge comes from giving one Scout responsibility for organising the team.

Suitable examples include:

Choose activities that don’t require specialist skills.

Explain that the leader of each task isn’t necessarily the person who knows the answer. Their job is to help the team work together.

0–5 Minutes: What Makes a Good Leader?

Start by asking the Scouts:

“What makes someone a good leader?”

Take a few suggestions.

You might hear answers such as being confident, being organised or being good at giving instructions.

Then ask:

“Does a good leader always have to be the loudest person?”

Use the discussion to introduce some less obvious leadership skills, such as listening, encouraging others, asking for ideas and knowing when to change approach.

Explain that everyone will have a chance to lead during today’s activity.

5–15 Minutes: Your First Leadership Task

Divide the Scouts into small teams.

Give each team a simple practical challenge.

Choose one Scout in each team to be the leader.

The leader is responsible for organising the task, but they don’t have to do all the work themselves.

For example, the team might have to use a rope to create a particular shape.

The leader can give instructions, ask teammates for suggestions and decide how the group will approach the challenge.

After a few minutes, stop the activity and change the leader.

Give the team another task.

This allows several Scouts to experience the difference between leading and participating.

15–25 Minutes: The Leadership Swap

Now make the challenges slightly harder.

Give each team a task that requires several decisions.

For example:

“Your team has five objects and needs to move them from one side of the activity area to the other without carrying them directly.”

Choose a new leader.

This time, add a rule that the leader must ask at least two teammates for ideas before deciding how to begin.

After a few minutes, change the leader again.

Encourage each new leader to use their own approach.

Some may give clear instructions. Others may ask the team to work things out together.

Neither approach is automatically better.

The important thing is whether the team understands what it is trying to achieve and whether everyone has an opportunity to contribute.

25–30 Minutes: Leadership Review

Bring everyone together.

Ask the Scouts:

“What was easy about being the leader?”

“What was difficult?”

“Did you prefer giving instructions or listening to ideas?”

“What did your teammates do that made your job easier?”

Discuss how different leadership styles can work in different situations.

A leader may need to be decisive when time is short, but at other times listening to the group may produce a better solution.

Finish by asking each Scout to name one quality they think a good leader should have.

Safety

Choose tasks that can be completed safely without climbing, lifting people or handling hazardous equipment.

Keep the activity area clear of obstacles and make sure Scouts aren’t running into one another.

If using ropes, cones or other equipment, check them beforehand and ensure they don’t create trip hazards.

Make it clear that being the leader doesn’t mean having authority to ignore safety rules.

The adult leader remains responsible for the activity and can stop a task at any time.

Leader Notes

Try to give every Scout an opportunity to lead, including quieter members of the group.

Avoid automatically selecting the most confident Scout to lead first. A quieter Scout may demonstrate excellent leadership when given the opportunity.

Don’t judge leadership solely by whether the task succeeds.

Watch for Scouts who encourage others, listen carefully, notice when someone is struggling or change their plan when something isn’t working.

For Beavers, keep leadership tasks very short and give plenty of support.

For Cubs, encourage them to give clear instructions and listen to teammates.

For Scouts, make the challenges more open-ended and allow them to develop their own leadership style.

You can also use this activity as preparation for longer patrol-based activities where Scouts will have genuine responsibility for organising a task.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the activity, Scouts should have had the opportunity to develop:

Final Thought for Leaders

Leadership isn’t something that only belongs to the most confident person in the room.

Sometimes the best leader is the person who notices that somebody hasn’t been heard, asks for another idea or recognises that the original plan isn’t working.

Giving Scouts small opportunities to lead allows them to experiment in a safe environment. They can discover what works, make mistakes and try again — all while learning that leadership is as much about helping a team succeed as it is about being in charge.