The Leadership Segment of a Martial Arts Class Should Take Three Minutes, Not Twenty
Short answer: The leadership part of a martial arts class works best as a short huddle in which the students do most of the talking, usually a few minutes inside a 10- to 15-minute segment that is otherwise exciting martial arts training. Long lectures, worksheets and team-building games pull students off the mat, raise your dropout rate and complicate your operations. Students should come for an exciting martial arts class that also builds leaders, not a classroom with a little martial arts at the end.
Two ways instructors get this wrong
In my schools, instructors teaching the leadership curriculum tended to fall to one end of the spectrum or the other.
- The reluctant speaker. They hate standing up to give a little talk on teamwork, so they are bad at it, and the students can tell.
- The orator. They see the leadership segment as their chance to become a great public speaker, and they put the whole class to sleep for 20 minutes.
I do not want either one. Both make the instructor the center of the leadership lesson, when the point is for the students to lead.
What a good leadership segment looks like
We use a leadership workbook built on John Maxwell’s material, one chapter at a time. A typical segment runs like this:
- Train first. The leadership students work special curriculum that the rest of the school does not, such as weapons or an advanced drill. It should be the most fun part of their week.
- Huddle. Everyone comes in close. One student, let’s call him Billy, presents today’s chapter in about three minutes.
- Students share. Others give an example of how they used the idea at school or at home. The students contribute more than the instructor does.
- Back to training. The rest of the time is spent on the special curriculum.
The whole leadership discussion takes a few minutes. Students leave having practiced the skill that matters most for a future leader, which is speaking in front of a group, instead of having listened to an adult do it.
Why board games and build projects do not belong on the mat
Some schools turn leadership time into team-building exercises: everyone gets materials and builds something together, or plays a board game about cooperation. I understand the appeal. My son and daughter competed in Destination Imagination, the program that grew out of Odyssey of the Mind, where teams get a pile of materials and a few minutes to build a bridge that spans a gap. It is excellent. But that was an engineering and creativity program that children signed up for on purpose. It was not a martial arts class.
When you put that kind of activity into a martial arts class, three things happen:
- Students who came to train sit still for longer, and students who are bored quit.
- Every class needs supplies, setup and cleanup, which complicates operations.
- Instructors spend their preparation time on props instead of on teaching martial arts well.
In my experience, the more complicated the leadership component becomes, the higher the dropout rate climbs.
A note on the “overlap” schedule
Some schools run their leadership segment as an overlap: two classes butt up against each other, the leadership students stay for an extra 15 or 20 minutes, and everyone else is dismissed. It can make the schedule easier for instructors, because they do not have to staff a separate leadership class.
Be honest about what it is. If 90% of your students are in the leadership program anyway, that overlap is not a separate leadership class. It is the whole class with a few students dismissed early, and its main value is as a visible reason for the remaining students to join. That is fine, as long as the segment stays short, active and student-led. It also takes time out of the schedule that you may need for enrollment and renewal conferences, so weigh it against those.
A simple standard for your instructors
| Do | Don’t |
|---|---|
| Keep the discussion to a few minutes | Give a 15- to 20-minute talk |
| Have a student present the lesson | Make the instructor the speaker |
| Ask students for real examples from school and home | Hand out worksheets to fill in on the mat |
| Spend most of the segment on exciting special curriculum | Replace training time with games or build projects |
Frequently asked questions
How long should the leadership portion of a martial arts class be?
Keep the discussion itself to a few minutes, typically one student presenting for about three minutes and a short group discussion, inside a 10- to 15-minute segment that is mostly special martial arts training.
Who should lead the leadership discussion?
The students. Assign one student to present the lesson and ask others to share examples. The instructor facilitates rather than lectures.
Should martial arts schools use team-building games to teach leadership?
Not on the mat. Games and build projects take students off the floor, add supplies and setup, and in Stephen Oliver’s experience increase dropouts. Teach leadership through short student-led huddles and through students helping teach class.
What curriculum can a school use for leadership lessons?
Many schools use a published leadership book or workbook one chapter at a time. Stephen Oliver’s schools use material built on John Maxwell’s leadership books.
Grand Master Stephen Oliver is Publisher of Martial Arts Professional and Founder and CEO of Mile High Karate and Martial Arts Wealth Mastery.
