York Leaders

Discover and develop your leadership skills.

York Leaders is about advancing your understanding of what it means to be a leader, while exploring and developing your own leadership skills.

Who can be a leader?

You might not see yourself as a leader (yet), you might already have a wealth of previous leadership experience, or you might be anywhere in between.

No matter what your starting point, leadership development is about understanding your existing leadership capabilities, and identifying opportunities to develop them further by seeking out experiences where you can hone those and reflect on your growth.

How can I develop my leadership skills?

The York Leaders programme will not be running this academic year 2025/26, but you can use the drop-down menus to explore some useful resources to support your leadership development:

Better understand what leadership actually is and what it requires

A key model of leadership that we encourage you to explore is the Social Change Model of values-led leadership. You can also watch this video explaining the core components of the Social Change Model.

This model emphasises how involvement in student led activities supports the development of leadership capabilities, and how we can all lead from any position.

How far does the model align with your view of leadership? What preconceptions does it reinforce or challenge?

Discover how your personal strengths can unlock your leadership capabilities, whatever your existing experience

Knowing your skills and strengths is a key aspect of self-awareness when it comes to being a leader, as it helps you to understand what you bring to the table and how you can leverage that to lead positive change. You can make use of the York Strengths Professional Skills Discovery to discover and reflect on your strengths and skills.

Put your existing leadership skills to the test in a new context, working alongside students from different backgrounds and academic disciplines.

There are numerous options to engage in leadership at the University, whether that's taking on a role in your college , joining the committee for a society or sports team, or applying to be an academic rep for your course, department or faculty, just to name a few!

Knowing what opportunities might suit you can be quite daunting, but you won't know unless you try, so think about aspects of student life where you’d like to make a difference, or where your passions lie, and let that guide you.

Develop your approach to leadership and receive feedback along the way

It's important to make the most of development opportunities by reflecting on the skills, knowledge and experience you've gained, and actively seeking feedback along the way.

You can use this Reflective Practice Skills Guide to support you to make the most of your experiences, whether that's in a group project for your course, at a part-time job or on a student committee. This will also help you in effectively evidencing your skills with employers and in job applications.

York Leaders Events

From time to time, we run an in-person York Leaders event. This unique programme offers the opportunity to explore different perspectives on leadership, take part in a series of interactive group challenges, and test your leadership capabilities under the guidance of professional facilitators.

These events will be advertised when they are available, and this page will be updated with specific event details for any scheduled sessions.