My Leadership in Action (LiA) project at Bali Baby Home began with a clear intention: to use science-informed approaches to support the development and wellbeing of young children through structured activities and health education. Before travelling to Bali, I had planned a series of interventions, including art workshops and basic health and hygiene sessions. I arrived with a strong sense of what I hoped to contribute and a clear set of SMART goals to guide my work. However, one of the most important lessons of my LiA was that effective leadership does not begin with assuming that I know what a community needs. It begins with listening, observing and understanding the environment before deciding how best to contribute.
On arrival, I quickly realised that some of the needs I had anticipated were already being addressed. For example, I had originally planned to provide basic hygiene education, but I observed that the children were already familiar with hand hygiene and routinely washed their hands with soap and water after playing outside. Delivering a session simply because it appeared in my original plan would have added little value.
Instead, I chose to adapt.
This was one of my earliest and most important leadership decisions. I began to spend more time observing the children, their routines and their interactions with volunteers. I wanted to understand not only what was missing, but also what was already working well and where a relatively small change could make a meaningful difference. Through this process, I became increasingly interested in the quality of everyday interactions between volunteers and children. The children had access to adults who cared for them, but the experience of volunteering could vary considerably depending on the individual volunteer, the child's personality and the amount of time available. I began to explore how ordinary interactions—talking, playing, reading, singing, exploring and simply being present—could be made more intentional and supportive of children's development.
This shifted the emphasis of my project. Rather than focusing primarily on providing activities, I began to focus on improving the quality of the interactions surrounding them. This became a central principle of my LiA: meaningful volunteering is not necessarily about doing more; it is about understanding what is most useful and doing it well. My original project was structured around SMART goals that gave me clear opportunities to practise leadership, reflection and the Laidlaw capacities and Change Maker Values. My first goal was to design and deliver three structured, art-based workshops within the first two weeks, aiming for at least 80% participation while encouraging creativity and emotional expression. My second was to work with the home's staff to introduce basic health and hygiene education by the end of my placement, adapting activities according to the children's existing needs and routines. These goals provided a useful starting point, but the placement taught me that SMART goals should provide direction rather than prevent adaptation. The reality of working within an unfamiliar community meant that I needed to remain responsive to what I was observing.
I ultimately chose not to proceed with the planned hygiene sessions because basic hygiene practices were already established. Similarly, I decided not to pursue the art workshops in the form I had originally imagined. I noticed that the children were particularly enthusiastic about being outdoors and exploring their surroundings. This prompted me to think more deeply about what opportunities were available to them outside their usual routines.
The children spent much of their time at nursery, and opportunities to explore different environments were relatively limited. Volunteers were often assigned to individual children, meaning that not every child necessarily had the opportunity to go outside each day. Although I recognised this as an area that could potentially benefit the children, there were logistical constraints and organisational preferences that meant it was not something I could realistically change during my placement. Rather than becoming frustrated by what I could not control, I focused on what I could influence. This became one of my clearest lessons in leadership. Good leadership is not rigidly following a plan; it is having enough confidence in the purpose behind the plan to change the method when circumstances require it. The underlying aim of my goals was always to support children's development and wellbeing. When a particular intervention was no longer the most appropriate way of achieving that aim, adapting was not a failure of the project. It was part of the leadership process.
As I spent more time at Bali Baby Home, I became increasingly aware of differences between the children in their communication, confidence, interests and ways of engaging with adults. One observation particularly influenced my approach. The more vocal and outgoing children often appeared to receive more spontaneous interaction from volunteers. They were more likely to approach adults, initiate games or communicate what they wanted. As a result, they were naturally easier to engage. Quieter children presented a different challenge. Their lower level of spontaneous interaction did not necessarily indicate less interest in communicating or connecting. In some cases, it simply meant that the adult needed to take greater responsibility for initiating and sustaining interaction. This changed the way I thought about equitable engagement.
I began to recognise that giving every child access to a volunteer does not automatically mean that every child receives the same developmental opportunity. If adults naturally gravitate towards children who are easiest to engage, quieter children may receive less sustained interaction unless volunteers deliberately make space for them. This led to one of the most important insights of my project: equitable engagement sometimes requires individualisation rather than treating every child identically.
Instead of asking, “What activity should we do with the children?”, I began asking, “What could this particular interaction offer this child?” For one child, this might involve encouraging language through conversation. For another, it might mean allowing them to explore independently while remaining close by. For another, it could simply mean sitting alongside them, following their interests and giving them time to initiate interaction at their own pace. I began to see development less as something delivered through formal activities and more as something supported through repeated, responsive interactions. This was an important personal shift. I became less concerned with how many activities I could complete and more concerned with the quality of the time I spent with each child.
The most substantial output of my LiA was a comprehensive guide for volunteers working with children aged approximately one to three years. I developed the resource from scratch, drawing on child-development principles and translating them into practical guidance that could be understood and used by volunteers with varying levels of experience. The guide begins with a simple principle: the most valuable contribution a volunteer can make is not necessarily an expensive toy or a complicated activity, but a warm, responsive adult who notices the child, listens to them and engages meaningfully with them.
It introduces volunteers to key areas of early development, including:
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language and communication;
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social and emotional development;
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physical development;
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cognition and problem-solving;
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confidence and independence.
Importantly, the guide explains that developmental milestones should not be treated as rigid tests or measures of a child's worth. Children develop at different rates, and developmental knowledge should help volunteers understand how to support children rather than judge them. I also included practical strategies informed by concepts such as responsive “serve-and-return” interaction, language exposure, emotional co-regulation, following children's interests and encouraging age-appropriate autonomy. For example, rather than simply acknowledging an object when a child points towards it, volunteers can extend the interaction by describing what the child has found. Similarly, rather than immediately trying to stop a distressed child, volunteers can remain calm, acknowledge their emotions and maintain appropriate boundaries while helping them regulate.
The guide also provides practical advice on getting down to a child's level, putting phones away and being fully present, following children's interests, reading, singing, sensory play, blocks and puzzles, movement, pretend play, turn-taking, supporting language development, responding to distress and encouraging safe independence. Creating the guide required me to translate theoretical knowledge into language that a new volunteer could immediately understand and apply. I realised that simply providing volunteers with academic information would not necessarily change behaviour. For the resource to be useful, developmental principles needed to be connected to realistic situations and concrete examples.
I also used the guide myself throughout my placement. It encouraged me to become more intentional in my own interactions and helped me recognise opportunities that I might otherwise have overlooked. A simple conversation, a shared book or a child choosing between two activities could become an opportunity to support communication, autonomy or connection.
The guide will also be shared with future volunteers. This means that its potential impact extends beyond my own month at Bali Baby Home and provides a form of continuity between volunteers who may otherwise arrive with very different experiences and approaches.
Alongside the volunteer guide, I created a set of activity cards designed to help volunteers select activities according to children's ages and developmental needs. This arose from another observation during my placement: an activity that is appropriate and engaging for one child may not be appropriate for another. Rather than providing a universal list of activities, I wanted to encourage volunteers to think about the developmental purpose behind play and to adapt activities according to the individual child. The cards include activities such as drawing, blocks, puzzles, singing, movement, sensory play, reading and pretend play. Although these activities may appear simple, they can provide opportunities to develop fine and gross motor skills, communication, problem-solving, imagination, attention and social interaction. Creating these resources changed the way I understood play. I began to see that the goal is not to make every minute structured or educational. Instead, it is to become better at recognising the developmental opportunities already present within ordinary play. A child building with blocks does not need an adult to turn the experience into a formal lesson. The volunteer can support development simply by joining their play, asking questions, introducing language, encouraging problem-solving or allowing the child to lead. This was particularly relevant in a residential care environment, where volunteers may have limited time with individual children and where continuity can be difficult. Providing future volunteers with a shared framework can help reduce the risk of every new volunteer starting from zero.
My LiA also taught me that leadership does not always involve large or ambitious interventions. Some of the most useful changes I made were small responses to problems I noticed in everyday life. One example was the organisation of the children's shoes. I noticed that shoes were not organised effectively and that some children were wearing inappropriate sizes. This made taking children outside more difficult and could also be uncomfortable for them. I purchased a shoe rack and reorganised the shoes according to size. I also identified that some of the younger children did not have suitably sized footwear and purchased additional shoes where they were needed. This was a relatively simple intervention, but it reflected a principle that became increasingly important throughout my placement: before introducing something new, look carefully at what is already happening and identify the practical barrier that is limiting what is possible. I also noticed how much the children enjoyed playing with water around the wash basin. Given the warm climate and their enthusiasm for sensory exploration, I encouraged those responsible for the home to consider providing a water-play table as a safer and more structured opportunity for water play. Similarly, I arranged for sunscreen to be supplied and discussions on the importance of sun protection to be had with the babysitters. None of these interventions formed part of an elaborate programme. They emerged from paying attention to ordinary routines and asking whether there was a simple way to make the children's environment more comfortable, safe or supportive. This reinforced my understanding that effective service does not always need to be dramatic to be valuable.
An important principle throughout my project was that my role was to strengthen existing care structures rather than replace them. The staff at Bali Baby Home knew the children, their routines and their environment in ways that I could not immediately understand as a visiting volunteer. I therefore had to learn to balance initiative with humility. I could identify an opportunity and suggest a solution, but that did not mean that I automatically knew what was best. This strengthened my understanding of community-based leadership. A successful intervention is not necessarily the one that allows the volunteer to demonstrate the most knowledge. It is the one that addresses a genuine need while respecting the knowledge, experience and preferences of the people already responsible for the community. This principle influenced my decision not to deliver unnecessary hygiene education. It also shaped how I approached the environmental changes and volunteer resources I introduced. I wanted the work to complement the existing care provided by staff rather than suggest that their existing practices were inadequate.
My LiA formed part of a wider six-week experience in Indonesia, during which I had the opportunity to engage with cultures and practices beyond the immediate environment of Bali Baby Home. I travelled to different parts of Indonesia, including Jakarta and Java, and observed how everyday life and cultural practices varied between regions. In Bali, I also immersed myself respectfully in local religious and cultural traditions. I visited temples, participated in rituals and learned more about the beliefs and history that shape daily life. I also learned about Bali's history and cultural identity and had the opportunity to experience practices such as Tri Sandhya. These experiences changed how I understood cultural competence. Before the placement, I understood cultural awareness largely as recognising that different cultures have different traditions. During my time in Indonesia, I began to understand that cultural competence is more active. It involves observing carefully, asking questions, participating respectfully and being willing to recognise that my own assumptions are not universal.
This was directly relevant to my work at Bali Baby Home. Supporting children's development cannot be separated entirely from the social and cultural environment in which they grow. I therefore became more conscious of the importance of learning from the community rather than simply arriving with a set of ideas that I believed should be implemented. For me, cultural humility became an important part of leadership. Confidence does not mean assuming that I know best. Sometimes, confidence means being willing to listen, admit that I do not yet understand something and change my approach.
The LiA provided a different form of leadership from the leadership I have experienced in academic environments. I had no formal authority over the children, staff or other volunteers. My influence instead came from identifying opportunities, building relationships, communicating ideas and demonstrating their value through action. Over the course of the project, I developed a cycle that increasingly guided my approach: Observe → Identify → Research → Design → Implement → Reflect → Adapt.
I used this process repeatedly.
I observed that hygiene education was not a priority and adapted my original plan. I noticed differences in how children engaged with volunteers and developed a more individualised approach. I identified problems with shoe organisation and created a practical solution. I observed the children's interest in water play and encouraged consideration of a safer resource. I recognised the need for greater consistency between volunteers and created a developmentally informed guide and activity cards. This process strengthened my problem-solving, communication and leadership capacities because I was no longer waiting for someone else to identify what needed to happen. At the same time, I learned that taking ownership does not mean acting independently of others. It means identifying what is within my responsibility, consulting appropriately and following through.
The project was not without challenges. Perhaps the most significant was that the reality of the placement did not perfectly match the assumptions of my original proposal. Initially, this could have felt like a problem. I had set goals and wanted to achieve them. However, I gradually learned to distinguish between completion and impact. Completing a hygiene session would have allowed me to say that I had fulfilled my original plan. But if the children already had established hygiene practices, the session would have had limited value. Choosing not to deliver it and redirecting my effort towards more relevant areas represented a more meaningful form of service. I also had to adapt to differences between individual children. A strategy that worked naturally with an outgoing child did not necessarily work with a quieter one. This required patience and challenged me to avoid interpreting a lack of immediate engagement as failure. Instead, I learned to adjust my communication, give children more time and consider what each individual child might need from me. The limited organisational structure of some aspects of the home also required me to become proactive. I learned to distinguish between problems that I could realistically address and those that were beyond my role or the time available to me. Finally, working in a different cultural environment required humility. I had to become comfortable with not immediately understanding everything around me. Rather than seeing uncertainty as something to overcome quickly, I began to see it as an opportunity to listen and learn. These challenges ultimately strengthened my character. They taught me that leadership is not about always having the answer. It is about being willing to ask better questions.
The direct impact of my LiA was local, focused on the children and care environment at Bali Baby Home. However, I believe the project's greatest potential for sustainability lies in strengthening existing volunteer practice. A volunteer's time at the home is temporary. The resources I created have the potential to remain after an individual volunteer leaves. The volunteer guide provides future volunteers with a shared understanding of child development and practical strategies for responsive interaction. The activity cards provide ideas that can be adapted to different ages, interests and developmental needs. The environmental changes I made similarly addressed recurring practical needs rather than providing a one-off experience. For me, this represents an important principle of sustainable service: the aim should not be to make the community dependent on the individual volunteer, but to leave behind something useful that can continue within existing structures. The project therefore contributed most strongly to social and organisational sustainability, with a smaller practical economic dimension through targeted purchases that addressed specific needs without requiring significant changes to the organisation's infrastructure.
Perhaps the greatest outcome of my LiA was the change in how I understand leadership. At the beginning, I associated leadership partly with having a clear plan and successfully executing it. By the end, I understood leadership as being able to recognise when the plan is no longer the best response to reality. I became more comfortable with uncertainty. I learned that I could enter an unfamiliar environment, observe carefully, identify problems, research possible solutions and take action without waiting to be told exactly what to do. I also became more aware of the difference between being helpful and being useful. Being helpful can mean doing something immediately because it feels positive. Being useful requires asking whether that action actually addresses a need. This distinction shaped many of my decisions in Bali. It influenced my decision not to deliver unnecessary hygiene education, encouraged me to focus on the quality of volunteer-child interactions and led me to prioritise practical resources and environmental changes that could have a longer-lasting benefit. My communication also developed (beyond the few words in Bahasa!). I became more aware that communicating with a young child is not simply about using simpler language. It involves observing their cues, following their interests, allowing them time to respond and adapting to their personality and developmental stage. Most importantly, I developed a greater appreciation for the power of sustained attention. A child's development is supported not only through formal teaching, but through thousands of small interactions. Applying this principle personally helped me form stronger connections with the children and made me more conscious of how much value can be created through simply being present.
My LiA strengthened a number of the Laidlaw capacities, particularly communication, adaptability, problem-solving, teamwork, organisation, leadership and reflective practice. Communication was central to my work with children, staff and volunteers. I learned to adapt how I communicated according to the person and context rather than relying on a single approach. Adaptability became one of the defining capacities of the project. I had to reconsider my original goals and respond to what I observed rather than forcing the placement to fit my proposal. Problem-solving developed through identifying practical issues and considering realistic solutions, from shoe organisation to volunteer resources. Leadership was demonstrated through taking initiative without formal authority, while remaining respectful of staff knowledge and organisational boundaries. Reflection allowed me to move beyond simply describing what happened and consider why certain approaches were effective, what could have been improved and how my understanding of leadership was changing. The project also developed the Change Maker Values of service, empathy, responsibility and respect. I learned that service is most meaningful when it begins with understanding. Empathy required me to consider children's experiences individually rather than assuming that the same approach would work for everyone. Responsibility meant taking ownership of problems that were within my ability to address. Respect meant recognising the expertise of the staff and the cultural context in which I was working. The experience also challenged my character. I had to operate in an unfamiliar environment without the certainty and structure of an academic setting. I had to be patient, adaptable and willing to change my mind.
My LiA at Bali Baby Home began with a relatively straightforward intention: to use my knowledge and skills to support children's development through structured activities and health education. It became something more complex, and ultimately more valuable. The experience taught me that effective leadership in a community setting begins with listening and observation. The needs I expected to address were not always the needs that were actually present. Basic hygiene practices were already established, while a less immediately visible issue—the uneven quality and individualisation of volunteer-child interactions—became increasingly important. In response, I developed a comprehensive developmental guide and age- and development-specific activity cards for future volunteers. I also made practical improvements to the children's environment, including reorganising and providing appropriately sized footwear, supporting sun protection and encouraging consideration of a safer water-play resource.
More importantly, however, the project changed the way I think about how I should volunteer my time and effort. I learned that children do not simply need more activities. They need adults who are present, responsive and willing to understand them as individuals. I learned that small environmental changes can have value when they arise from careful observation. I learned that cultural humility is essential when working within a community that is not my own. And I learned that leadership does not require formal authority. It can begin with noticing something that could be better and taking responsibility for helping to improve it. My six-week experience in Indonesia strengthened my ability to communicate, adapt, problem-solve, collaborate and reflect. It also taught me to contribute without imposing, lead without controlling and use knowledge without assuming that knowledge alone is enough. Perhaps the most important thing I brought to Bali Baby Home was not a particular activity, purchase or document. It was a willingness to pay attention. And the most important thing I hope to leave behind is an attempt to make that same attention easier for the volunteers who come after me and thus for all the staff at the Baby Home, so that it may operate in a way that maximises the children's wellbeing. I found the experience deeply meaningful and rewarding, and I would gladly return to Bali Baby Home in the future. I hope that the resources I created will help future volunteers feel more confident and intentional in their interactions with the children, and that each volunteer will bring their own time, energy and care to the home. Ultimately, meaningful volunteering is built through many small acts of attention and kindness. If my LiA has helped make those moments a little more purposeful, consistent and developmentally supportive, then I believe the project has achieved something lasting.