Developing Leadership Character and Soft Skills as Determinants of Organizational Motivation among Student Council Students at Al-Wildan Islamic School 1 Gading Serpong

Abstract

The Intra-School Student Organization (OSIS) serves as a strategic platform within the national education system to cultivate students’ leadership, responsibility, and social skills. However, in the context of globalization and digital transformation, the strengthening of leadership character and soft skills has not yet been implemented systematically, resulting in suboptimal organizational motivation among students. Previous studies have generally emphasized the role of student organizations without contextually examining the effectiveness of targeted interventions aimed at strengthening leadership character and soft skills to enhance organizational motivation. This study employed a community service (PKM) approach through counseling and leadership seminars involving 38 OSIS members from the junior and senior high school levels at Al-Wildan Islamic School 1 Gading Serpong, selected using purposive sampling, with data collected through structured observation, reflective discussions, and participant feedback, and analyzed using descriptive qualitative analysis supported by descriptive statistics. The results indicate significant improvements in participants’ leadership character, communication competence, teamwork, and problem-solving abilities following the program. Organizational motivation also increased, as reflected in higher attendance, more active participation, and stronger commitment to organizational responsibilities. Additionally, the organizational climate became more positive, characterized by stronger cohesion, mutual trust, and shared goals. These findings confirm that OSIS serves as an effective platform for contextual leadership learning that prepares students to face future challenges. Practically, schools should systematically integrate leadership character and soft skills development into the continuous guidance of student organizations to establish a sustainable, measurable, and long-term character education strategy..