CAN LEADERS BE DEVELOPED?

n spite of all the research and writing about leadership, many people still argue about what it is, how it should be defined, and even whether leaders are born or developed.   It is not the intent of this article to review the continuing development of leadership theories, models, and definitions.  Rather, it will focus on describing the Institute for Governmental Leadership, a training program offered by the Governmental Research and Service unit of the Institute for Public Service and Policy Research (IPSPR).  IPSPR has provided training programs for state and local government officials for more than half a century.  Many of its programs are focused on the development of supervisory, management, and technical skills.  In contrast to our other programs, the Institute for Governmental Leadership focuses exclusively on the topic of leadership and provides an opportunity to develop and enhance the specific skills and competencies needed to be an effective leader in the public sector.     

The design of the Institute for Governmental Leadership is based on a number of assumptions.  First, we do not believe that leadership is positional.  Anyone in an organization or community can provide leadership if they desire to.   Fundamentally, this requires a passionate commitment to something, not a hierarchical position.  Second, we believe that leadership, and thus the skills required, differs from management in a number of significant ways.  Kotter (1996, p. 25) states that:

Kotter goes on to state that management produces a degree of predictability and order and has the potential to produce consistently the short-term results expected by stakeholders.  By contrast, leadership produces change and movement.

And that brings us to our third assumption.  We believe that individuals can learn and improve the specific skills needed to provide leadership.  While there are no shortages of “leadership” programs available, program design is critical to their effectiveness.  In his 1992 book Learning to Lead, Jay Conger details his experience as a participant in a number of the most popular leadership development programs in the country.  He identified four key approaches to leadership development.

THE IDEAL PROGRAM

Conger concludes that the ideal leadership development program must combine elements from all four approaches.  In addition, the ideal program should include multiple sessions, pre- and post-course contact, coaching and mentoring, and innovative teaching strategies. 

Giber et al. (2000) examined the leadership development programs in more than 350 companies looking for best practices.  They noted that almost all of the programs have adopted an explicit leadership model, usually using behavioral competencies.  They found that support and involvement of senior management were critical to the overall success of the leadership development program.  Virtually all of the programs they studied involved a systems approach, going beyond skill training to include job rotations, coaching, mentoring and on-the-job training to insure that the training was transferred to the job.  Finally, they found the best programs had an “action learning” component that engaged the participants in finding “real solutions to real problems.”  

In their research on leadership development programs, McCauley et al. (1998, p. 4) define leadership development as:

They conclude that effective leadership development experiences include assessment, challenge, and support elements. 

The assessment element can provide the participant with an awareness of any gaps between their current capacities or performance and some desired or ideal capacity level.  In addition, the assessment can help clarify what needs to be learned or improved, and provide clues as to how to close the gap.  

The challenge element provides the opportunity to experiment and practice leadership in an environment that forces participants out of their comfort zone.   Challenging experiences create disequilibrium and cause people to question the adequacy of their skills, frameworks and approaches to situations.  Ultimately, it requires them to develop new capacities if they are to meet the challenge successfully.

Support is critical in a number of ways.  There must be an organizational culture of support for learning and development and an encouragement to apply new skills and try new approaches.  Participants need support from their bosses and/or mentors as they go through the developmental process and experiment with new skills. 

McCauley et al. identified a number of capacities for enabling leadership that can be learned in such programs including:

• Self-awareness
• Self-confidence
• Ability to take a broad, systemic view
• Ability to work effectively in social systems
• Ability to think creatively
• Ability to learn from experience

OUR APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Dennis Lambries, a research associate in the Institute for Public Service and Policy, teaches a session on leadership skills at a Leadership Institute in Charleston County.

Clearly there are numerous barriers to creating and delivering the ideal leadership development program, not the least of which is the time commitment required of the participants in a multi-session program that requires outside readings, group projects, and presentations.

Obstacles not withstanding, we wanted to design a program that would:

Because we felt that a focused, multi-session developmental experience with a specific management team gave us the best chance to make a difference, we decided to offer the curriculum, at least initially, on an in-house basis rather than as a statewide, open subscription program.  

THE CURRICULUM

While the curriculum can be customized to meet the needs of a specific organization, the basic program consists of 75 hours of instruction delivered in six two-day sessions and one one-day session.  Some organizations find that it is easier to mesh the training with the ongoing workload demands by having the program meet one day per month rather than two, and our experience to date suggests this is a better approach.

Topics typically covered in each session include:

Session One

• Foundations of leadership: definitions, concepts and theories
• Approaches to leadership development
• Individual assessments: The Workplace Big Five^© and the Leadership Practices Inventory^©
• Current and emerging leadership theories and practices

Session Two

• The context of leadership
• Ethics and leadership
• Assessing organizational culture
• Leading change

Session Three

• Collaborative leadership: skills and tools
• Problem solving and decision making
• Building and sustaining coalitions
• Finding consensus and common ground

Session Four

• Presentation skills
• Influence and Persuasion

Session Five

• The leader as innovator: Lateral Thinking™ skills

Session Six

• Simulation exercises
• Leadership case study

Session Seven (one day)

• Project presentations
• Recognition of graduates

In order to provide an action-learning element, the class is encouraged to take on a project(s) that involves some significant organizational issue.   The projects not only provide the participants with a laboratory to practice leadership, they also help the organization by improving a process, eliminating barriers, or starting new programs.  Such projects involve organizational change and hopefully result in improved organizational efficiency or effectiveness.   In some cases, participants have to use their presentation, influence and persuasion skills to gain commitment from top management to fund and implement their project ideas.

Each participant is given a copy of The Leaders Companion, by J. Thomas Wren (1995), as the course text.  Readings from the text and other sources are assigned prior to each session.

Sessions typically include lecture, group discussion and exercises.  Instructors function primarily as group facilitators and discussion guides as the class explores the concepts, skills and challenges of organizational leadership.  Practical application and relevant examples are used to bring the points to life.

OUR EXPERIENCE TO DATE

Thus far we have completed programs in Anderson County, Charleston County, and the Charles Lea Center in Spartanburg.  We will start up new programs for Anderson County and Charleston County in the next fiscal year.  In addition, we are now conducting a management institute for Charleston County’s mid-level managers.  This program will ultimately be a feeder for their leadership program as a part of their overall succession planning effort.

There are some key elements that we have found to impact overall program success.

Participant Selection

It is critical that participants for the leadership program be thoughtfully screened and selected.  This is not a program for anyone who wants to attend.  The program is relatively rigorous and requires a significant time commitment.  The material presented presumes considerable knowledge of basic supervisory and management skills along with a certain degree of organizational experience and maturity.  We recommend an application and screening process that includes a written statement about why the participant wants to attend and what they hope to gain from the experience.

In general terms this program is designed for those mid to upper-level managers and those who are being groomed for executive and leadership roles.   Class size is limited to approximately 20.  A limited class size coupled with an application and selection process can result in a competitive demand for the program which makes selection a motivator for the participants.

Upper Management Support

It is critical that this effort have genuine and demonstrated support from upper management.  Simply investing in the training is not enough.  For example, at the Charles Lea Center the executive director came to the opening session, welcomed the participants and described his vision for how this program could enhance them as well as the organization.  He also sat in on the project presentations and handed out certificates to the graduates.   In Anderson County, the county administrator listened to the class presentations and handed out diplomas.  In Charleston County, the council chairman along with the administrator and several senior managers sat in on the project presentations.  The chairman handed out certificates to the graduates.  Later, the project teams were invited to repeat their presentations to council and given support to implement their project ideas.

It is just as critical that each participant have the support of his or her supervisor to attend each session.  Often this means that work has to be shifted to other employees on the days the class meets, or deadlines have to be modified.   Successful completion of the program requires a commitment from the participant and the support of his or her supervisor.

Flexibility

It is important to leave room for flexibility in the curriculum.  As participants learn about themselves and each other through the assessments and group exercises, it may become clear that a particular group could benefit by modifying the program in some way or substituting a topic.  We also give the groups a fair amount of latitude about the projects they select and how they organize themselves to complete them.  It has to be meaningful to them and the organization.

EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM

Our next step will be to conduct a written follow-up survey with each class to get feedback about what, if any, difference the experience made for them, what they learned, and how they have used it.  We plan to send each participant a questionnaire approximately six to nine months after the completion of each program.

We also plan to reconvene at least one class at some point for a facilitated group discussion of the program and how it could be improved.  We will use this opportunity to provide some additional leadership training as well. 

Based on this evaluation we can continue our efforts to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the Institute for Governmental Leadership.  Certainly this program does not and cannot provide everything a prospective leader needs.  We do believe that this program can provide a significant return on investment for organizations that make it a part of an ongoing staff development effort that includes basic supervisory and management skills training, a mentoring program, and succession planning components.

REFERENCES

Conger, J. (1992).  Learning to lead: The art of transforming managers into leaders.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 

Giber, D., Carter, L., and Goldsmith, M. (2000). (Eds.).  Best practices in leadership development handbook. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Heifetz, R.A. (1994). Leadership without easy answers. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

Kotter, J.P. (1996).  Leading change.  Harvard, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

McCauley, C.D., Moxley, R.S. and Van Velsor, E. (1998). (Eds.). The center for creative leadership handbook of leadership development.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. 

Wren, J.T. (1995).  The leader’s companion: Insights on leadership through the ages.  New York, NY: The Free Press.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edwin C. Thomas, B.S., M.Ed., M.P.A., is the Director of the Governmental Research and Service unit at the University of South Carolina’s Institute for Public Service and Policy Research.  He has been engaged in public service and public administration for nearly three decades.  Mr. Thomas received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Education, and Master of Public Administration degrees from the University of South Carolina.  He can be reached at ed-thomas@sc.edu.

Photos by Edwin C. Thomas, USC Institute for Public Service and Policy Research.