Training and Mentoring
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 1/41
2 Self-Leadership
Learning Objectives
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
De�ine the three components of career motivation. Identify and analyze how to overcome career barriers. Explain the importance of self-assessment for continuous learning. Describe common leadership traits and behaviors, including self-monitoring and self-regulation. Interpret clues about what is important for successful leadership in your organization. Illustrate how an organization uses a competency model to specify leadership abilities. Identify learning styles and drivers of self-development. Describe how one learns from new experiences and others' challenges. Describe the value of feedback from your supervisor, subordinates, peers, customers, and others. Describe the value of assessment centers. Describe different types of training and development programs. Describe the value of role models, mentors, and coaches. Create a career development plan. Measure gaps in self-leadership.
OJO Images/SuperStock
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 2/41
Leaders must engage in sel�leadership to promote their own growth and development.
Blend Images/Blend Images/SuperStock
Introduction
In Chapter 1, we provided an overview of the key roles of leadership: leading one's self, leading one to one, leading teams, and leading organizations. This chapter is about leading one's self, or self-leadership. Self-leadership means engaging in continued growth and development that promotes self-understanding. A leader needs to participate in such activities to be successful in the long run. Leaders must assess their own knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) and determine which competencies they need to acquire to effectively lead in their organizations. Leaders need not only self-insight, but also insight about their environments. The world is constantly changing, and leading the way through the uncertainty of change requires that leaders understand how they affect and are affected by their environments.
Although leaders should continuously strive for improvement, they may not always be focused on developing and advancing their own careers. Leaders may also focus on developing others' careers, as discussed in the next chapter. In this chapter, we concentrate on the goals leaders have for themselves. Career advancement is one goal, and it can take different forms and directions over time. At lower levels in the organization—for example, Level III, where managers are managing managers (Hunt, 1991)—leaders typically want to attain higher levels of accountability and leadership responsibility. Once attained, leaders in and progressing through the higher levels of an organization are more likely to interpret career advancement in terms of self-satisfaction, contributing to the growth of their organizations and the people in them, and building a better world (described as corporate social responsibility in Chapter 1).
The Mone-London organization model described in Chapter 1—also known as the directionenabling organization model—can be applied to self-leadership, as seen in Figure 2.1. (Recall that we will be using this cyclical model to frame each chapter's discussion and illustrate the relationship between the main themes of the chapter.) As noted in the �igure, leaders must continually seek performance improvement, which is likely to contribute to career development and advancement. Motivation and effort toward performance improvement and career advancement requires ongoing assessment of oneself and the environment. In accordance with the model, we will discuss the personality and dispositional characteristics that are important for leadership, including career motivation, metacognitive skills, and the leader traits and behaviors that provide the foundation for the leadership styles addressed in Chapter 1. We will explore methods leaders can use for fostering self-development and insight, including assessments that focus on self-monitoring, learning styles, and innovative thinking.
We will also explore practices—performance enablers—in the work environment, which enhance role performance and results but, at the same time, foster self- assessment. These enablers include learning from experience, feedback processes, training and development, competency models, and role models, mentors, and coaches. When leaders practice self-leadership, they develop a better understanding of their own performance, absorb feedback about their behaviors, and explore new and better ways of acting. As they do so, they assess the results, �ine-tune their behaviors further, and develop goals and plans for their own learning, while moving toward performance improvement and career advancement. This is an ongoing cycle of continuous learning, continuous development of self-insight, and continuous performance improvement (London & Mone, 1999; Mone & London, 2010).
Figure 2.1: The Mone-London organization model applied to self-leadership
The Mone-London organization model can be applied to self-leadership: The leader, at the top of the �igure, continually works toward improving performance and advancing her or his career. Leaders remain aware of their personality and dispositional characteristics through ongoing assessment and use this information to in�luence their performance through key performance enablers. The resulting performance drives self-assessment, self-development, continuous learning and performance monitoring, which, in turn, in�luences the leader's actions for performance improvement and career advancement. All of this takes place in the context of the environment.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 3/41
This chapter contains many self-assessment questionnaires. Why the emphasis on questionnaires? They are important to this leadership role because leaders can use them for selfassessment or for measuring gaps in the role of self-leadership. The self-assessments in this chapter focus on personality characteristics and dispositions and directions for changing and improving leadership behavior. As you complete these questionnaires, think about what you can do with the results. That is, use them to help you think more sharply about your own leadership characteristics—the type of leader you are or want to become—and what this means for development opportunities you should seek or the type of job and career you would like. Also, use this chapter as an ongoing resource for self- assessment. Self-understanding is a continuous process, especially because we all change over time as we gain maturity, become more experienced, and therefore gain more wisdom. You might want to return to this chapter later as a resource to help you think through your leadership characteristics, and to help you understand how you react to different situations and how you might change your behavior and acquire new leadership skills.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 4/41
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors.
Transtock/SuperStock
Building a career requires motivation and dedication. What roles do insight, identity, and resilience play in career motivation for you?
Luciano Lozano/Ikon Images/SuperStock
2.1 Understanding Career Motivation
Self-leadership involves personal growth, personal development, and self-understanding. To grow and develop as a leader requires motivation. In this section, we discuss the topic of career motivation as a way to think about how you can better understand yourself as a leader and overcome barriers to career success. Career motivation literally refers to your desire and rationale for pursuing and engaging in a certain career. One of the authors of this textbook, Manny London (1983, 2003), developed a theory of career motivation that outlined three domains of career motivation that drive every manager: insight, identity, and resilience. These three domains can be developed over time and are central to self-leadership.
Career Insight
Career insight is the spark that jump-starts motivation. The spark might include the opportunities leaders �ind in their environments; extrinsic outcomes, such as money and prestige; or intrinsic outcomes, such as satisfaction and engagement. Career insight consists of two elements. The �irst element is self-knowledge—what leaders know about their strengths and weaknesses, including the extent to which their self-knowledge is comprehensive and accurate. The second element of career insight is knowledge of the environment—the opportunities and constraints leaders face or are likely to face and the demands of the environment, such as what it takes to get promoted to higher levels of responsibility. The story about Elon Musk (Spotlight: Elon Musk and Career Motivation) shows the value of career insight as a motivator.
Spotlight: Elon Musk and Career Motivation
Elon Musk is the founder of PayPal, which has become one of the main alternatives for online money transfers and payments. After the company was sold, he went on to other challenges, including founding Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and investing in Tesla Motors. SpaceX is developing technologies to reduce the cost of space exploration, while Tesla Motors is known for its electric cars and car components.
Although Musk has said that he never wanted to run companies, Musk is the CEO and CTO of SpaceX and the CEO and product architect of Tesla Motors, as well as the chairman of other technology companies. He learned the hard way that startups need creativity and adaptability—something that "professional managers" do not necessarily have. In a 2011 Bloomberg Businessweek article, Musk compared business to "multidimensional probabilistic" chess—with himself as the agile chess master: "The same moves don't always make you win," he said. "My biggest differentiating skill is I can invent new pieces" (quoted in Brady, 2011, p. 76).
Because of the self-knowledge and self-insight that Musk gathered from his experience, he realized he was the right CEO to lead Tesla Motors and SpaceX to ensure their future success. In many ways, he �its the model of the social entrepreneur discussed in Chapter 1.
Re�lection Questions
1. Do you have a clear sense of your strengths and weaknesses and the areas in which you want to improve?
2. Do you have a clear sense of the competencies you need to be successful in your current position or in your career, at least for the next 5 years?
3. Do you have a sense of the opportunities that are likely available to you and what you need to do to prepare for them?
Self-knowledge is a function of several characteristics and cognitive processes, which we discuss from the perspective of being a leader:
1. Self-awareness refers to being cognizant of oneself as a leader. The extent to which leaders are aware of themselves may depend on the situation. For instance, in uncomfortable or new situations, leaders may be more aware of themselves than they are in routine, common experiences. Because self- awareness is situational, it may be more dependent on how leaders are feeling at the time (state of mind) than their permanent characteristics (traits).
2. Self-consciousness is dispositional; it is more like a �ixed trait. One meaning of selfconsciousness is feeling uncomfortable, for instance, the feeling one has when being observed. It also means being conscious of oneself as an individual. Self-conscious leaders, for example, don't blame others for how they feel or behave. They are aware that their behaviors and feelings are part of themselves, originate with them, and can be controlled or changed.
3. Self-assessment is the process of leaders thinking about their characteristics and identifying their strengths and weaknesses in relation to what is required on the job and for their career.
4. Self-monitoring is the process of comparing one's behavior to a standard and adjusting one's behavior to meet that standard. The standard may be imposed externally (as when the board of directors establishes a high level of expectations for the CEO) or internally (as when leaders set goals and expectations for themselves). Selfmonitoring is both a behavior and a personality characteristic, or natural tendency. Leaders who are high in self- monitoring are sensitive to their environment and, in particular, to people and the impact they make on them. Self-monitors are better able to regulate their behavior to meet the needs of the job. (We explain this more fully later.)
5. Self-evaluation refers to the judgment leaders make of their capabilities and abilities.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 5/41
HR consultant Peter Wallbridge discusses his notion of career resilience.
What Is Career Resilience?
Career Resilence (Custom) From Title: Career Resilience
(https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=100753&xtid=93346)
0:00 / 1:54 1x
Critical Thinking Questions
1. What might be a step toward developing one's career resilience?
2. What are some ways that you can become more familiar with your strengths and weaknesses?
6. Self-esteem refers to how leaders feel about themselves, based on their self-assessment and self-evaluation.
Self-assessment is the foundation for continuing to re�ine self-knowledge and knowledge of the environment. Leaders need to be in the habit of seeking information about themselves and thinking about their skills and knowledge and how their behavior affects others. Selfassessment recognizes that leaders can be their own source of feedback. Moreover, selfassessment enables leaders to set goals and regulate their behavior. This is especially important in varying organizational environments that impose different leadership expectations and change the relative importance of given leadership skills and knowledge. For example, as Elon Musk suggested, startup situations require more innovation and creativity than mature organizations do. Finally, leaders need to learn to determine what their supervisors and organizations expect from them. Overall, self-assessment helps leaders reduce ambiguity in the environment, for instance, about performance expectations and leaders' capability to meet those expectations (Ashford, 1989; London, 1997).
Career Identity
Career identity is the direction of your motivation, the goals you want to achieve, the activities you want to participate in, and the ideas you want to develop. For the most achievementoriented leaders, this might be becoming a senior executive—or even the CEO—and achieving the highest levels of responsibility and prestige in the organization or in a function, such as marketing or sales. For leaders lower in the organization, it could mean having a responsible position, making a secure livelihood, and having a well-balanced life with supportive family and friends. For others in the organization, career identity might mean their career takes a back seat to pursuing a hobby or interest, whether it is a sport, such as mountain climbing; a performing art, such as acting in community theater; or spirituality, such as prayer and religious involvement. Working becomes a means to achieving these goals. Career identity may be recognizing how much or how little one wants to achieve and being aware of that, accepting that as one's career identity at least for the moment, and knowing that it can change if desired.
Career Resilience
Career resilience comprises the set of personal characteristics that allow a leader to persist and overcome barriers. Possible career barriers might include personal characteristics, conditions, and events in the organization, such as the following, adapted from London (1998):
Lack of readiness, education, or expertise Job dissatisfaction, stress, or burnout Lack of certainty or direction (for example, when trying to �ind the right position after returning from a several-year assignment abroad) Discrimination in the company based on characteristics other than job performance and ability Role con�lict (for example, being responsible for increasing quantity of production while also leading a team that is trying to increase quality and reduce errors, which may mean slowing down production) Others' disapproval, rejection, unfavorable performance feedback, or public criticism Lack of opportunity for career advancement Demotion or being passed over for a promotion Overall company or business unit failure Change in ownership or reorganization of the business
Most of us, including leaders, face career barriers at one time or another, and having strong career resilience enables us to overcome these career barriers. Career resilience consists of personality characteristics such as the following:
Self-esteem: Leaders' con�idence in themselves and their accomplishments; the beliefs and emotions that characterize their self-worth Self-ef�icacy: Leaders' belief that they can bring about positive outcomes for themselves and others Self-control: Leaders' ability to in�luence their environments, the opportunities available to them, and what happens to them
These three characteristics are similar in nature. Leaders who feel con�ident about themselves believe they can control what happens to them and bring about positive outcomes. And when the outcomes are not as positive as they hoped, they have to develop a thick skin. They are able to determine what happened, recognize the mistakes they may have made or the conditions in the environment that brought about the outcome, and do better next time. Leaders who are low on these characteristics, however, are likely to blame themselves, merely con�irming their low self-image, and not try any harder next time. They are likely to withdraw in the face of a career barrier.
Consider your own self-esteem, and take Assessment 2.1. How would you rate yourself on the following items, which were developed to measure self-esteem?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 6/41
Leaders who are low in self-esteem tend to behave in ways that protect them against negative feedback. What does this mean behaviorally? Table 2.1 lists examples of self-protection mechanisms—ways leaders maintain their self-image in the face of negative feedback—that leaders with low self-esteem are inclined to use.
Table 2.1: Self-protection mechanisms
Denial Giving up Self-promotion Fear of failure
Reacts negatively to feedback Blames others for failure Never admits mistakes Inhibits others' performance Does not accurately perceive one's own performance; infrequently asks for feedback Does not give credit where it is due Does not accurately perceive the performance of others Does not accurately describe events
Abandons dif�icult tasks Avoids being compared with better leaders Tunes out others who perform better Reacts negatively to constructive feedback that can improve performance Dislikes better-performing executives and leaders Does not try hard or dif�icult tasks Does not stick to the task until success is achieved
Makes sure others know about successes Seeks praise Overly concerned about status symbols Talks about own good performance Makes others feel compelled to say good things about his or her performance
Points out own strengths when criticized Gets upset by own poor performance Tries to prevent others from doing well Tries to convince others they are wrong Tries to raise others' opinions of self Downplays own weaknesses Is concerned about making the "right" career moves
Source: Adapted from Wohlers & London, 1989; London, 1997, p. 124; London, 2003, p. 43
Do you recognize these behaviors in leaders you know, or in yourself? Most people, including leaders, show some elements of self-protection, sometimes referred to as defense mechanisms (Freud, 1966; Ket de Vries, 1993). Generally, we all try to enhance our egos and sel�image. We want others to like us, and we want to think well of ourselves. Yet we all have self-doubts. And so do leaders! When leaders recognize these self-protection mechanisms in themselves, it helps them guard against behavior that has dysfunctional outcomes—that is, that hinders their own performance and the performance of their organizations—and behavior that may become a barrier to their own career opportunities.
In the leadership workshops we conduct and when coaching leaders one to one, we suggest they consider the following re�lective questions for analyzing a signi�icant career barrier. You may also want to consider these questions for yourself in response to a real barrier you have encountered or one that you can imagine arising in your future.
How would you describe the career barrier? How did you react to it? Did you react in ways that were defensive and protected your self-esteem? Did you react in ways that allowed you to overcome the barrier?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 7/41
What personal characteristics do you think helped you at the time? What personal characteristics made the situation more dif�icult for you? What would you do differently next time if you faced a similar situation?
In addition to outlining the three domains of career motivation, Manny London also developed ways to assess that motivation. Take the following survey to assess your overall career motivation. At the senior leadership levels, we recommend that the leader take this selfassessment and that the leader's direct reports also complete the assessment about their leader to help the leader recognize potential blind spots. In essence, this assessment can be used as a multi-rater feedback tool. We discuss the use of multi-rater and 360-degree assessments later in this chapter. Please complete the assessment before reading further.
Strengthening Career Motivation
A leader's career insight and identity change over time as he or she is in�luenced by events and opportunities in the environment. For example, a leader's insight may evolve when direct reports give the leader information about the leader's performance or when the leader recognizes the need to develop new skills based on changes in the company's strategic direction. A leader's supervisor may also provide meaningful, constructive feedback about the leader's performance— strengths and areas that need to improve—and ongoing discussions about performance make this feedback helpful. These are just some of the examples of ways that career insight can change and develop.
Identity also evolves based on the information gained from the leader's environment. For example, if a leader's supervisor is encouraging about advancement possibilities, gives positive feedback, and provides important and visible developmental assignments (work assignments that allow the leader to gain competencies that are not easy to obtain in the current position), the leader is likely to get the idea that he or she has considerable leadership potential. Or if the leader learns that the organization is growing and will be promoting others with similar skills and experience, the leader is likely to believe there is a clear path to move upward and to take on more responsibility and accountability. So the organization—the leader's supervisor and colleagues, as well as the organizational policies, procedures, and information about changing demands—can in�luence the leader's career insight and identity over time.
Career resilience, however, is more dif�icult to change. It is likely to be fairly well developed by the time one starts a career, and it changes very gradually as positive (or negative) outcomes are attained. Chances are one's self-esteem, self-ef�icacy, and self-control stem from events and outcomes in childhood. As such, they are traits that are ingrained and not readily changeable. However, some elements of self-esteem, ef�icacy, and control may be state based and more subject to change over time based on exposure to new experiences—for instance, learning a new skill and applying it in a particular situation. However, underlying traits are likely to in�luence the extent to which a leader can be successful and effective in any new learning situation. Ultimately, self-esteem, self-ef�icacy, and self- control will change only as the result of consistent feedback and evidence that one can control the situation and when there is positive reinforcement for doing well. Consider the following strategies for increasing your career resilience, adapted from Newman (2005):
1. Make connections. Close relationships with friends, relatives, civic groups, community groups, and other organizations can contribute to a sense of well- being.
2. Avoid seeing crises as insurmountable problems. Try to look beyond the problem, focus on the future, and gain strength from new opportunities that may present themselves.
3. Accept that change is part of living. Certain goals may no longer be attainable. It is better to accept those circumstances and move on. 4. Move toward your goal. Make a plan and take steps to work toward it every day. 5. Take decisive action. Taking action will move you toward your goals and lift your spirits.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 8/41
Steve Jobs (1955–2011) giving a presentation.
Associated Press/Paul Sakuma
6. Look for opportunities for self-discovery. Many people who experience work setbacks report that they grow during these challenging times and become stronger and more resourceful.
7. Nurture a positive view of yourself. The process of developing resilience also builds self-con�idence. 8. Keep things in perspective. Keep a long-term perspective and try to keep from blowing the event out of proportion. 9. Maintain a hopeful outlook. Focus your thoughts on the vision you want for your life and try to avoid nurturing your fears. 10. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise, and spend time with friends and family.
Although career resilience characteristics do not change easily, they can change, albeit slowly, as leaders develop self-monitoring and self-regulatory skills, which are called "metacognitive" skills. These skills are discussed in the upcoming section. The components of resilience in�luence these skills, but leaders can learn these skills and possibly build resilience. Steve Jobs was one leader who was able to develop over time and bring his company to extraordinary levels of success, as we discuss brie�ly in Spotlight: Steve Jobs and Strengthening Career Motivation.
Spotlight: Steve Jobs and Strengthening Career Motivation
Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, was a charismatic, strong-willed design genius and entrepreneur and was well known as the cofounder of Apple and Pixar. His career path illustrates how career motivation can change over time.
Jobs founded Apple in 1976. Although clearly a visionary, Jobs was known for having an intense, combative, mercurial, domineering personality, and his lack of career insight during Apple's early years eventually resulted in a power struggle over the direction of the company. Then-CEO John Sculley and the board—concerned about �lagging sales and loss of market share to IBM—ousted Jobs in 1985.
Upon leaving Apple, Jobs then demonstrated his career resilience by starting NeXT, Inc., an innovative computer and software company. His career identity remained intact: He still wanted to do what he loved. However, the struggle at Apple prompted him to reexamine himself as a businessman and as a leader. After Apple took a nosedive and bought NeXT in 1997 to refresh its product line, the company brought back Jobs in a consultant role, and, of course, he later became CEO. By this time, Jobs had further developed his career insight: Although he was still a challenging personality to deal with, he was described as being more mellow and open to ideas during his "second term" at Apple (Marcum & Smith, 2007). As we now know, he can claim to have resurrected Apple, which now has a larger capitalization than Microsoft and a loyal following for its groundbreaking, aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly products.
Jobs has been called many things, for instance, individualistic, manic, larger than life, forward thinking, aggressive, demanding, a task master, and self-centered (Deutschman, 2001; Simon & Young, 2005). In the end, his unique combination of personality characteristics—not to mention business savvy and design sense—gave him the resilience, insight, and identity he needed to overcome career barriers and maintain his signi�icant presence as a major corporate leader.
Re�lection Questions
1. Given what you know about Steve Jobs, which leadership characteristics would you emulate and why? 2. Which characteristics of career motivation would you say were likely to be most important to Jobs's success?
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. How do you describe the role of leading one's self? 2. What are the three domains of career motivation? 3. Why is self-assessment important? 4. What factors support career insight and identity? 5. How is resilience reinforced by rewards and outcomes? 6. What are self-protection mechanisms? 7. What are some ways a leader can increase resilience?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.9… 9/41
Self-monitoring leaders welcome feedback on their professional performance.
Digital Vision/Thinkstock
2.2 Recognizing Leadership Characteristics
Leadership characteristics are part of a person's character, traits that are to some extent inborn, ingrained during our early years, and developed throughout our lives. Some examples of leadership characteristics include gender, intelligence, and personality. Some of these characteristics affect leaders' career motivation, and leaders can learn to monitor and regulate how these characteristics affect their behavior.
In this section, we address characteristics that are especially important for the leader you are, the leader you want to be, and the leader you need to be to face the challenges of today and the future. Leaders can bene�it from understanding how their characteristics, as well as their strengths and weaknesses (competencies), in�luence their overall behavior, affect how they relate to others, and ultimately determine their effectiveness. Two characteristics in particular—the ability to self-monitor and to self-regulate—will be highlighted for their impact on overall leadership effectiveness. Innovative thinking will be discussed in depth, given its importance to leadership and organizational success in turbulent times.
Traits, Behaviors, and Effectiveness
Leadership effectiveness is a function of leader characteristics and leader behaviors (for example, transformational, transactional, and full range leadership, as described in Chapter 1). Leader characteristics determine the behaviors leaders are likely to use, and these in turn in�luence the leader's effectiveness. DeRue, Nahrgang, Wellman, and Humphrey (2011) conducted an important study to determine the characteristics and behaviors that were most important for leadership effectiveness. They reviewed a wide range of published studies in what is called a meta- analysis, in which researchers combine or average studies' results to arrive at results that are likely to be more conclusive than those from any one study alone.
DeRue et al. (2011) found that while 69% or less of the variation in leader effectiveness is due to factors beyond the leader's control (environmental conditions, employees' capabilities, and so on), traits and behaviors explain 31% of the reasons for a leader's effectiveness. DeRue et al. also found that, in contrast with leader behaviors, leader traits are more likely to be related to affective and relational criteria (how people work together, collaborate effectively, and treat each other with respect) than performance-related criteria. In the studies they surveyed, leader traits usually fell into three categories: demographics, task competence, and interpersonal attributes.
Demographics refers to traits including gender, age, ethnicity, height and weight, education, and social status. Task competence refers to traits including intelligence, conscientiousness, openness to experience, emotional stability, technical knowledge, and leadership self-ef�icacy. In fact, conscientiousness—being painstaking, careful, and self-disciplined—was the trait that was most consistently related to leadership performance, indicating the importance of leaders paying attention to details and persisting in the face of barriers. DeRue et al. (2011) found that task competence traits were likely to predict task-oriented leader behaviors (e.g., initiating structure and boundary spanning, or looking beyond one's formal organization structure for insights about the market, competitors, etc.).
Interpersonal attributes refers to traits including extraversion, agreeableness, communication skills, emotional intelligence (see Considering Emotional Intelligence), and political skills. The presence of these traits was more likely to predict relational-oriented behaviors, which have an effect on employees' satisfaction with the leader. Notably, leaders who are high in extraversion and conscientiousness are likely to be viewed more positively, and leaders who are high in agreeableness (being personable and friendly) and conscientiousness are likely to improve the performance of their teams, compared with leaders who are low on these characteristics. Both competence and interpersonal attributes affected leaders' change-oriented behaviors, such as communicating a vision and generating employees' commitment to transformation.
What do these �indings mean for leadership and organization development? Organizations and leaders can bene�it from knowing the traits and behaviors that affect different outcomes. Some leaders are likely to behave in ways that are task focused, and others in ways that are relationship focused. Leaders who recognize they are de�icient in certain leader behaviors may then see how this in�luences how they spend their time. Leaders pay attention to behaviors they need to learn and practice in order to have a balanced leadership style. DeRue et al.'s (2011) �indings have implications for methods of assessing leaders' strengths and weaknesses and designing leadership development programs. In particular:
Leaders should be encouraged to assert their leadership role actively because leadership affects performance. Leaders need to be proactive, not passively waiting until problems occur. Passive leaders need to work actively on overcoming laissez-faire tendencies. Recall that full range leadership theory states that laissezfaire and passive management are the two least effective forms of transactional leadership. Leadership assessment and development needs to focus on task competence, interpersonal attributes, and behaviors related to task structure, interpersonal relationships, and change. To be successful, leaders need to be task oriented (planning and scheduling work, for instance), relational oriented (supporting and helping employees), and change oriented (encouraging and facilitating change).
Considering Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence, commonly abbreviated EQ, refers to having the capacity to understand and manage one's own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. Psychologist Daniel Goleman authored and coauthored a number of books on the topic of emotional intelligence; the �irst, Emotional Intelligence, was published in 1995 by Bantam Books. The book relied heavily on an article published in 1990 by Peter Salovey and John Mayer titled "Emotional Intelligence."
Most researchers would say that many claims made about the role and importance of EQ �ind little empirical support. However, research in the area of emotional intelligence continues.
Here are the four key components of emotional intelligence (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). You will see that emotional intelligence relies on a leader's self-insight and selfregulation and demands high levels of pro�iciency in relational-oriented behaviors.
1. Being self-aware: Reading and recognizing one's own emotions, knowing one's strengths and weaknesses, and having self-con�idence 2. Managing one's emotions: Keeping disruptive impulses and emotions under control, acting with integrity, demonstrating adaptability, expressing
openness and conscientiousness, taking initiative, and being optimistic 3. Being aware of others: Sensing others' emotions and understanding their perspectives, reading and understanding organizational culture and
politics, and being service oriented
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 10/41
Various internal and external factors contribute to a leader's effectiveness. As you read this section, think about what leader characteristics and behaviors you possess.
ConstantinosZ/iStock/Thinkstock
4. Managing relationships: Inspiring followers through a compelling vision, being in�luential, developing others through feedback, driving change, resolving con�licts, and acting collaboratively
Finally, note that, in addition to encompassing the traits and characteristics discussed in this chapter, many of the aspects of these four components are also key components of strategic leadership approaches discussed in Chapter 1: for example, inspiring followers (full range leadership) and being service oriented (servant leadership).
Self-Monitoring and Self-Regulation
In the discussion about leaders' career motivation, you learned about the components of resilience, insight, and identity. Here, we look more closely at two personality characteristics that are closely associated with having insight and controlling your environment: self- monitoring and self-regulation. These can also be thought of as metacognitive skills that are important to having an accurate perception of one's strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Monitoring your responses and regulating your behavior will increase awareness of the opportunities available, as well as job and environmental pressures.
As we discussed earlier in the chapter, self-monitoring is the process of comparing one's behavior to an internal or external standard and adjusting one's behavior to meet that standard. It involves being sensitive to the world around you (London, 2003). Leaders who are high in self-monitoring seek and absorb feedback about themselves. They have learned to monitor their environment in ways that give them objective information about themselves and about how they can change their behavior for the better. They want information about their strengths and weaknesses. They are able to accept negative feedback and make it constructive, helping them identify ways they can improve. Acting on this information increases their self-monitoring in the future and has the additional bene�it of bolstering their self-esteem, making them feel better about themselves as well as more con�ident and competent in their leadership ability.
Leaders who are high in self-monitoring are likely to engage in self-assessment often, if not continuously. It is part of the makeup of who they are. Through self-assessment, such as the
questionnaires and re�lection questions we present throughout this chapter, you can improve your self-monitoring skills and make this part of your behavioral repertoire. How can we determine if we are monitoring our behavior? We suggest taking Assessment 2.3, which measures the extent to which leaders engage in self-monitoring.
Self-regulation is another personality characteristic—one that is ingrained as one grows up but one that can be developed and changed with practice and reinforcement. It is the tendency to take action in response to events in one's environment and to be proactive in self-learning (Carver & Scheier, 1998; Bandura, 1986, 1991). Leaders who are self-regulators take control. They take action to evaluate progress toward their important goals and how close they are to achieving them. If they recognize that a goal is truly too dif�icult to achieve, they are able to disengage and set alternative goals (see a failure of this in Case Study:
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 11/41
The Division Leader's Stretch Goal). They organize their environments. They identify needed resources. They create plans and schedules for themselves. They monitor their behavior and its consequences and take action based on the information.
How can you evaluate your self-monitoring and self-regulation skills and tendencies that help you be a better leader? Take the following assessment to see what behaviors you already exhibit and those you can work to develop.
Case Study: The Division Leader's Stretch Goal
Beth was hired to turn around the sales division of a high-tech company, and so she engaged the direct report team in creating a strategic plan. The goal of the plan was to increase sales revenue by 50% in 5 years to meet the demands of a variety of stakeholders, as well as to energize the division's employees.
Unfortunately, not all of Beth's team members were truly committed to the plan. They maintained their own sales-driven agendas, did not collaborate successfully, and did not drive the necessary changes in the division to meet this stretch goal. As a result, changes were not made to improve the division's capability, infrastructure, or systems. The team did not create new sales channels, establish common IT platforms worldwide, or implement rewards systems aligned with achieving the goal and driving expected behaviors.
Within 2 years, Beth's team stopped talking about the stretch goal and quietly put in place more reasonable growth targets. Over time, this led to hiring a new division leader and replacement of most of the team to put the division on an ambitious but realistic path to growth.
Many factors contributed to this situation, not the least of which was Beth's inability to set and effectively monitor the division's goals and to build a team of individuals who were truly committed to the division's interests above their own.
Re�lection Questions
1. Do you think Beth was aware of what her team members thought about the stretch goals? What signs could she have looked for to indicate their support?
2. Could Beth have done more to understand her team members' reactions and incorporate their opinions in setting these goals, or adjusting them to be more realistic?
3. Should Beth have taken action sooner, for example, by replacing team members? 4. How would more careful self-monitoring and self-regulation have helped Beth be more successful from the start?
Innovative Thinking
Today's rapid changes in technology, intense competition from inside and outside of one's industry, and globalization make innovative thinking a key leadership capability. Leaders also need to know how to support and create a culture of innovation, a topic we fully address in Chapter 5. Innovation is so important to future leaders that Stanford University's Graduate School of Business trains its students to lead innovation (Saloner, 2011). So, what does innovative thinking mean?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 12/41
Innovative thinking requires the ability to empathize, collaborate, and iterate. Why are these elements so important to design thinking?
Monkeybusinessimages/iStock/Thinkstock
Innovative thinking is turning "aha" moments into innovative solutions. An "aha" moment is suddenly seeing an idea, path, or solution that, in retrospect, seems obvious but was not recognized before. Innovative thinking is also called design thinking. Leading a process of design thinking requires that leaders garner the ideas, insights, and tools of professionals from different disciplines, including engineering, design, business, the arts, and social sciences. As such, leaders need to be open to different perspectives and modes of operating. There are three elements to innovative thinking (Saloner, 2011):
Being empathetic. Leaders need to immerse themselves in the viewpoints of the end users—the people who will use the product or service being developed, or those who will bene�it from solving a problem. To do this, the leader needs to be open to new ideas and different ways of thinking. Being collaborative. Leaders should be harnessing diverse perspectives, creating multidisciplinary teams, communicating clearly, and leveraging their strengths and those of team members to work toward a common goal. To do this, leaders need to rely on their relational skills. Being willing to iterate. Leaders should engage in brainstorming to identify and distill ideas, develop prototypes and quickly evaluate them, solicit feedback, and then create new prototypes.
In addition to developing the skill of innovative thinking, Lyons (2011) has said that innovative leaders should possess these four characteristics:
1. Tendency to question the status quo. Innovative leaders envision different possible realities, are willing to take reasonable risks, learn from failure, and have the guts to express a point of view.
2. Con�idence without an off-putting attitude. Innovative leaders make decisions based on data and analyses and have the con�idence to act without being arrogant; they lead by showing trust in team members and a willingness to collaborate.
3. Curiosity and desire to be a lifelong learner. Innovative leaders continuously seek personal growth and show others that they are learning from them.
4. Ability to recognize how they affect others. Innovative leaders consider the long-term effects of decisions and behaviors and put larger interests above their own.
To be innovative, the leader needs to have insight into opportunities, make decisions, and build organizational capability (Lyons, 2011). Recognizing opportunities requires framing problems, exploring the environment, and experimenting—elements of generative learning. Decision making requires evaluating ideas and understanding their risks, which involves collecting and analyzing data. Finally, building organizational capability requires the ability to in�luence others without the use of formal power, to manage uncertainty and con�lict, and to change leadership styles in response to changing conditions.
In Chapter 5, we will review a broad, organizational-level measure for diagnosing the extent to which an organization has a culture of innovation. For now, we provide a short self-assessment for leaders. Use this assessment to gauge your ability to be an innovative thinker.
Leadership in Review
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 13/41
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. What traits and other personal characteristics affect leadership behaviors? 2. How do leadership behaviors affect leadership effectiveness? Draw on your knowledge of leadership theories from Chapter 1 and the discussion
in this chapter. 3. How would you describe the interpersonal attribute of emotional intelligence? 4. What is self-monitoring? 5. What is self-regulation? 6. How do self-monitoring and self-regulation affect how you review progress toward your goals and revise your goals? 7. In what ways can a leader show and support innovativeness and creativity?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 14/41
Identifying your present and future leadership competencies will help prepare you for career advancement.
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
2.3 Following Clues About Leadership Skills
As we discussed in Section 2.2, your traits in�luence your behaviors, which in turn determine your effectiveness. So you need a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses and the characteristics and behaviors that are important to being an effective leader. A challenge of leading yourself, however, is knowing what to learn. Career insight is not only knowing yourself, but also knowing the performance expectations and career opportunities in your organization. This section examines key sources for learning about those expectations, including organizational leadership competency models and business school curricula.
Leadership Competency Models
Most organizations identify the leadership competencies necessary for success. Senior leaders discuss them with other leaders and managers in the organization so that they will have a good understanding of, and assess themselves against, these competencies. Sometimes these competencies are grounded in the organization's current needs, sometimes they are more future focused, and sometimes these competency models re�lect both current and future needs. Acquiring, enhancing, and developing competencies will take time and effort, so if you discover that the leadership competencies needed for the future vary considerably from the competencies needed today, you will have to focus on future needs. Once you identify the competencies you need for today and are likely to need in the future, you can assess the gap in your skills and determine what you need to learn.
Usually, human resource (HR) managers and training professionals develop a leadership competency model by interviewing company executives and experts inside and outside the company who are familiar with the industry as well as the company's strategic direction. They may also interview and examine the performance results of highly successful leaders and managers and compare them to the results of those who are not. Again, the focus is often on the skills and knowledge needed to be successful today and those that are likely to be needed 5 or 10 years from now.
Once the competency model is developed and is agreed upon by the company's executive leadership team, several important steps must be taken:
The model should be communicated in the organization so that all leaders and managers are aware of the competencies important for success and the behaviors that will be expected and rewarded. This will help individual leaders and managers assess their own strengths and weaknesses relative to the model and formulate a development plan for themselves in line with the model. The model should be incorporated into the organization's hiring and promotion process. That is, the competencies should be factors on which current leaders and managers are assessed for positions and advancement and which potential hires are evaluated against. The model should be used to evaluate the organization's capability. The results provide a gap analysis that can guide training and development efforts. When all managers and leaders self-assess and are assessed by their supervisors against the competencies in the model, gaps at each organization level can be identi�ied and addressed appropriately. The model should drive the design and development of separate courses, workshops, or online webinars and seminars focused on the different competencies. For instance, an online course may focus on the interpersonal competence of how to resolve con�licts. Additionally, an entire curriculum can be structured to focus on the full range of competencies. The model should drive revisions to the company's performance appraisal. Part of the form should include evaluation of performance outcomes. Another part should be used to evaluate a leader's or manager's competencies and areas for development. Collectively, top executives can use this information for succession planning.
Colgate-Palmolive and "High-Tech": Comparing Two Models Although we are emphasizing leadership competencies, the models may also include technical business knowledge and social or interpersonal competencies. Here, we compare two examples of leadership competency models from two companies, Colgate-Palmolive (Conner & Smith, 1998) and a Fortune 500 company we worked with, which we will call High-Tech.
Colgate-Palmolive's leadership competency model reads as follows:
Leaders have business savvy. They show exhaustive knowledge of all aspects of the business. Leaders know how to use their personal in�luence. They have excellent communication skills and leverage large networks. Leaders bring a global perspective. Their knowledge and view of the world is broad. Leaders have strong character. They are clear about their vision and values and act with integrity. Leaders know how to manage people effectively. They provide the glue that holds a team together. Leaders act like entrepreneurs. They take risks, overcome obstacles, and act with a sense of urgency.
According to High-Tech's competency model for executive and leader behaviors, a High-Tech leader
Operates from a global, macro view of the company and the industry. Understands how the company operates and can get things done through formal and informal channels. Demonstrates high levels of business and functional expertise. Transforms vision into sound and clear organization structure, strategy, goals, and objectives. Translates and communicates important corporate and division messages, making them relevant and meaningful for employees in the organization. Builds an organization that attracts, excites, sustains, and rewards the best talent, and considers that talent a corporate resource. Supports the performance, learning, and development of others by providing encouragement, coaching, feedback, and recognition. Supports and encourages others to communicate upward, make decisions, and take accountability and appropriate risks. Ensures employees have the resources necessary to achieve business success. Thoughtfully analyzes the most complex organization and business problems and develops creative solutions. Integrates and uses economic, �inancial, and industry data to make sound, timely decisions that lead to results. Demonstrates a positive attitude in the face of dif�icult situations and provides an optimistic, yet realistic, view of the future. Has the courage to make dif�icult, even unpopular, decisions and takes responsibility for their outcomes.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 15/41
Google's "Project Oxygen" was aimed at recognizing the practices of the company's most effective managers.
Richard Levine/age fotostock/SuperStock
Upholds and encourages others to follow the company's values, policies, practices, and procedures. Acts as a catalyst, initiating and leading organization change.
These two leadership models, developed years apart, have some important similarities. For example, they both focus on having a broad view of the business, often referred to as "business savvy," as well as knowing and clearly communicating vision and direction, which are important transformational leader behaviors.
Each of the competency models re�lects the organization's business strategy for today and the near-term future, at least as the company's experts and executives can predict in relation to the corporate results they wish to attain. Colgate-Palmolive's goal was to develop leaders to assume the highest levels in the business over time. For High-Tech, the goal was to clearly communicate performance and behavioral expectations for all leaders in the organization. Interestingly, at Colgate-Palmolive, the most senior corporate executives were more committed to the model because they had had a strong hand in developing it and because they easily saw a clear link to the company's mission and objectives. At High-Tech, organizational experts developed the model without such close consultation.
Google: Building a Competency Model
For many companies, their competency model serves as a guide or path for managers who want to assume greater degrees of accountability and responsibility within the organization. Google provides a good example. Google wanted to determine the behaviors important to leadership success and use those as a basis for leadership development. In 2009, Google initiated a plan code-named Project Oxygen to identify the habits of highly effective managers in the company (Bryant, 2011b). Google conducted interviews, gathered survey data, and observed effective and less effective managers. The results, which can be viewed at the following link, are not surprising: http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/tenthings. (http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/tenthings.html) html (http://www.google.com/intl/en/about/company/tenthings.html) . The competencies Google identi�ied represent basic principles of good management and leadership. They apply to Google—a cutting-edge technology company—and to most any organization. Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president for people operations (Google's term for human resources), described leadership development this way:
You don't actually need to change who the person is. . . . If I'm a manager and I want to get better, and I want more out of my people and I want them to be happier, two of the most important things I can do is just make sure that I have some time for them and to be consistent. (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7)
Essentially, these are the basics of initiating structure and consideration for others, as covered in Chapter 1.
Because leadership skills are harder to build than technical skills are, it is important to focus on and consider leadership skills and leadership development when promoting lower- to mid- level managers. Bock, at Google, provided a relevant example. At Google, a highly expert, technical professional was promoted to a management position and was frustrated because he was denied a further promotion. The manager's employees despised him. He drove them hard; they found him bossy, arrogant, political, and secretive, and many of them wanted to quit his team. "He's brilliant, but he did everything wrong when it came to leading a team," Bock recalled (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7).
There are several reasons why a company may have leaders or managers who are weak in a given competency. Perhaps the leadership competencies were not used as a basis to hire or promote them. Particularly in high-tech organizations, leaders may be promoted earlier in their careers for their technical skills with the idea that they can develop their leadership skills along the way. However, continuing to ignore this learning gap could lead to a generation of company leaders who are poor managers, unable to foster collaboration and high- performing teams.
So what did Google do to help? Google gave this professional one-to-one coaching from one of the company's professional coaching staff. After 6 months, the manager's team members reported in surveys that the manager had improved. "He's still not great," Bock said. "He's nowhere near one of our best managers, but he's not our worst anymore. And he got
promoted" (Bryant, 2011b, p. 7). What were some of the helpful factors in this turnaround of performance? The manager was ready to work on improving. He was motivated. The carrot of a promotion opened him to the dif�icult-to-take feedback, and the coach helped him through the process of realizing and accepting his weaknesses, conceptualizing what he had to do to improve, and giving him a chance to try new behaviors. This was just the start of his learning. The manager will probably need ongoing coaching and learning to continue to improve. Applying the Japanese term kaizen—continuous improvement—to leadership development, there is no best leader, but rather, there is always room for improvement.
If a company has a robust selection and promotion strategy that identi�ies managers with strong leadership potential, the company is likely to have strong leadership throughout the organization. How does this work? Operationally, the company's practice could be to select and promote individuals who already have strong leadership skills, give them experiences that help them become even better leaders, and provide them with training and job assignments that help them know the technical aspects of different parts of the business, for instance, rotating them through assignments in different technical areas. The assumption here is that a strong leader can always learn the technology, but leadership strengths are harder to come by.
Another important assumption is that some competencies are easier to develop than others. Although training, on-the-job experiences, and challenging assignments can help you develop leadership skills, technical skills are often easier to learn, particularly when you do not need in-depth technical knowledge. If you are weak in communication skills, you can learn to become a better writer or speaker. However, creativity and decision making are hard to master.
We introduced competency models in this chapter as a way for leaders to identify and self-assess against the skills and knowledge they need to better lead themselves and their organizations. You can also use the set of competencies an organization upholds to determine the �it between you and the organization. Do you have the competencies your current organization, or an organization of interest to you, says are important to be a successful leader?
Business School Curricula: Skills for Today and the Future
Changing curricula in business schools help inform executives about future-oriented leadership skills. Business schools often run noncredit, short-term workshops on leadership and changing organizational demands. When Yash Gupta was the dean of the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, he responded to the United States' "Great Recession" of 2008 by conceptualizing the changing role of leaders and new leadership demands and incorporating those concepts into his business school's curriculum. Gupta (2010) argued that the traditional science of business—accounting, marketing, �inance, and operations— used to de�ine skills for leadership. These "hard" skills and knowledge are still important. But the "soft" skills that de�ine the art of leadership are needed for the 21st century. These include the following:
Intellectual �lexibility, the scholarly ability to juggle a variety of ideas and place them in a broad context
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 16/41
Cultural literacy, a solid knowledge of the customs and history of societies all over the world, in the places and among the populations that are becoming part of the global marketplace A strong grounding in ethics, and understanding the ways that the most subtle ethical con�licts, if not guarded against, can lead to an organization's undoing The ability to communicate ideas well Optimism, creativity, a collaborative outlook, the willingness to lead (Gupta, 2010, p. A29)
Basic skills are still critical, as Gupta noted. Consider the following seven foundational skills that are important to leadership today for all business students:
Oral and written communications. Prepare and deliver a coherent and persuasive presentation. Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making. Analyze complex business issues and identify realistic solutions. Ethics and corporate social responsibility. Analyze an issue from legal, ethical, and socially responsible perspectives and recommend appropriate actions for a practical business situation. Leadership and team interaction. Create a vision and communicate that vision in a way that would generate commitment and structure teams for goal achievement. Innovative business practices. Know innovative business practices, processes, technologies, and methods. Cross-cultural understanding. Work with people from different cultural backgrounds domestically and internationally and integrate knowledge of an international business environment. Business development and value creation. Produce business plans that show the creation of value through the production and marketing of goods and services.
More generally, today's leaders need to
Demonstrate the global awareness, multicultural understanding, ethical and corporate social responsibility, and technological innovation needed to respond to the challenges of today. Have the potential for continuous learning for future business and career success, demonstrate that they are open to new ideas, search for information and knowledge they need, and explore innovative ways to apply and implement new knowledge and ideas to solve unexpected problems.
Which of these areas is most important for leaders to develop �irst, given what they know about their current environment, what they anticipate for the future, and what they know about their strengths and weaknesses? In many organizations, the need for global leaders—those who have the capacity to lead and work effectively in cultures other than their own—is quite strong. Beechler and Baltzley (2009) provided a look at what is important for global leadership versus domestic leadership. They created three clusters of characteristics or skills, which you can see in Table 2.2. Many of the skills will be familiar, but an effective global leader needs these skills in greater depth to deal with the complexity of global leadership. In essence, global leaders must have a greater psychological and intellectual capacity and must deal with more complexity, and they require deeper and different knowledge and skills than domestic leaders do.
Table 2.2: Characteristics of global leaders
Knowledge and skills Intellectual Psychological (personality/style)
Capacity (a breadth of new ideas and concepts on systems, markets, and political and socioeconomic issues) Complexity (a broad set of behaviors to call upon)
Capacity (intelligence) Cognitive complexity (ability to differentiate a number of constructs and integrate concepts in different ways) Expert intuition (common sense, or the integration of experience over time in a unique way, applied to a particular challenge)
Open minded Nonjudgmental Inquisitive/learning orientation Self-aware Tolerance for ambiguity Ability to establish trusting relationships with those different from self
Beechler, S., & Baltzley, D. (2009). Identifying and developing global leaders. In J. Storey, P. M. Wright, & D. Ulrich (Eds.), The Routledge companion to strategic human resource management (pp. 410–432). New York, NY: Routledge. Adapted by permission of Taylor & Francis Books, UK.
As we discussed previously, leading one's self requires self-assessment, self-monitoring, and self-regulation. Self-leadership means becoming a continuous learner. This means being aware of the need for, valuing, and being committed to acquiring, changing, and applying skills, knowledge, abilities, or perspectives (Mone, 2011). The next chapter examines learning and development practice in detail. Within the context of leading one's self, leaders must analyze and determine the extent to which their environments offer the right kinds of opportunities for learning and development. Assessment 2.6 is a self-assessment that leaders can use for that purpose. This assessment contains questions that are more complex than those found in the other assessments in this chapter, so although it is possible to answer with a simple yes or no, consider re�lecting on each answer.
Assessment 2.6: Am I Being Offered Opportunities for Learning and Development?
Click here (https://ne.edgecastcdn.net/0004BA/constellation/PDFs/MGT460_2e/Assessment2.6.pdf) to download this assessment.
Instructions: Answer the following questions to analyze and determine the extent to which your environment offers the right kinds of opportunities for learning and development. Re�lect on your answers. If you determine that you have a good learning environment, enjoy it, for that is not frequently the case. If you have some concerns, for example, you would like more performance feedback or development suggestions, consider having an open discussion with your supervisor to express your needs in a constructive manner and offer ways that he or she can help.
1. Do I receive feedback about my job performance? How often? Do I �ind this helpful or not? Why? Is this typical for leaders in my organization? 2. Does my supervisor suggest ways I can develop? Does my supervisor provide opportunities for me to participate in developmental experiences? 3. Do learning and development happen primarily in training or executive education programs off the job? Or am I continuously given new
assignments and job experiences for the purposes of learning and development? 4. Am I evaluated on how much I've learned during the last year? 5. Are there consequences for my making a mistake, doing the wrong thing, or not meeting my performance goals? How severe are the
consequences? 6. Does my supervisor ensure that information is available to help me track my job performance and goal accomplishment?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 17/41
7. In evaluating my performance, does my supervisor compare my results with preset goals or behavioral standards? Does my supervisor compare me to other leaders who have similar levels of accountability and responsibility? Does my supervisor compare my current performance to my past performance to identify areas of improvement, decline, or stability?
8. Does my supervisor inspire me to do my best? Does my supervisor communicate a clear sense of mission for the organization and me? 9. Does my supervisor convey a strong and clear set of values for how I should do my work? Does my supervisor have a code of proper conduct? 10. Does my supervisor discuss with me the goals of the organization and how the organization is changing? 11. Does my supervisor encourage me to get involved in setting work plans and departmental objectives? 12. Does my supervisor encourage my initiative and creativity?
Source: Copyright 2003 From Job feedback: Giving, seeking, and using feedback for performance improvement (2nd ed.) by M. London. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. Why should leaders pay attention to environmental clues, particularly those from within their organizations? 2. What is a competency model? 3. Why would an organization's competency model be important to leaders at all hierarchical levels? 4. In your own words, how would you differentiate global from domestic leaders?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 18/41
The cycle of experiential learning involves re�lection, interpretation, and testing.
Caia Images/Caia Images/SuperStock
2.4 Identifying Learning Styles and Drivers of Self-Development
Leaders need to be engaged in continuous learning, but it is also important to acknowledge that people have different styles or preferences when it comes to learning, and these should be considered when engaging in learning activities. As leaders assess their leadership capabilities and characteristics, they need to be thinking about ways they can improve. Today's fast pace of change requires continuous learning, but the need for learning can also be driven by personal re�lection, life events, and developmental transitions. Leaders need to learn to maintain high levels of performance, increase their chances for advancement, and, perhaps more importantly, hone their ability to adapt to changing conditions, regardless of their origin. Leaders who understand their learning styles—that is, how they learn best—can better plan their learning and be more effective and continuous learners.
Learning Styles
People learn in different ways. David Kolb (1984, 1985), a researcher at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, theorized that effective learning occurs when a learner passes through a cycle composed of four parts, or modes:
1. Concrete experience: The set of feelings and attitudes we derive from active participation in an event or activity
2. Re�lective observation: What we learn from observing others and re�lecting on our own behavior Caia Images/Caia Images/SuperStock
3. Abstract conceptualization: Sense making, the meaning (explanations, rationale, understanding) we derive from our experiences and observations, our sense of why things happen, what behaviors have different effects, and what we can do to change our behavior and bring about different outcomes
4. Active experimentation: The practice of trying out new behaviors and forming new habits
Kolb called this the cycle of experiential learning. In short, our learning involves reacting to experiences, re�lecting on what we are doing, or have done, and its consequences, conceptualizing the meaning of what happened (that is, interpreting it and comparing it with our expectations and prior experiences, which form the way we view the world), and testing this conceptualization through new ways of working—and then the cycle begins all over again. Consider how a marketing director might experience this cycle:
1. The director derives a set of feelings and attitudes about how she communicated her department vision at a town hall meeting and how the East Coast marketing employees reacted.
2. The director re�lects on the event, including the kinds of questions employees asked and the feedback later received from the managers in the audience. 3. The director evaluates and tries to makes sense of the experience and the feedback, noting what might have worked well and what did not. 4. The director then experiments by trying out a modi�ied approach at her West Coast town hall meeting the following week.
Training, executive education, coaching, and feedback can be the stimulus for leaders to engage in the learning cycle. For example, a leadership development program may provide leaders with feedback ratings of their behavior from their direct reports and colleagues. The leaders react to the feedback, accepting it or rationalizing it in some way, perhaps denying negative feedback, perhaps attributing the feedback to disgruntled subordinates. The program may include videos or other demonstrations to show different forms of leadership. The program facilitator may moderate a discussion among the leaders/participants about transactional and transformational leadership behaviors. Then the leaders/participants might have a chance to role-play, practicing these behaviors. Ultimately, the leaders/participants return to their jobs and have a chance to apply what they learned, and the cycle begins anew. A follow-up visit from a coach could prompt the leader to consider feelings, think about outcomes, reward success, and �ine-tune changes in leadership behavior.
Leaders, like others, will vary in their preference for these different modes or parts of the learning cycle, with some preferring to learn from their feelings, others through their observations or their conceptualizations (thinking things through). Others will prefer experimenting with different behaviors, or learning through trial and error. How do you think you learn best? Do you learn best from concrete experiences, re�lecting on what you observe, abstract conceptualization, or active experimentation?
Some people prefer to learn through a combination of two modes of learning. When combined, two modes form a distinct learning style, as shown in Figure 2.2. Kolb (1984, 1985) outlined four different styles:
1. Convergers: People who solve problems through hypothetical-deductive reasoning (learning from thinking and doing—abstract conceptualization and active experimentation). Leaders who are convergers learn by developing their own theories about leadership effectiveness and trying them out. These leaders consider different alternatives, reasons for them, and the implications of alternative courses of action.
2. Divergers: People who solve problems by seeking many viewpoints through brainstorming to generate a range of ideas (learning from feeling and watching—concrete experience and re�lective observation). Leaders who are divergers analyze their own and others' leadership experiences and change their own behavior as they observe and experience what works best in different situations. These leaders change their behavior based on what seems to be most comfortable for them and others.
3. Assimilators: People who solve problems by inductive reasoning through creating theoretical models of the way things work (learning from watching and thinking—re�lective observation and abstract conceptualization). Leaders who are assimilators learn by making sense of their observations of what they and other leaders do. They form theories about leadership based on their observations of their own and others' actions, essentially learning from facts.
4. Accommodators: People who solve problems by implementing their plans and seeing what happens as they adapt to current conditions (learning from feeling and doing—concrete experience and active experimentation). Leaders who are accommodators learn by exploring alternatives, experimenting, and then applying what works best on the job. This is hands-on, trial-and-error learning.
Figure 2.2: Kolb's learning modes and styles
Kolb's four modes form a cycle of four stages of learning: concrete experience (feeling), re�lective observation (watching), abstract conceptualization (thinking), and active experimentation (doing). Each of the learning styles is a combination of two learning stages. For example, the converging learning style
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 19/41
describes those who learn from thinking and doing and is shown between stages three and four of the cycle, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation.
Source: Kolb, David A., Experiential Learning: Experience as a Source of Learning & Development, 1st Ed. © 1984. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., New York, New York.
Think about the senior-level leaders you know. Where do you think they �it on Kolb's model? Or you might ask yourself where you �it on Kolb's model. Are you a converger, a diverger, an assimilator, or an accommodator? Most people have a predominant style, using the other styles to varying degrees. Do you think you have a predominant learning style? If you tend to favor one style over another, consider those styles you are not using. Do you think you can enhance your own leadership skills by trying out different learning styles? What support would you need to help you? Perhaps you would bene�it from asking your direct reports how they feel about your leadership, observing leaders who have been successful in your organization (for example, executives who were promoted recently), holding a discussion about what forms of leadership work best, collecting and analyzing data about leadership, and trying and practicing new ways of leading.
Drivers of Self-Development
Self-motivated, self-regulated leaders will seek learning opportunities continuously. They seek and use feedback, set development goals, engage in development activities, and track their progress. As suggested by Kolb's theory of experiential learning, leaders will learn by watching others and from their own experiences. Learning from others and our experiences requires re�lecting on what we learned, perhaps by keeping a learning diary, to capture the learning and recall it when needed.
Leaders also learn when faced with challenges and transitions. This might include being promoted to a higher level of responsibility, being given a critical assignment to perform, or facing a dif�icult situation, such as a recalcitrant subordinate or harassing supervisor. These are the times when leaders' prior experiences do not inform them of how to act appropriately and effectively. In these instances, leaders may not have tried-and-true behaviors or habits on which to rely. They will need a new repertoire of behaviors to �it the new situation. So leaders may examine what others have done, experiment with different courses of action (the trial-and-error, sink-or-swim approach), or seek guidance. Training programs and workshops are often created and designed to help leaders by simulating these new and challenging situations and then giving leaders a chance to practice without facing the consequences of having made a bad on-the-job decision.
Learning that is prompted by signi�icant challenges or disorienting dilemmas often results in transformational learning (Mezirow, 1991; Mezirow & Associates, 2000), or the life-changing transformation of perspectives. This may happen if a leader is relocated to a foreign country for the �irst time, or is demoted to a lesser role, or becomes a member of the company's executive team. These circumstances may result in the need for the leader to reevaluate worldviews. In a leader's personal life, getting married, getting divorced, or having a child could each result in the transformation of the leader's perspectives.
Developing as an adult, in general, also gives rise to the need for continuous learning. Levinson provided a practical theory that describes how the transitions between the various "seasons of life" prompt the need for assessment, self-re�lection, and reassessment. This is a process of continuous learning. His theory of seasons of adulthood unfolds in two major works, The Seasons of a Man's Life (1978) and The Seasons of a Woman's Life (1996). Note, however, that the general ideas of the theory apply to both men and women (Bee & Bjorklund, 2004).
Levinson saw life as having an underlying pattern or structure, composed of broad eras and transition periods (see Table 2.3). Eras last 25 years or so and can also be called "seasons" or "times in life." Transition periods are de�ined as developmental periods lasting about 5 years when basic changes in life occur; they are considered part of both related eras, serving to link those eras and provide continuity between them. In adulthood, each era consists of three stages: two stable stages—a life-building stage and a life-culminating stage—and a life transition stage that occurs between the two stable stages. A life-building stage is de�ined as the underlying pattern or design of a person's life at a given time, involving one's occupation, personal relationships (e.g., marriage and family), relationship to self, values, lifestyle, etc. A life transition phase is characterized as a time for questioning and reappraising where one is in life and making choices for how one will move forward. A life-culminating stage is characterized by re�lection, feeling a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, and not ruminating on regrets.
Table 2.3: Levinson's seasons of adulthood
Era of pre-adulthood: Ages 0–22
Era of early adulthood: Ages 17–45 Era of middle adulthood: Ages 40–65 Era of late adulthood: Ages 60–?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 20/41
Most of the challenges we encounter in early adulthood deal with establishing ourselves in a career.
Hero Images/Hero Images/SuperStock
Early adult transition period Ages 17–22
Age 30 life transition
Midlife transition period Ages 40–45
Age 50 life transition
Late adult transition period Ages 60–65
Life culmination transition
Source: Adapted from Levinson, 1978
Consider the implications of Levinson's theory for leadership by examining the challenges of each of Levinson's developmental eras (adapted from Levinson, 1978):
During the early adulthood era, a leader should
Formulate career goals. Create a mentor relationship. Develop a realistic self-assessment of one's skills and abilities, as well as self- con�idence. Choose an area of competence. Deal with setbacks and disappointments.
During the middle adulthood era, a leader should
Become a mentor to others. Reassess one's talent and abilities. Capitalize on and use one's wisdom and experience over technical knowledge. Focus on the larger organization and society over one's self.
During the late adulthood era, a leader should
Ensure the selection and development of future leaders.
Levinson's model indicates that people are most receptive to learning during stages of transition in their lives and careers; the transition stages of your career are the times when you are likely to be most receptive to self-assessment. Mezirow added that the learning might be transformational in how one views the world. This does not mean that a leader can neglect learning until a major career transition happens. You should not ignore self-assessment at other stages when things are going well or are at least stable. We believe that continuous learning is the hallmark of a good leader, and leaders who do not learn and improve continuously are unlikely to be ready to move upward in the organizational hierarchy. Instead, the transition may be unemployment, �inding a new job, demotion, or a career change. Of course, these downward and lateral moves require learning as well and may be more signi�icant transitions because they are emotionally painful. Even these dif�icult transitions require a continuous learning mentality. Leaders who are ready and eager learners at all times will be most successful in preparing for future uncertainties whether they are positive or not.
Take Assessment 2.7 to determine whether you are a continuous learner and where you might be able to improve.
Assessment 2.7: Are You a Continuous Learner?
Click here (https://ne.edgecastcdn.net/0004BA/constellation/PDFs/MGT460_2e/Assessment2.7.pdf) to download this assessment.
Instructions: Answer the following questions, and re�lect on your answers. Each question highlights an avenue for continuous learning. The more you respond favorably to each question, the more proactive you are about being a continuous learner. Continue with the behaviors you currently use and consider exploring some of the avenues that you use less frequently or don't use at all.
1. When you receive feedback about your performance from your supervisor, do you listen for ways in which you can improve? 2. Do you tend to compare yourself to others who are performing well? 3. How often do you think about how well you are doing on the job? Daily? Weekly? Once in a while? 4. How diligently do you look for information about how well you are doing? Do you go out of your way to seek it, or do you take it as it comes? 5. Are you likely to ask your supervisor or others to critique your performance? Are you inclined to ask your supervisor or others what you can do
to improve? 6. Are you likely to ask your supervisor for information about the wider organization? 7. Do you set development goals for yourself, or do you wait for direction from your immediate supervisor? 8. Are you likely to volunteer for new projects and job assignments, or do you wait for them to come your way? 9. Do you monitor your career progress closely, checking it against your goals and time lines? 10. When discontent with your job or career progress, are you likely to take steps to change jobs or career directions, or are you likely to wait and see
what happens?
Source: Copyright 2002 From Leadership development: Paths to self-insight and professional growth by M. London. Reproduced by permission of Taylor and Francis Group, LLC, a division of Informa plc.
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. De�ine converger, diverger, assimilator, and accommodator. Do you prefer a certain way to learn? How does your preferred style of learning affect the development opportunities you select for yourself?
2. What are the stages of career transition? Why are people more likely to learn during these stages? 3. What behaviors are indicative of someone who is a continuous learner?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 21/41
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 22/41
If you were in Carolyn's situation, how would you approach your new team, environment, and boss?
Hero Images Inc./SuperStock
2.5 Learning From New Experiences and Others' Challenges
In Section 2.4, we discussed the importance of learning styles, drivers of self-development, and continuous learning for leaders. In this section and sections 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, and 2.9, we discuss opportunities for leadership development. As a leader, you have many opportunities to learn. This includes taking advantage of the knowledge you gain from self-assessment, such as through the questionnaires and re�lection questions throughout this chapter, and feedback from others and using this information to acquire new skills and knowledge and improve your performance and career prospects.
The key is taking advantage of learning opportunities and recognizing when you have learned something about yourself and acquired new and useful skills. This is important because often learning happens in indirect ways—not like taking a course that gives you information about particular skills and gives you an opportunity to practice. For instance, you will learn from new experiences and from observing others. You will also learn from feedback. This may come from different sources, sometimes in formal ways, such as a performance review from your supervisor, and sometimes in informal ways, such as discussions with your supervisor or coworkers. Your organization may offer feedback processes, such as 360-degree surveys that ask your supervisor, coworkers, subordinates, and customers to evaluate your leadership behaviors and then give you a summary report. You may have a chance to attend an assessment center where you participate in leadership simulations and then receive feedback. Other sources of feedback are role models, mentors, and coaches who may be your coworkers or other professionals. We also describe formal leadership training and development programs you may have a chance to attend. We review these different opportunities for leadership development in the next few sections.
Learning From New Experiences
Recall that challenges and transitions—that is, new experiences—can act as drivers of self- development. Leaders cannot rely on prior experiences for information and must learn how to act appropriately and effectively. How does one go about learning from a new experience? Consider Carolyn, a newly promoted leader. Carolyn is in her early thirties. She is employed at the same company she has worked at since graduating from college, but during her tenure, she has been promoted twice, completed a master's degree by going to school part time, and managed teams that made important contributions to the company's product line. She has been an effective team leader and is recognized for her technical prowess. Carolyn's boss recommended that Carolyn be promoted to a regional management position, and now, without training or other preparation, she has relocated to a new of�ice and has a new and larger team of professionals to direct. How should Carolyn approach this situation? How would you approach this situation?
If you were in Carolyn's position, would you do any of the following? We have provided some additional considerations for each choice.
Find a respected, more experienced leader who is willing to provide guidance and be a mentor. – But how would you �ind such a person, someone you could trust to listen to your frustrations and uncertainties without perceiving you as incompetent? Ask your new supervisor for advice and feedback. – You want an open, honest relationship with your new boss and hope that you can express your ideas and perceptions of your team members without being seen negatively. Find colleagues who have been in similar situations. – But what if you don't know anyone whom you can trust and who is successful in the situation, because you don't want advice from just anyone? Search for books or articles on these types of transitions. – These are readily available, but they take time to read and may not provide advice speci�ic to your situation. Gain permission to enroll in an executive education program. – Maybe the company offers such opportunities or provides comparable in-house training. Large companies often have extensive managerial training courses available. Are you sure your company would pay for you to attend an external program and give you the time off to do so?
If one or more of these options are available to you, you can choose the ones that best �it your learning style. If you are a self-motivated learner, you are probably used to seeking the support you need to facilitate your learning. Even if the company does not provide the learning resources, you may have actively sought them yourself to meet the challenges you know you will face now or in the near future. The danger is in succumbing to barriers to learning from developmental assignments. Table 2.4 outlines these barriers and how to overcome them.
Table 2.4: Developmental assignments: Blocks and aids to learning
Blocks to learning Aids to learning
Delaying or making quick decisions in response to uncertainty Develop tolerance for ambiguity; remain open; don't jump to answers quickly
Seeking only senior-level organization members for counsel and feedback
Learn from the successes and failures of own efforts, and open up to all others for feedback
Doing what you always do; repeating what worked in the past Re�lect on what is new and different; develop new and appropriate strategies
Having low self-awareness Develop awareness of strengths and weaknesses and how they link together
Being unaware of impact, how others are seeing you Consider interpersonal impact, how day-to-day actions affect others
Taking problems personally; becoming emotionally erratic Develop emotional intelligence; focus on recognizing and managing one's emotions
Being political and future focused, maybe seeing the assignment as a stepping-stone
Focus on solving problems, getting results, and working to engage with subordinates and colleagues
Avoiding accountability, particularly regarding one's own mistakes Grow comfortable admitting to and owning mistakes; learn from them
Source: Adapted from Preventing Derailment: What to Do Before It's Too Late by M. M. Lombardo and R. W. Eichinger, 1989, Greensboro, NC: Center for Creative Leadership.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 23/41
While it is beyond the scope of this text to cover every new experience you might face, relocating to another country is worth mentioning. In today's increasingly global environment, international job assignments are very common. You may know the job well, but relocating to another country, especially one in which people speak a different language or possess very different cultural norms, will be a challenge. Can you imagine moving from Missouri to Beijing? A lesser challenge would be moving from New York to London. Relocating under any circumstance can be dif�icult. Moving to a strange environment adds to the pressure. This may be exacerbated if you are moving with your family and perhaps just as dif�icult if you are leaving your family behind and expecting to return home on short visits and communicate by computer and phone.
There are a variety of options for learning to prepare yourself for the challenge of accepting an assignment in a foreign country. Again, consider your learning style. For example, if you learn by concrete experience, then make short preparatory visits to the new location. If you learn best through re�lection, then read books on the culture, talk to those from the country or to those who have relocated to it, or sign up for cultural assimilation workshops to help with the adjustment.
So now, imagine you are in a leadership role relocating to this new country. Not only are you doing your own work and coordinating with others who call the country home, but you will also be leading them. You might be head of operations, vice president of marketing in the region, or simply a new team leader. Your company might provide strong support and training to help you adjust, or you might be left to your own devices as a proven leader, someone who has shown great potential in your home country. You will need to make a deliberate assessment of the situation on a daily basis, �ind others on whom to rely for advice and guidance, and formulate a development plan to make this a successful experience. It will take very good self-monitoring and self-regulatory skills, and these skills will need to be honed along the way. It is important to develop strategies to handle new, unfamiliar situations in the future.
Learning From Others' Challenges
Your colleagues may be very willing to describe their experiences and are likely to tout their successes. But they may be less willing to share their failures or to describe their decisions or experiences as less than successful. People generally are inclined to be self-enhancing. They want to think of themselves positively, and they want others to see them this way. So the way they portray their less-than-positive experiences may not be accurate. Your job as a keen observer is to collect a range of observations, dissect them, inquire of others who were exposed to the same situations, and draw conclusions that will be valuable to you. It is helpful when others can engage in this process with you through discussion about a given situation. But when this is not the case, you need to go it alone.
Think about what you observed, perhaps describing it to others who are not in the situation, and test your conclusions. Then take what you learned and test it out. If you observed someone who was successful and you think you know why, try the same behavior and see what happens. For instance, if a leader was especially successful driving a complex project and completing the project on time, to what do you attribute the leader's success? Was it structuring the task? Giving team members free rein? Would this work for you? Try it with your team on a small task. See whether you are comfortable leading in the same way. See if your team members react positively. Ask them for feedback about how they felt about your actions. Then adjust your leadership strategies to see if you can improve the situation further. Or, if necessary, try a new strategy.
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. What are at least three blocks to learning from developmental assignments? 2. What are at least three aids to learning from developmental assignments? 3. In what ways are observing others' challenges a learning experience for us?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 24/41
LEGO CEO Jørgen Vig Knudstorp discusses the importance of pursuing honest feedback.
Pursuing Honest Feedback
Pursuing Honest Feedback From Title: Flatterers and Truthful Advisors: The Mind of ...
(https://fod.infobase.com/PortalPlaylists.aspx?wID=100753&xtid=48936)
0:00 / 2:37 1x
Critical Thinking Questions
1. How might managers apply Knudstorp's advice? 2. Knudstorp offered several methods for getting
feedback from employees. Brainstorm other ways to pursue feedback.
2.6 Learning From Feedback: Supervisors and 360 Degrees
Feedback helps leaders to better understand their strengths and weaknesses; however, people often shy away from feedback (London, 2001). This section and Section 2.7 examine three major sources of feedback that will help leaders to become more effective self-leaders by focusing on their development. These three major areas of feedback are supervisor feedback, 360-degree feedback, and assessment center feedback.
Feedback Overview
The following are key points about feedback in general (Kluger & DeNisi, 1996):
People generally do not like to give it or receive it, even if the feedback is positive. Feedback can have negative consequences, threatening the recipient's self-esteem. Feedback that focuses on one's personality or takes the form of general statements will not be helpful. Constructive feedback should focus on behaviors and be as speci�ic as possible about these behaviors with some suggestions about what the individual could have done differently.
Good self-monitoring skills (Caldwell & O'Reilly, 1982) and high self-esteem will make one more receptive to feedback. Good self-monitors are very attuned to expectations, regularly compare themselves with others, and are likely to change their behaviors, while being resilient, self-con�ident, and demonstrating high levels of self-esteem (Mone & London, 2010). However, many leaders consider it a risk to ask for feedback and avoid doing so. Take Assessment 2.8 to determine how comfortable you are with asking for and receiving feedback.
A leader's reaction to feedback is likely to be in�luenced by whether the leader is motivated to avoid failure, demonstrate the ability to be successful, or to learn, coupled with little concern for the consequences. When motivated to learn—meaning, having a learning goal orientation—leaders are more likely to seek feedback (London, 2002). In fact, learning goal orientation is an aspect of one's personality or disposition and an important predictor of how leaders will react to feedback. VandeWalle (1997) developed a survey instrument to measure learning goal orientation, which you can take in Assessment 2.9.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 25/41
Leaders should not rationalize their unwillingness to seek supervisor feedback. Why is it important for a leader to obtain effective feedback?
Siri Stafford/DIgitalVision/Thinkstock
Supervisor Feedback
Feedback from a leader's supervisor can be valuable. After all, hopefully the supervisor is engaged with his or her direct report to set performance and development goals and to clarify expectations. Having an open line of communication with direct reports positions the supervisor quite well in the role of feedback provider, as well as coach.
The effectiveness of a supervisor's feedback will depend on the supervisor's skill in and comfort with giving feedback. It also depends on the extent to which the supervisor has a chance to observe performance, which, as a rule, means the higher the leadership position in the organization, the fewer the opportunities for frequent contact and observation of a direct report's performance in action. This is also why input from other sources may be helpful to leaders in �ine-tuning their effectiveness.
Leaders should not be passive about getting feedback from their supervisors. For example, if they don't feel they are getting effective feedback in terms of quantity or quality, they are responsible for talking to their supervisors about it and asking how to make the feedback more appropriate. However, this does raise the question of the need for leaders to be comfortable with asking for feedback. In fact, if managers and leaders agree with any of the statements in Assessment 2.8 (Are You Comfortable Requesting and Receiving Feedback?), they are likely making excuses— rationalizations—for not approaching their supervisors for feedback.
To ensure that leaders do get effective feedback from their supervisors, consider the following guidelines, which have been modi�ied from guidelines for supervisors giving feedback to their direct reports. To receive effective feedback from their supervisors, leaders should
Request feedback as soon as possible following the event. Be ready to discuss the event or situation in detail, but try not to do so when they are frustrated, angry, or tired. Describe speci�ically the concern or question to be discussed and the feedback they want. Use factual information, but also present their points of view. Initially be descriptive rather than evaluative. Focus on behaviors, not personality. Be open and willing to listen to what the supervisor has to say. Respect the supervisor's insights and opinions. Address both effective performance and areas needing improvement. Gain agreement to and support for implementing necessary action plans. (Based on Hillman, Schwandt, & Bartz, 1990; adapted by London, 1997, p. 90, and London, 2002, p. 122)
These guidelines can also serve as a guide for evaluating the extent to which leaders are effective at seeking and acting on their supervisor's feedback.
360-Degree Feedback
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 26/41
Figure 2.4: Kristin's 360-degree feedback
What is 360-degree (multi-rater) feedback? It is feedback about behavior and performance from those "circling" the leader—the leader's supervisor, colleagues, direct reports, and perhaps customers and senior-level management, too (see Figure 2.3).
Figure 2.3: 360-degree feedback
In 360-degree feedback, performance data are collected from various sources, providing more perspectives than supervisor-only feedback would.
Fundamentals of 360-Degree Feedback
This type of feedback is typically collected via an automated survey, but the data can also be collected through one-to-one interviews. Respondents rate behaviors important to the business, usually the key leadership behaviors as re�lected in the company's leadership competency model. The behaviors included may also re�lect the company's core values. Ratings are aggregated for groups of respondents; self and supervisor ratings are reported separately.
When 360-degree feedback is collected depends on its purpose. The results can be used as input for administrative decisions, such as performance, pay, or promotions, and thus conducted on an annual basis as part of the performance appraisal process. Or, 360-degree feedback can be gathered on an ad hoc basis as part of a leadership development program or in conjunction with coaching and used solely as a source of feedback for development. In fact, this is when the 360- degree survey results are most useful.
Regardless, the results are con�idential. When used for development, typically only the individual, the human resources department, and, if there is one, the individual's coach see the results. If used for administrative purposes, the results will be shared with those making the decisions. Case Study: The Vice President's 360-Degree Feedback describes an example of how a leader bene�ited and learned from a developmentally focused 360-degree feedback survey.
Case Study: The Vice President's 360-Degree Feedback
Kristin, a vice president in �inance, was asked by her supervisor, Bill, along with his other direct reports, to participate in a 360-degree feedback process. Bill participated in the process himself and found it quite helpful. One of the authors of this book was the coach working with Bill and his team.
Kristin's feedback, on the whole, was good, at least average when compared to norms for other leaders. However, she learned a very valuable lesson: her supervisor, colleagues, and direct reports each saw her strengths and weaknesses somewhat differently—and differently from how Kristin saw herself. She was bothered by this, believing that her behavior was more consistent.
One of the assignments she was given between sessions with her coach was to pick an area where there were greater differences in ratings and to ask her supervisor, as well as one or two colleagues and direct reports, about the ratings.
What Kristin learned was that the differences were valid. In particular, her direct reports found her "stressed and controlling." Kristin was relatively new to her role, and upon re�lection with her coach, she eventually realized that given the pressure of the new role,
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 27/41
Photo credits: -Robbie-/iStock/Thinkstock; BananaStock/Thinkstock; stockyimages/iStock/Thinkstock; gzorgz/iStock/Thinkstock
As a leader, what steps might you take to prepare yourself for coworkers' evaluations of you?
Hero Images Inc./Hero Images/SuperStock
the expectation for high levels of performance, and the ongoing restructuring of the �inance organization, she resorted to more transactional rather than transformational behaviors. She was no longer self-monitoring, and, in fact, the pressure and organizational changes were affecting her self-esteem. To be successful, she unconsciously began micromanaging her team, in essence counting on herself more and creating greater degrees of stress for herself, diminishing her team's ability to act with empowerment and autonomy, which further worsened the team's performance.
Once Kristin understood this dynamic, she worked with her coach and supervisor to develop new strategies, including setting clearer goals and expectations for her team members and then holding each accountable for his or her own performance. She also realized that she needed to better monitor her own performance and behavior and that she should ask for feedback on a more regular basis to ensure she is being effective.
Re�lection Questions
1. How aware do you think Kristin was of her behavior toward her team? Do you think she demonstrated a high degree of self-consciousness?
2. From the perspective of continuous learning, what avenues would you suggest Kristin incorporate into her development approach?
Learning from 360-degree feedback requires leaders to be open to others' perspectives and points of view. Many leaders are initially surprised at their results, particularly as they focus on their low-scoring areas. If these same leaders are conscientious, they take their results quite seriously, even if they are surprised, if not disappointed, by the lower ratings. In effect, this sets up their motivation to learn. One executive in a recent leadership program said the following to the facilitator of the program, Edward Mone (one of the authors), after reviewing his 360-degree feedback results:
I was surprised—almost hurt—to see that my team rated me low on empowerment. But I realize now based on the comments in the report and the ratings in general that I did not trust them to deliver the expected results, and as a consequence, I was micromanaging them like crazy. The more I micromanaged them, the more they expected me to chase after them, and the less accountable they felt for their deliverables and meeting deadlines. I must share these results with my team, and �igure out how we can rebuild our mutual trust, making them more empowered and letting me then focus on the more strategic aspects of my job.
What is the most effective way to learn from 360-degree feedback? Of course, seeing results from the various rater groups gives leaders insight into whether they are behaving consistently, which in some ways is similar to acting with integrity. Leaders may learn more when their behavior is seen quite differently by each rater group. Leaders also learn from comparing the ratings for each behavior, helping them to determine their strengths as well as areas for development. In addition, a signi�icant way to capitalize on the feedback and to generate learning is to discuss the results with those in the different rater groups. When doing so, select areas where those raters may have rated you lower than other stakeholders, or even lower than your self-ratings, and where you have questions about particular ratings or comments in general, regardless of the rating. You may be surprised by a rating that is much higher than your self-rating, and it would be helpful to understand why.
Ideally, leaders will react to 360-degree feedback with an open mind and a strong desire to evaluate themselves by learning about how others view them. Conversely, leaders who are defensive are likely to be closed to and dismissive of others' perspectives (Taylor & Bright, 2011). For instance, leaders are likely to rate themselves highly, and so they may be in for a shock when they see that others' ratings of them are not as positive. As a result, they will be defensive. However, one approach to reduce defensiveness is to ask the leaders to predict how others will rate them. This can be done on the survey instead of, or in addition to, self-ratings. Alternatively, the feedback report explanation, perhaps delivered by a coach, can ask the leader to predict others' ratings before they see the results. This will encourage leaders to think about how others see them before they receive the results. In making their predictions, leaders are likely to be harder on themselves than others are, or at least leaders may admit up front that others have less-than-favorable views on some elements of their behavior. Predicting ratings and comparing them to the actual ratings received from others may increase leaders' open-mindedness and lessen their defensiveness, and as a result generate more learning (Taylor & Bright, 2011).
What can you do if you want 360-degree feedback now? You do not have to wait for a 360- degree survey to be administered by your organization. Develop a list of behaviors that you believe are important to your being an effective leader. If you are working, draw on the competencies that your organization may use in its annual performance appraisal form or that are the topics for leadership training in your corporate education center. Indicate how
you would evaluate yourself on these behaviors and predict how you think others would rate you. Are there differences in your self-ratings and your predicted ratings? If so, why? This will help you think about development needs without even receiving feedback.
Alternatively, you can ask others how they see you. Make this an informal discussion, one to one with people whose opinions you trust. Ask them what they think your strengths and weaknesses are and what areas you should concentrate on to do better. This situation may make you feel vulnerable, and you do not want to give the impression that you are seeking only positive feedback. Instead, you want to convey that you are indeed open to constructive information. Ask for both positive information—what you do well—and ways you can improve. Then put this information to use by formulating a leadership development plan for yourself for the next 6 months. You might discuss this with the individual(s) who gave you informal feedback. Go back to them 6 months later to repeat the discussion and see if they have noticed a difference. In addition to determining if you are actually doing better, this will have the side bene�it of showing others that you are open and willing to learn to be a better leader.
Leaders who are high self-regulators but low self-monitors will probably be surprised to learn that others' ratings will be more similar, on average, to their self- ratings. Certain characteristics tend to result in greater similarity between self and other ratings. These characteristics include the following (Atwater & Yammarino, 1997):
Intelligence
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 28/41
Scale:
1 = Very dissatis�ied 5 = Satis�ied
2 = Dissatis�ied 6 = Very satis�ied
3 = Somewhat dissatis�ied N = No opportunity to observe
4 = Somewhat satis�ied
_____1. Jointly sets performance objectives with you.
_____2. Supports you in developing your career plans.
High self-ef�icacy High internal locus of control High and stable self-esteem Self-awareness High private self-awareness (in touch with their inner thoughts and feelings) High interpersonal sensitivity and feelings Tendency to demand a lot of themselves
Leaders who are open to new experiences and high in conscientiousness will also be more accepting of the feedback—less resistant—and more willing to take action on the results so that they can be as successful as possible.
Analysis of Sample 360-Degree Feedback
In a 360-degree feedback survey, a leader's direct reports will complete what is known as the "upward" section of the survey. You can read through a sample upward survey at the end of this section. The direct reports' ratings are then averaged before being shown to the leader. Read the sample report in Table 2.5 as if it shows results for you and your direct report team. What do you notice? For example, do you see that your direct reports rated you equal to or better than the organization norm? What does that tell you? If this were your report, you would also notice that you rated yourself slightly higher than your direct reports did, particularly when it comes to setting goals and providing the support to their jobs. What else do you see?
Table 2.5: Abbreviated sample feedback report
Behavior Mean ratings Range Number of directs responding *Norm
Self Direct report Low High Number
Jointly sets performance goals with you 5 3 1 4 7 3
Supports you in developing your career plans 4 4 2 4 8 4
Motivates you to do a good job 6 5 3 6 8 4
Gives you authority to do your job 5 4 3 5 8 3
Provides the support necessary to help you do your job 6 4 2 5 7 4
*Norm: The average of all leaders in the organization
Usually, the results report includes a guide for interpretation. Here are some basics related to this abbreviated report that would most likely be included in the guide:
Look at the number of responding direct reports. The more who respond, the greater the degree to which the results represent the work group. Compare your self-ratings to the average direct report ratings. What does that tell you? Look at the norm ratings to understand how your results compare with how other leaders in the organization were rated by their direct reports. Are you rated higher, lower, or about the same? What does that tell you?
Most guides include information about available training and developmental experiences that would be useful for developing competency in each category represented on the survey.
Finally, to make the most of the 360-degree feedback and to capitalize on learning from the experience, leaders can take the following actions (London, 2002):
Initiate a discussion with your superior about your development needs and career plans. Prepare a written plan concerning your developmental goals and activities. Set speci�ic goals for development. Target a speci�ic skill for improvement. Initiate a discussion with your peers and direct reports about your development needs and plans. Make a verbal commitment to your supervisor, peers, and direct reports to make improvements in your skills or performance.
Considering the Upward Survey
The following is an example of the upward section of a 360-degree feedback survey, which a leader's direct reports would complete. Consider �illing it out for your supervisor (or predicting how your direct reports would respond). Click here (https://ne.edgecastcdn.net/0004BA/constellation/PDFs/MGT460_2e/Considering_the_Upward_Survey_rev2.pdf) to take this assessment.
Instructions: An important aspect of leadership is people management. This survey focuses on your satisfaction with the relationship you have with your supervisor. Use the scale below to rate your supervisor. Indicate the number that best describes your rating. Use "N" to indicate you have had insuf�icient opportunity to accurately gauge your degree of satisfaction. Your responses will be averaged with those from other colleagues who also report to your supervisor.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 29/41
_____3. Motivates you to do a good job.
_____4. Gives you the authority to do your job.
_____5. Provides the support necessary to help you do your job.
_____6. Understands the work to be done within your work group.
_____7. Is available to you when needed.
_____8. Encourages innovation and creativity.
_____9. Holds employees accountable for meeting performance objectives.
_____10. Keeps commitments.
_____11. Allows adequate training time for you.
_____12. Provides ongoing performance feedback.
_____13. Provided a useful performance appraisal within the past year.
_____14. Conducts productive staff meetings.
_____15. Demonstrates trust and con�idence in you.
_____16. Treats you with dignity and respect.
_____17. Informs you about issues affecting you.
_____18. Balances the work load fairly.
_____19. Communicates the reasons for any actions.
_____20. Supports and backs you up.
_____21. Has the subject matter knowledge to do the job.
_____22. Fairly evaluates your job performance.
_____23. Represents the group effectively to others.
_____24. Ensures that you get credit/recognition for your work.
_____25. Encourages open, two-way communication.
_____26. Modi�ies his/her position based on feedback from you.
_____27. Provides opportunities for you to develop new skills.
_____28. Strives for quality in spite of time pressure.
Source: Wohlers & London, 1989; London, 1997, pp. 48–49; London, 2002, pp. 137–138; London, 2003, pp. 94–95.
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. What personal characteristics make a leader more likely to seek and use feedback? 2. Why is having feedback from different sources (supervisor, peers, subordinates) valuable? Isn't feedback from your supervisor all that matters? 3. What are at least three guidelines for giving feedback? 4. How does 360-degree feedback �it into a performance management process?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 30/41
Assessment centers are designed to evaluate leaders for various purposes, including professional development and potential promotion.
Caia Images/Caia Images/SuperStock
2.7 Learning From Feedback: Assessment Centers
In addition to the supervisor feedback and the 360-degree feedback discussed in Section 2.6, a third type of feedback comes from assessment centers. Assessment centers were pioneered by the U.S. government to select spies during World War II and later used by AT&T in the 1950s to identify managers who had leadership potential (Moses, 1977). The method has been used by companies ever since to assess managers' and leaders' potential for advancement to higher levels of responsibility and leadership. The method can also be used to make hiring and selection decisions for targeted roles. You may have a chance to participate in an assessment center in the future as part of a hiring process or as a developmental experience. If so, this can be a major source of feedback and information about the situations and behaviors that are important to leadership. You can learn a great deal about yourself in the process of participating and receiving feedback about your performance in the assessment center.
Fundamentals of Assessment Centers
Assessment centers can be de�ined as a group- and individual-based method of assessment used for the selection, identi�ication, or development of individual contributors, managers, or leaders, that simulates the challenges of working in a target role. Assessment centers are largely used for the identi�ication of high- potential leaders and to provide developmental feedback to improve performance. Results are strongly considered for development and promotion decisions. Centers can also be used for selection purposes, with the results strongly considered in making hiring decisions. Because the method is expensive, when used for identi�ication and development purposes it is primarily focused on mid- to senior-level leaders, who by other measures or experience are demonstrating high levels of potential. From the selection perspective, �inal candidates for important leadership roles may participate in the assessment process; sometimes candidates for functional roles, such as that of sales consultant, participate in the process.
The concept of the assessment center stems from the grand rounds medical model of physicians evaluating a patient from different perspectives. In an assessment center, six to 12 managers or leaders are invited to spend 1 to 4 days going through a series of exercises, each focused on varying dimensions of performance, and completing a variety of evaluation instruments, including intelligence tests and personality pro�iles. The complexity of the exercises and the expected level of effectiveness in the behaviors assessed increase relative to the target audience; that is, the exercises will be more challenging and dif�icult at the senior levels than at the middle levels of leadership.
As the leaders progress through the experience, they are constantly being evaluated by one or more assessors. Typically, the center assesses leadership skills as de�ined in the organization's leadership competency model. So the center might assess, for example, planning, decision- making, and negotiation skills. If used for selection, such as for the role of sales consultant, the focus would be on key functional skills, such as identifying customer needs or closing the sale. The assessors note the individuals' behavior and write reports about how each individual performed in each exercise. An overall report about each individual is also written by an assessor, who is chosen on the basis of which exercises he or she observed. Feedback at the end of the experience is typically delivered by a group of assessors to each participant, one at a time, to ensure the feedback is clearly understood and an action plan can be established. Particularly when used for identi�ication and development, the results are considered con�idential. Typically, only the individual and human resources see the results; if used in succession planning, then the results will be shared with senior leaders involved in the process and the individual's supervisor. If used for selection purposes, the results will be shared with those making the decisions.
We will review how the key exercises operate next, and then provide a case study that describes what a real-life leader learned from the assessment experience.
Key Assessment Center Exercises
The key and typical assessment center exercises include the following:
In-basket Presentation Leaderless group discussion Business game or simulation
When faced with the in-basket exercise, a participant assumes the role of a leader. During the exercise, the participant is asked to review correspondence sent to the leader through a variety of modes of communication, including email, telephone messages, memos, and reports. The challenge for the participant is to prioritize the items, write responses, and indicate the actions he or she would take. Following the exercise, an assessor interviews the participant about the reasons for his or her decisions and then rates the participant on performance dimensions such as decision making, organization skills, and written communication. In this exercise, leaders gain insight into how they work alone under pressure (the exercise is timed), deal with new challenges, and decide to take action without any consultation. For example, those high in conscientiousness will tend to try to read all the items in the in-basket in detail and prepare in- depth responses. The time limit may frustrate them. Participants who are more extroverted, for example, will tend to prepare less-detailed responses and �ind it harder to work alone than those who are less extroverted will. Participants will clearly see and learn how their leadership characteristics and behaviors affect them when working alone.
Typically, the presentation and leaderless group discussion are linked. For example, four to six participants would be placed in a group. Each participant would be given a role and then asked to review information about the role and prepare and deliver a presentation to the group. How does this work? Imagine the scenario the center uses is a school board charged with allocating $100,000 of additional funds recently made available by the state. Each group participant—a member of the school board—would be given a role representing a different vested interest, such as athletics, recreation, theater, or new technology. Each person argues why his or her area deserves the additional funds. Assessors observe the presentation and rate the participant on delivery, organization, and clarity. In this part of the exercise, a leader would learn about, among other things, his or her comfort level with presenting to an unknown audience and ability to be persuasive. This part of the exercise, of course, would be easier for those who are extroverted and have higher degrees of emotional intelligence. The presentation is followed by the group discussion exercise, in which the participants discuss the issue—in this example, the allocation of additional funds—and agree on a solution. Assessors observe and rate each participant on collaboration, interpersonal in�luence, and leadership. Here, leaders have the opportunity to learn about their negotiation and con�lict management skills. From a personality perspective, those who are more open to experience and agreeable might �ind themselves willing to yield their positions and support others' requests for the additional funds.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 31/41
Through his two group experiences at the assessment center, Carlos learned that he needed to demonstrate more behavioral consistency as a leader.
Hero Images/Hero Images/SuperStock
The business game or simulation usually involves a group of four to six participants. The challenge in the simulation is for the participants to organize themselves, for example, to produce a product, such as a toy plane from plastic parts. The difference between this kind of simulation and the group discussion is that no speci�ic roles are assigned. Assessors observe each participant's collaborative skills and emergent leadership. Leaders who are low in agreeableness may �ind this exercise more challenging if their ideas are not readily accepted. Leaders high in conscientiousness may try to impose structure early on in the exercise to help them cope with ambiguity. Read Case Study: The Mid-Level Leader's Assessment Center Experience to �ind out how one leader, Carlos, learned about his leadership style by re�lecting on and analyzing his behavior in two different group experiences.
Overall, the assessment center is meant to be a microcosm of typical business situations. When used for identi�ication or development, the tasks are structured to represent a higher level of leadership than that of the participants. For example, in the 1980s and 1990s AT&T used an assessment center designed to evaluate third-level district managers for potential to assume �ifth-level director roles. The goal of this approach was to determine the extent to which the participants would be intentionally groomed for those senior leadership roles. At AT&T, this meant that someone seen as high potential would likely become a participant in a multiweek executive education program or be given an assignment in a different function to help develop general management skills. On the other hand, when an assessment center is used for hiring and selection, the tasks are built around those behavioral dimensions important to the functional roles in question. If the participant is an outside applicant, the outcome is either being hired or not. If the participant is an internal employee focused on moving to another role, the outcome is normally movement to that role when a position becomes available if the assessment results are acceptable. If you are directed to an assessment center as part of your career development or as part of a job interview, consider watching the videos available in the Web Resources section at the end of the chapter, which provide tips on how to succeed.
Case Study: The Mid-Level Leader's Assessment Center Experience
Carlos was a mid-level leader and was selected to participate in a development-oriented assessment center experience for high-potential leaders. After completing the prework, which included a competency self-assessment and several personality questionnaires, Carlos spent 4 days engaging in a variety of exercises and feedback sessions, as well as spending time in re�lection at various points in the program. The exercises included an in-basket, a business game, a leaderless group discussion, and a one-to-one coaching discussion.
Carlos was a continuous learner and quite open to the whole experience. After each activity he would carefully re�lect on what he did—and, if the assessors provided feedback at that point, examine what they said very closely. Carlos felt like he was learning a good deal over the 4 days and, in fact, told the assessors that; they responded that they could already see some changes.
Carlos's results, overall, were positive—scoring better than most leaders but not as well as those deemed to have the highest potential. When one of the authors debriefed Carlos at the end of the session, Carlos was struck by two points, resulting in signi�icant learning for him.
First, on the dimension related to negotiation, the assessors rated Carlos low, but Carlos rated himself high. After all, Carlos had taught con�lict management and negotiation earlier in his career and was skilled in the area. What did Carlos learn? In this center, the de�inition of negotiation included the willingness to make trades. Carlos felt uncomfortable making trades, particularly with his direct reports. A trade, for example, could be as simple as "Fran, if you take on this new project, I will see what I can do about getting more budget for your other projects." Carlos was not sure why, but for some reason, he thought making trades with his direct reports "was bad to do." The assessors helped Carlos work through his perspective, and eventually Carlos grew more comfortable making trades with his direct reports.
Second, Carlos's behavior was somewhat different in the two group experiences, affecting his evaluation on the dimension of team leadership. In the �irst experience, Carlos demonstrated more leadership: He suggested a good plan, helped others decide on roles, and reinforced good behavior. In the second experience, the assessors noted that Carlos stepped back some out of the leadership role, and, as a result, leadership was well demonstrated by someone else—John. At times, Carlos and John appeared to battle for control.
What did Carlos learn? When discussing this with the assessors, Carlos said that, in essence, when no one appears to be taking the leadership role, he will. This is what happened in the �irst group experience. However, when someone else appears to take on the role, he is comfortable being more of a team member. Carlos is assertive but not aggressive and is more of an introvert than an extrovert. John, however, was clearly more extroverted and, at times, demonstrated aggressiveness over assertiveness. In the second experience, Carlos was willing to let John take the lead. What became clear was that Carlos did not always agree with John, and when he did not, the two clashed. At these points, neither Carlos nor John displayed high levels of emotional intelligence.
Carlos learned that he needed to demonstrate more behavioral consistency as a leader; his team and supervisor would expect that. Carlos also learned about how an extroverted, assertive, and possibly aggressive team leader affected him and that he needed to �ind ways to deal with that situation more effectively. It was pointed out to Carlos that something about John triggered an inappropriate emotional response and that he needed to explore that dynamic. After all, because Carlos was skilled in negotiation and con�lict resolution, the assessors and Carlos agreed that he could certainly be more effective in handling situations like this back on the job. Carlos would now need to monitor his performance better and regulate his behavior when interacting with someone like John.
Re�lection Questions
1. Have you ever participated in simulations or exercises that gave you information about your leadership abilities? If so, what did you learn? 2. What situations have you experienced that you would describe as learning opportunities? Maybe you didn't think of them as such at the time.
Now that you think about it, what did you learn about your leadership abilities?
Leadership in Review
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 32/41
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. How does an assessment center measure key elements of leadership? 2. Why is an assessment center especially valuable for measuring leadership potential? 3. Is feedback from an assessment center useful for suggesting directions for career development?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 33/41
According to Business Insider, participants in General Electric's (GE) internal training program spend up to 120 hours a week working on their assignments, with only 2% of participants landing executive-level positions by the end of the program.
Peter Probst/age fotostock/SuperStock
2.8 Learning From Training and Development Programs
Formal leadership training and development programs include programs that a company offers itself as well as those offered by outside institutions. Before we begin, it is important to note that the distinction between training and development is useful. Although these terms are often used interchangeably, training focuses on learning a speci�ic set of skills or a body of knowledge. Development refers to incremental learning over time, the result of accumulated learning experiences. Development programs, therefore, are less about classroom or online training and more about learning from experience, although they often have a formal learning component.
Internal Programs
Many large organizations, such as GE and IBM, create company-speci�ic internal training and development programs to foster, if not to accelerate, leadership development efforts for middle- and senior-level leaders to prepare them to meet current and future organization needs.
These internal training programs can vary in length, from 1 day to several days over a number of years, and will vary in learning methodologies to accommodate different learning needs. Your authors recently worked with a Fortune 500 company to design and implement an extensive, 18-day program conducted over 2 years. In this program, VP-level leaders have the opportunity to develop their self-leadership skills, along with skills necessary for the other leadership roles. The program includes 360-degree feedback, psychological assessments, readings, lectures, case studies, role-plays, and the like, and is facilitated by a combination of professional trainers, the company's senior-level executives, and outside experts. Table 2.6 shows the basic 2-year schedule for the program. Each session is 3 days in length, and the sessions are interspersed with related assignments, webcasts, readings, on-the-job experiences, coaching, and mentoring to ensure participants remain engaged in a continuous learning effort. Notice that the program will be conducted in key cities around the world as one practical way to build cultural sensitivity and awareness, important to being a global leader. In programs that are extensive, leaders will learn about themselves as they get feedback from the program facilitators and their colleagues and experience the different learning exercises and approaches. In addition, they will have the opportunity to develop their skills as they practice them in a safe, learning environment. After each session, when they return to their jobs, they can further practice and develop their skills, learning as they go.
Table 2.6: Fortune 500 leadership development program schedule
Session Session 1 Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Session 6
Dates January June October January June October
Location New York New York Buenos Aires London Hong Kong New York
Topic(s) Personal leadership
Team leadership, leading change, and driving innovation
Strategic planning process, leading organizations, and postmerger/ acquisition
Organization learning and execution
General management
The leader's role and strategic integration and application
External Programs
Sometimes, companies cannot afford to develop and implement their own customized leadership training programs, so they turn to leadership training available from a variety of institutes and universities. Often, companies will select only high-potential managers to attend these workshops. Here's a typical schedule for one such weeklong workshop. Imagine you are a participant.
The program begins with launching your 360-degree feedback, a process, of course, that will start several weeks before the beginning of the program. Once you arrive at the workshop, the �irst session is an overview of leadership competencies. You then have the chance to digest your 360-degree feedback results and use them to �ine-tune your thinking about your strengths and weaknesses and areas for development—the areas you will want to work on most during and after the workshop. You meet with a coach one on one to review your 360-degree results and discuss their meaning (so you cannot easily ignore key �indings) with a focus on areas where you are rated low and how these ratings from others compared to your self-perceptions. You agree on the areas you need to work on most. During the remaining days, you participate in a variety of exercises, such as those in a typical assessment center—business simulations, group discussions, in-basket exercises, and interviews. You meet with your fellow trainees to discuss what leadership means to you, the leadership challenges you have faced, and ways to overcome them. You review and discuss cases from other companies. You study leaders who were successful and those who failed. On the last day, you work with a coach to review your experiences and outline a development plan for the next 6 months to a year that will help you further focus on areas in which you need to improve. The coaches at the workshop follow up monthly with the participants to see the progress they are making in taking actions to implement their development plan.
Two of the more typical development programs organizations implement include the following:
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 34/41
New college hire development programs: Generally designed to give new college graduates short-term, on-the-job experiences in different functions over a 1- to 3-year period. For example, participants may be rotated through different jobs, say moving from �inance to marketing to sales, or other departments, every 3 to 6 months. This will give them exposure to different management and leadership styles and a variety of colleagues and areas of expertise, helping them to learn the business before being assigned to their �irst longer-term position. From a leadership perspective, participants gain insight into their skills and abilities, helping them to decide on their interest in being organization leaders. Middle management development programs: These are similar in nature and design to the college hire programs, except the target audience is middle management, the assignments are usually at least 1 to 2 years in length, and the participants, if successful in meeting the strategic and global leadership challenges they will encounter, will likely go on to assume roles with greater leadership accountability and responsibility and may even become a succession planning candidate.
There are other development programs less focused on job movement. One such program is designed to bring leaders together to focus on real business problems. Pioneered by General Electric, the method, called Work Out, challenges leaders to develop creative solutions (Ulrich, Kerr, & Ashkenas, 2002). Executives present the issue, and the group gets to work. Leaders gain the experience of working together face to face with different colleagues as they study and debate different facets of the problem to settle on a solution. Along the way, they collaborate and make decisions. Several weeks later, they meet with the executive who gave them the assignment to review their solution. As part of the process, leaders are usually asked to re�lect on and self-assess their problem- solving, collaborative, and decision-making competencies as well as their leadership during different phases of their work. Other potential learning outcomes for leaders include the following:
Gaining insight into their own emergent leadership Understanding what it takes to collaborate effectively, a strong function of their openness and agreeableness Testing their lateral thinking and brainstorming skills Sharpening their systems approach to problem solving
The Center for Creative Leadership is one example of an external organization that offers development programs. You can see the wide variety of leadership programs available at http://www.ccl.org/leadership/programs/summaries.aspx (http://www.ccl.org/leadership/programs/summaries.aspx) .
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. How does an organization determine what training courses to offer? 2. What is the difference between training courses and a leadership development program? 3. How are 360-degree feedback surveys and assessment centers incorporated into leadership development programs?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 35/41
2.9 Learning From Others: Role Models, Mentors, and Coaches
In this section, we examine three relationship-oriented learning opportunities, focusing on what a leader can learn from the relationship to foster self-leadership effectiveness. The next chapter explores these learning opportunities from the perspective of leader-as-supervisor.
Role Models
Role models are people leaders can emulate. In organizations, role models are typically higher-level leaders, or they just may be individuals with outstanding and admirable traits. For example, in a coaching session, one business unit head, Adam, told us that the CFO was his overall role model, but that he highly admired the person on his team who managed his organization's budget—because she presented the implications of budget challenges in clear and practical business terms. Leaders learn from role models by observing them, identifying what makes them successful, and then practicing the admired behaviors and traits.
We are sure you can recognize role models, but if you are looking to learn something speci�ic, you may want to ask your HR business partner or supervisor for advice on who best demonstrates the skill or behavior you would like to develop.
Once you have identi�ied your senior-level role model or models, observe their skills and then try them out—practice what it is like to be in positions such as theirs. This is called "anticipatory socialization," a concept originated by Robert Merton and Alice Kitt in 1950 (Dawson & Chatman, 2001; Merton & Kitt, 1950).This helps prepare you for promotion or another position, and as you prepare, you demonstrate to others that you are capable of being promoted or appointed to that position.
Mentors
Mentors are individuals who take a personal interest in your career, provide guidance and advice, and act as a sounding board for your ideas. In one leadership program for a Fortune 500 company we worked with, the mentoring relationship was de�ined like this: "Mentoring is a relationship in which a seasoned employee shares knowledge and wisdom with another employee, providing the support, advice, and counsel necessary for career development and advancement."
This same program de�ined how mentoring advances leadership development. Mentoring accomplishes the following:
Provides a vehicle for open and honest communication about issues that mentees may be unwilling to discuss with their managers Encourages self-re�lection and personal discovery Enables mentees to receive targeted and candid feedback
Mentors are usually someone older, more experienced, and likely to be at a higher level in the organization than the leader/mentee. This idea is supported by Levinson's life stage theory discussed earlier, when we pointed out that people tend to look for mentors in early adulthood but tend to become mentors during the midlife stage. Returning to our leader Adam, who is in the era of early adulthood: Although his role model was the CFO, in fact, he was speci�ically being mentored by the CEO, who is in the transition stage to late adulthood.
Chapter 3 continues the discussion of mentors, but brie�ly, mentors can create opportunities for leaders or recommend them for choice assignments to foster their development. The role of a mentor is mainly that of a guide and a coach, someone who is available to show you how things are done, point out effective actions and decisions, and inform you about opinions and politics in your organization—who has in�luence, who is highly regarded by whom, and who the key decision makers are. Of course, there are expectations for the mentee role, too. Here is how we de�ined those for the leaders in the Fortune 500 program discussed previously:
Communicate openly and honestly with your mentors, indicating the areas in which you need assistance and development. Share successes as well as failures with your mentors. Approach the mentoring relationship with an open mind and a willingness to explore and challenge your own beliefs, assumptions, and behaviors. Be open to feedback and be willing to try new approaches. Engage in self-re�lection. Understand that you will receive guidance, not answers, from your mentors. Be proactive in contacting your mentors to schedule meetings.
How does one �ind a mentor in organizations? This can happen in several ways. For example, one Fortune 500 company we worked with has organized a mentorship program with a pool of senior leaders as mentors, and the mentees (the program participants) take the lead in forming a mentoring relationship with someone from the pool. This is the guidance the mentees were given:
You are not required to participate in mentoring; it is a voluntary program. If you choose to participate, you are responsible for initiating contact with a potential senior vice president or executive vice president mentor. The mentors may decline due to other commitments but are strongly encouraged to work with at least one mentee. Mentors and mentees determine together the goals of the relationship, how often they will meet, speci�ic expectations, etc.
Other organizations have programs that assign mentors to mentees. In accordance with the practices we discussed, managers early in their careers are assigned mentors who are more experienced managers and have volunteered to participate in the program. Once established, the relationship tends to work the same way. The assigned mentor is expected to have periodic informal meetings with the mentee, perhaps over lunch or dinner, to talk about the organization and give the mentee advice. Because the mentor does not have a supervisory relationship with the mentee and may not even be in the mentee's department, the mentee can feel con�ident when being open about any concerns, and the mentor can be constructive in offering advice to the mentee. These programs work best when the mentor and mentee have one or more characteristics or experiences in common. For instance, they may be in the same �ield, graduates of the same university, or a member of the same minority group. Even so, this formally assigned mentor-mentee relationship may not have much value unless the two like each other and the af�inity deepens over time. These programs can be companywide, solely department focused, or focused on a speci�ic population, such as women or minorities.
Finally, companies may still encourage mentoring even if there is no formal mentoring program in place. In this instance, the mentor-mentee relationship probably forms by chance and is often the result of the younger leader being introduced to a more experienced leader who has the time and interest to begin acting as a mentor.
Leaders should understand the immense value of mentoring and seek people with whom they can build a mentoring relationship. Having a mentor is not the key to success, but it is very helpful. Many successful people acknowledge the contributions of their mentors, to whom they owe a debt of gratitude for helping them
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 36/41
Try to think of a time when you were a part of a coaching relationship and what you learned either as the coach or as the one being coached. What was that experience like?
IMAGEZOO/IMAGEZOO/SuperStock
in their careers. Even Steve Jobs bene�ited from a mentor (he considered Warren Buffett his mentor). So if you have such a relationship, consider the positive difference mentorship can make, and take the time to develop it.
If you are not involved in a mentoring relationship, consider people who might be a mentor or mentee. Invite the person for coffee or lunch. See if you can foster such a relationship to create value for both of you.
Coaches
Coaching, according to Harris (1999), is "an ongoing, one-to-one learning process enabling people to enhance their job performance" (p. 38). Coaching can be an intense process, although it is not as personal a relationship as mentoring. It is intense because a coach focuses the leader on improving speci�ic job behaviors, analyzing dif�icult and complex relationships with others, and considering ways to become more effective. Coaches challenge leaders to re�lect on their worldviews and perspectives. Coaching's main focus, therefore, is about personal change.
A leader's supervisor can act as a coach, but often, particularly at the more senior levels, coaches are outside experts, generically categorized as "executive coaches." Organizations may also have HR or organization development practitioners who are trained in and serve as internal coaches. Here are some speci�ic ways in which coaching can help to enhance self-leadership:
Increase the leader's motivation to learn Help the leader to improve self-monitoring and self-regulation skills Recognize the leader's successes and accomplishments, helping to build career resilience and identity Establish effective learning goals based on feedback, including 360-degree feedback Work through life stage and life stage transition issues Increase emotional intelligence Foster the ability to capitalize on and learn from experience Create an objective, honest atmosphere for high-level executives to discuss their concerns, weaknesses, and other issues
Although a coach, or even a mentor, can be quite active in their roles, leaders should not expect the coach or mentor to do the work for them. Leaders may tend to procrastinate or put less independent energy into a goal or task if they think that someone could help them at some point. The expectation or anticipation that self-regulation can be "outsourced" is likely to prevent people from taking action on their own (Fitzsimons & Finkel, 2011).
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. What are the similarities and differences among role models, mentors, and coaches? 2. What is one way to choose a role model? 3. How do you �ind a mentor, or do you have to wait for a mentor to �ind you? 4. When can an executive coach be most helpful? 5. What is the difference between coaching and leading?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 37/41
Leaders should take it upon themselves to map out their own short- and long-term self-development plans.
NLshop/iStock/Thinkstock
Assessments allow leaders to diagnose opportunities for improving their skills and practices.
Mario Ragma/Hemera/Thinkstock
2.10 Career Development Planning and Diagnosing and Measuring Self-Leadership Gaps
As this chapter comes to a close, we discuss how leaders can go about career development planning to foster their ability to be successful in the role of leading one's self, as well as in other leadership roles. At the end of this section, we look at how you can diagnose gaps in your self-leadership by measuring the extent to which you demonstrate role behaviors and job-related competencies and the extent to which enabling practices that support self-leadership are in place in your organization.
Career Development Planning
Development planning is the process of creating an action plan for ensuring one has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve certain goals. Development planning can focus on short-term development planning, long-term development planning, or both. One Fortune 500 company differentiated between these two types of planning by noting that short-term development planning is focused on current performance goals, whereas long-term development planning is focused on the leader's future success, given the company's strategic plan and direction. Long-term development planning can be thought of as career planning and development.
Simply put, leaders then need to ensure that they are planning to acquire or develop the skills necessary for immediate success in their current assignments, and that they have a plan for continuous learning that will help them to acquire or develop the skills necessary to contribute to the long-term success of the business. The following are the key questions leaders should address when development planning:
1. What are my top strengths? a. Do I effectively demonstrate the leadership skills necessary for success in my
current job? b. Do I effectively demonstrate the leadership skills necessary for success in the
future? 2. What are my top areas for development?
a. What aspects of my leadership do I most need to improve? b. What would my supervisor or colleagues say? What would my mentor say?
3. What actions will I take to improve in each leadership area? a. What training programs can I attend? b. What job assignments can I plan for?
4. What is my time frame for development? a. What do I plan to do during the next 6 months and the following 6 months? b. When will I assess my progress?
5. What barriers to my development might I face? a. How will I overcome them?
6. What are my career goals 1 year from now and 5 years from now? a. What jobs and positions would I like to hold? How do these relate to my goals for leadership development? b. How will my development plan help me prepare to achieve these goals?
When answering these questions, leaders need to recognize that development is not just a matter of considering one's strengths and weaknesses. Leaders also need to take into account the needs of the business and recognize that these needs are changing—and that they may be unpredictable. Other changes that appear to be on the horizon, such as technological changes, competition, and globalization, can be predicted or at least anticipated and prepared for. Recognizing these changes, leaders may want to advance their education (e.g., take courses in �inance or marketing), study a foreign language, or attend industry conferences. Certainly, keeping up with advances in one's �ield and industry is likely to be important. As such, leaders need to be continuous learners, always on the lookout for the latest trends, data, and information that will help them be competitive and continue to add value to the organization.
Diagnosing and Measuring Gaps: Leading One's Self
Chapter 1 introduced the Mone-London organization model as a framework for diagnosing gaps in leadership across the four leadership roles. Early in this chapter, we presented a variation of this model, one that applies to self-leadership.
As discussed here and in Chapter 1, the performance component for self-leadership emphasizes the extent to which leaders demonstrate the expected behaviors and job-related competencies to achieve or exceed their performance goals. So the gap we are concerned with measuring is the extent to which leaders are demonstrating those skills and capitalizing on the enabling practices from the perspective of ensuring successful self-leadership.
Throughout this chapter, we offered a number of speci�ic assessments that can be used by leaders for self-assessment and development planning. The assessments could be used, more or less, as conversation tools by supervisors or, for example, coaches, when working one on one with leaders. In addition, the questions in those assessments could be incorporated, probably with some modi�ication, into surveys that would collectively assess the gaps in leadership for this role. Here is a high-level set of questions that can be used for gap assessment for this role:
Does the organization's human resource development policy promote and support self-development and learning from experience? – Are self-development efforts recognized and rewarded? – Do the CEO and the executive team visibly support leadership development efforts? Are leadership development efforts closely aligned with the company's strategic plan? Are the important leadership competencies identi�ied? – Is there an organizational leadership competency model? – Are the behaviors related to the company's core values clearly identi�ied? – Does the strategic plan identify relevant functional competencies important to leadership development?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 38/41
What development resources, if any, does the company provide to promote development of self-leadership? – 360-degree feedback? – Coaching? – Mentoring? – Online assessments, including, for example, skill, personality, and learning style assessments? – Assessment center participation? – Executive education? – Leadership training and development programs? Do leaders, in general, display high levels of career motivation? – Are leaders, overall, engaging in self-development and continuous learning? – Are leaders aware of how their environment and their own life stages can in�luence their outlook, development, and performance? Are leaders developing the metacognitive and functional skills necessary to successfully lead the organization? Are leaders, overall, displaying critical skills that contribute to effective self-leadership, such as the ability to engage in self-re�lection, self-monitoring, self-regulation, and emotional intelligence?
Leadership in Review
Re�lect on your learning by answering the following questions:
1. What is the purpose of a development plan? 2. What is short-term development planning? What is long-term development planning? 3. What are other development plans that are not oriented toward being promoted?
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 39/41
Summary and Resources
Chapter Summary
This chapter showed how leaders take responsibility for their own development. Doing this effectively entails recognizing the interplay among individual characteristics (traits, talents, personality), role requirements of different leadership positions, and outcomes that include job performance and career advancement. The relationships among these elements are supported by ongoing assessment, opportunities that enable development, and planning. These processes unfolded throughout the chapter as we described motivational forces, self-regulatory mechanisms, leadership traits and behaviors, and environmental cues about which leadership competencies are important for career success in the organization. For leaders to be effective learners, they need to understand how they learn best and then take advantage of the leadership opportunities available to them. Learning stems from new experiences, observing others, and seeking and receiving performance feedback. Feedback is key to calibrating what you need to do to achieve your goals and how close you are to accomplishing these goals. We described factors that affect leaders' receptiveness to feedback; sources of feedback such as the leader's supervisor, 360-degree survey results, and assessment centers; and ways to use feedback for performance improvement. We described training and development programs and learning from role models, mentors, and coaches. We concluded with ways leaders can plan their development.
Leadership Exercise
Instructions: In Chapter 1's concluding exercise, we asked you to select a leader whom you would like to study—someone whom you admire or who has faced a variety of leadership challenges. We asked you to begin a case description of the leader, including the individual's background, challenges, and accomplishments. Here, we want you to consider the leader's characteristics as you know them or as they appear to be, given what you know about the leader's decisions, actions, and experiences and how others describe him or her (or as he or she described him- or herself, if you have that information). Describe these characteristics using the concepts we covered in this chapter.
1. What is (was) the leader's career motivation? Re�lect on evidence about the leader's self-insight, identity (goals, ambitions, and persona), and resilience in the face of barriers.
2. What are (were) the leader's key or de�ining characteristics in your opinion—strength of character, ego (self-esteem), self-control (self-regulation), continuous learning, collaborative relationships with others, vision, and the like?
3. Did the leader's career change direction at any point? What led to this? 4. What challenges did the leader face, and how did the leader respond? 5. Did the leader have an accurate view of how others perceived him or her? Was he or she someone who cared about and monitored what others thought
of him or her? Do you know if the leader asked others for feedback? Do you know how the leader responded to criticism? 6. How would you compare yourself to the leader? 7. What characteristics of this leader would you like to emulate? What characteristics would you want to avoid? 8. Overall, what have you learned about leadership from having studied this leader so far?
Web Resources
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 40/41
Watch the following video for tips on how to succeed at an assessment center (reprinted with permission of Ruairi Kavanagh at gradireland.com): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7g-Q8hyus&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA7g-Q8hyus&feature=related)
Key Terms to Remember
Click on each key term to see the de�inition.
360-degree (multi-rater) feedback (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
A method for providing leaders and managers with multiple perspectives and assessments of their behavior and performance.
assessment centers (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
A group- and individual- based method of evaluation used for the selection, identi�ication, or development of individual contributors, managers, or leaders that simulates the challenges of and working in a target role.
career identity (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The direction of one's motivation, focusing on the goals one wants to achieve.
career insight (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The degree of knowledge one has about one's strengths and weaknesses, including the extent to which one's self-knowledge is comprehensive and accurate, as well as knowledge of the opportunities, constraints, and demands one faces in the environment.
career motivation (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
A person's desire and rationale for pursuing and engaging in a certain career; it consists of career insight, identity, and resilience.
career resilience (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
Comprises the set of characteristics that allows a leader to persist and overcome barriers.
coaching (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
An ongoing, one-to-one learning process enabling people to enhance their job performance.
cycle of experiential learning (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
An approach to learning that involves having a learning experience, re�lecting on it, making sense of it, and then experimenting or trying out what was learned.
development (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
A form of learning that is incremental over time, the result of accumulated experiences.
development planning (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The process of creating an action plan for ensuring one has or acquires the knowledge, skills, and abilities to meet current or future jobs' needs, respectively; can be short term or long term.
emotional intelligence (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
Having the capacity to understand and manage one's own emotions as well as the emotions of others.
leadership characteristics (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
Traits that are both inborn and acquired over time that make up a leader's character.
learning style (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
Preference for how one learns.
mentor (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
An individual who takes a personal interest in another's career, provides guidance and advice, and acts as a sounding board for that person's ideas.
meta-analysis (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The combination or average of the results of a wide range of studies that address a set of related research hypotheses, the goal of which is to generate results that are more conclusive than those from any one study alone.
self-control (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The ability of leaders to in�luence their environments, the opportunities available to them, and what happens to them.
3/19/2018 Print
https://content.ashford.edu/print/London.2728.16.1?sections=ch02,ch02introduction,sec2.1,sec2.2,sec2.3,sec2.4,sec2.5,sec2.6,sec2.7,sec2.8,sec2.… 41/41
self-ef�icacy (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The belief that one can bring about positive outcomes for oneself and others.
self-esteem (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The beliefs and emotions that characterize one's evaluation of self-worth.
self-monitoring (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The process of comparing one's behavior to an internal or external standard and adjusting one's behavior to meet that standard.
self-protection mechanisms (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
Ways in which leaders maintain their self-image in the face of negative feedback.
self-regulation (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
The tendency to take action in response to events in one's environment and to be proactive in self-learning.
training (http://content.thuzelearning.com/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London.2728.16.1/sections/cover/books/London
A form of learning focusing on acquiring a speci�ic set of skills or a body of knowledge.
Choose a Study ModeView this study set