Peer Leadership Case study

Peer Leadership on the College Campus - Competencies and Skills for Success

John P. Baker Assistant Professor, School of Leadership Studies, Western Kentucky University

Abstract Significant challenges exist when leading others without legitimate or formal authority, as different and limited leadership skills and competencies may be required, espeCially when leading peers. This article analyzes the leader competencies and skills needed for college/university-level effective peer leadership. A review of related research identified four competencies cited frequently as important to lead peers successfully: (0) communication, (b) support, (c) mental/hard work ethic, and (d) reflection/feedback. Also, an analysis of a Reserve Officer Troining Corps (ROTC) leadership assessment database generally supported the findings from previous research, while providing additional insights impacting the above named peer leadership. The lack of existing instruments to measure peer leadership competencies and skills necessitated the development of an influence survey. Data collection included undergraduate students at a state comprehensive university and identified four significant components that affected peer leadership: Assist, Reflect, Participate, and Presence. No significant differences were found in perceptions of peer leadership from freshmen to seniors, suggesting that one may develop skills necessary to lead peers earlier in life, with those skills remaining consistent thraughout life.

Keywords peer leadership, social learning, competency, skill

Leading one's peers is a significant leadership challenge, as usually they possess equal status and ability to the leader. Consider Dwight D. Eisenhower's situation when appointed Supreme Allied Commander for the Normandy Invasion in 1944. Eisenhower was required to influence and lead commanders and staff officers from four different countries and cultures: American, British, Canadian, and French (Grint, 2008). Although appointed commander with legitimate authority, he relied on other leadership skills to lead his peers. When asked why he chose Eisenhower for Operation Overlord, President Roosevelt stated, "Eisenhower is the best politician among the military men. He is a natural leader who can convince other men to follow him, and this is what we need in his position more than any other quality" (0' Este, 2002, p. 467). Legitimate authority, Or a titled position of leadership, allows leaders to use a diverse set of skills, competencies, and powers to influence others and to accomplish goals (French & Ravens, 1959). Leading without legitimate authority or other powers requires different and limited leadership skills and competencies.

On a smaller scale, consider the following scenario observed repeatedly over seven years at two universities by the Professor of Military Science at each institution. At the beginning of each academic year, the cadet staff and commander assumed their leadership responsibilities

and performed admirably, with tasks accomplished on time and with a sense of collaboration among these titled leaders. However, at approximately mid-semester, the effectiveness of the staff and commander deteriorated significantly. Why did this repeated, almost predictable, pattern of leadership failure occur? Although many reasons are possible for this breakdown in leadership, an overriding factor is failed peer leadership (Adelman, 2002). At staff meetings or other formal training events, the cadet staff members functioned in their legitimate roles, after which these college seniors/cadets socialized with one another because, more importantly, they were peers. The initial allure of appointed, legitimate authority waned as the semester progressed and a sense of equality emerged (all were college seniors), commanding more emphasis. The ROTC leader development program focused on preparing these future Army leaders for positions of legitimate authority, while little was done to develop their ability to lead peers.

This and other similar scenarios led to the present study, which sought to determine the competencies and skills needed to influence and lead peers. The specific study popu lation consisted of undergraduate ROTC students at a state comprehensive university in the mid-south region of the United States. The following questions guided the study:

International Journal of Leadership ond Change

1. What leader competencies most enhance peer leadership?

2. What leadership skills most enhance peer leadership?

3. Does gender influence peer leadership competencies and skills?

4. Do college levels (freshmen to senior) influence peer leadership competencies and skills?

Literature Review

These questions emerged from a literature review and analyses ofexisting ROTC data and represented an initial focus to identify the competencies and skills needed to increase a student's ability to influence and lead peers.

Ender and Winston (1984) defined student-oriented peer leadership as helping other students accomplish goals or solve problems. Other authors (Adelman, 2002; Hare & O'Neill, 2000) suggested similar, yet vague, definitions and provided no insight into possible peer leadership skills or competencies. The definition of peer leadership for this purpose is influence over another person of equal status and abilities.

Multiple studies regarding leader skills (Mumford, Zaccaro, Connel1y,&Marks, 2000; Katz, 1955;Mumford, Campion, & Morgeson, 2007) and leader competencies (Conger & Ready, 2004; McClelland, 1973; Hol1enbeck, McCall, & Silzer, 2006; Dubois, Karoly, & Doubs, 1994) suggested competencies exist at a macro level compared to skills. Kouzes and Posner (2007) illustrated the competency and skill hierarchal structure in their model of effective leader practices. Their research identified five practices, or competencies, for effective leaders and consisted of several leader skills. This study assumed a definition of leader skills as specific actions taken that affect leadership and a definition of leader competencies as a group of related, specific leader skills.

Many contexts in higher education provide students with fonmalleadership roles, with the opportunity to use various social powers to influence and lead. The position the student occupies provides them the legitimate authority to lead others. However, students in formal leadership roles must also influence and lead peers in contexts where legitimate authority is limited or useless. Social Learning Theory provides a broad umbrella and a starting point to understand peer leadership.

Bandura (1977, 1986) conducted research on the impact of the environment on behaviors, specifically how one learns in a social context. Sims and Manz

(1982) focused on Bandura's (1977) Social Learnino e

Theory to highlight leadership modeling as an important source in learning new behaviors and successful behavioral change in organizations. Astin (1977, 1993), Feldman and Newcomb (1969), and Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) concurred that the majority of literature examining the impact of the college experience on student development identified the peer group as one of the most important influential factors. These studies focused on the importance of peer leadership, yetdidnot identify specific competencies and skills.

Many authors have researched the impact of peers on the development of other students (Astin 1968,1977, 1984, 1985, 1993; Newcomb, 1967; Brown, 1972; Heath, 1968; Chickering, 1969; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 1996). These authors emphasized the importance of peer interactions and the impact of the environment,or context, on student development. Peer groups provided a more intense learning experience than activities conducted with student affairs or academic studies. Although evidence indicated the positive influenceof peers on each other regarding cognitive learning, the authors provided no specific competencies and skills related to influencing relationships and did not address the skills or competencies needed for effective peer leadership.

A literature review of Social Learning Theory, emergent leadership, team leadership, and peer leadership identified the fol1owing broad competencies as important for effective peer relationships/interactions that can impact peer leadership: (a) communication, (b) support, (c) mental/hard work ethic, and (d) reflection! feedback (Baker, 2011). An analysis of leadership assessments conducted with ROTC cadets provided convergent validity to the literature review and defined another possible peer leadership competency.

ROTC Database Comparison to the EXisting Literature

An analysis and comparison of a known leadership assessment database to the existing literature provideda means tovalidate the literature findings while creatingan opportunity to explore further possible peer leadership competencies. A description of the assessment process used to create the known database provides insightto the methodology used in this study. With fewexceptions, during the summer between the junior and senioryears of undergraduate study at four-year universities, U.S. Army ROTC cadets attend a leadership development

Baker

and assessment course (LDAC). Assessments in the course are used to ensure ROTC cadets have achieved the requisite development level in particular tasks and leadership competencies thought tobe needed to function successfully as an entry-level officer in the U.S. Army.

The LDAC assessment process evolved from 16 leader competencies the Army termed as leadership dimensions (see Table 1).The skills associated with each consist of behaviors or actions defining the competency/ dimension. The Army assessment system did not provide a list of specific behaviors defining the leader skills, but a narrative was provided, as illustrated in Table 1.

Table I U.S.Army Leadership Dimensions and Descriptions

Dimension Description

Mental (ME)

Physical (PH)

Emotional (EM)

Conceptual (CN)

Interpersonal (IP)

Technical (TE)

Tactical (TA)

Communicating (CO)

Decision Making (OM)

Motivating (MO)

Planning (PL)

Possesses drive, will, initiative, and discipline Maintains appropriate level of physical fitness and military bearing Displays self-control; calm under pressure Demonstrates sound judgment, criticallcreative thinking, moral reason.ing Shows skill with people: coach- ing, teaching, counseling, moti- vating, and empowering Possesses the necessary exper- tise to accomplish all tasks and functions Demonstrates proficiency in required professional knowledge, judgment, and war-fighting Displays good oral, written, and listening skills for individuals and groups Employs sound judgment, logical reasoning, and uses resources wisely Inspires, motivates, and guides others toward mission accom- plishment Develops detailed, executable plans that are feasible, accept- able, and suitable

Shows tactical proficiency. meets Executing (EX) mission standards. and rakes care

of people/resources Uses after-action and evaluation

Assessing (AS) tools to facilitate consistent im- provement Invests adequate time and effo.t

Developing (DE) to develop individual subordi- nates as leaders Spends time and resources to

Building (BD) improve teams. groups. and units; fosters eth.ical climate Seeks self-improvement and or-

Learning (LR) ganizational growth: envisioning, adapting, and leading

Each cadet participating inLDAC receives at least six evaluations of the 16 leader dimensions and participated in leadership scenarios consisting of multiple contexts ranging in duration from 2 to 24 hours. Although cadet assessments occurred with those occupying formal leadership roles (consistent with the Army's hierarchal leadersh.ip structure), cadets were leading their peers. An identification of the leader dimensions important to the ROTC leadership assessment process conducted with peers provided insight into possible peer leadership competencies, allowing a comparison to tbe literature review.

The leader dimensions of Executing (EX), Physical (PH), Mental (ME), and Communicating (CO) consistently emerged as important leader dimensions. A comparison of the identified ROTC dimensions to the literature review produced the following similarities: (I) communication (identified by both literature review and ROTC analysis); (2) support (literature review) similar to executing (ROTC); (3) hard work/ethic (literature review) similar to mental (ROTC); (4) reflection/feedback (third most cited competency from the literature review, but has no specific ROTC counterpart); and (5) physical (ROTC), which does not correlate to the literature review but relates indirectly to several tangential discussions in the literature.

Influence Survey

The lack of an existing instrument to identify peer leadership competencies necessitated the creation of a survey to identify and measure college-level peer leadership competencies and skills (seeAppendix). Eight

---------------International Journal of Leadership and Change:>4 questions were developed for each of the five possible competencies with a frame of reference scenano that asked individuals to reflect upon a time when a peer assisted them inmaking an important or difficult decision or supported them during a critical time. Questions were then answered regarding the type and quality of influence provided by the peer. Demographic information appeared similar to a previous pilot study, ROTC data, and the university population (see Appendix). A factor analysis identified four components that were labeled Assist, Reflect, Participate, and Presence, based on the thematic nature of the questions comprising the factors (for the methodology and analysis, see Baker, 2011).

Peer Leadership Competencies

Each of the four components was identified as significant based on multiple regression analysis. The order of importance for identified peer leadership competencies included: (I) Assist, (2) Participate, (3) Presence, and (4) Reflect. An analysis between male and female peer leadership competencies provided insight into important competencies for each gender. The order of importance forthe male population was Assist, Participate, Presence, and Reflect. The order of importance for the female population was slightly different, with Participate, Assist, Reflect, and Presence, indicating gender influences peer leadership competencies. An analysis of the freshmen through senior levels using analysis of variance found no significant differences between the four levels, indicating maturation from freshmen to senior college levels did not affect peer leadership competencies (Baker, 2011).

Peer Leadership Skills

Peer leadership competencies provided broad domains of leader behavior necessary to influence others, but did not provide insight into specific leader actions and behaviors. The definition of specific peer leadership skills allows for leader development by providing measurable outcomes needed to enhance the ability to influence peers. The development of peer leadership pedagogy requires measurable outcomes to enhance the curricula.

A multiple regression analysis was conducted on each peer leadership competency to identify the most important peer leadership skills. The significance of the four competencies provided insight into which skills most enhanced peer leadership. All skills that define peer competencies indicate significant contributions to each competency (Baker, 20 II).

The influence of maturation can impact any study of college student behavior. The multiple regression analyses conducted on college levels were significant and provided insight into possible maturation effectson peer leadership. An analysis of variance of college-level competencies also indicated no significant differences among the four peer leadership competencies. The wide variance in the number of skills indicating no significance supported the college-level peer leadership competencies findings of this study. Although no significant differences occurred among the college-level competencies, significant differences were found by college Levelsregarding the importance of skills defining the competencies. However, only slight differences were found when considering gender (Baker, 2011).

Findings

An influence survey determined four peer leadership constructs to allow for a quantitative analysis. The final model consisted of 18 questions representing four components: (a) Assist, (b) Participate, (c) Reflect,and (d) Presence. The resulting competencies related to, but also differed from, the original five theoretical constructs identified by the literature review and ROTC data base analysis.

All competencies made significant contributions and allowed insight into the leader competencies that most enhance peer leadership. The Assist competency emerged as the most significant and indicated peers prefer peer leaders who demonstrate a positive attitude, provide assistance in defining goals or making decisions, and make a sincere effort to reach consensus with peers. The second most significant competency, Participate, focused on peers who communicate and listen effectively, encourage, and include peers when making decisions. The third most significant competency, Presence, focused on the peer leader having a physical presence. The least significant competency, Reflect, consisted of peer leader actions that caused the influenced peer to analyze and learn from the situation, as well as reflect and meditate for a better understanding.

The Participate and Assist competencies have a common theme of working with peers and offering supportive, helpful behaviors. Both suggest peers can influence others by relational behaviors, rather than task or conceptual behaviors. Interpersonal skills appear important when attempting to influence others of equal abilities and status. Komives et al. (2002,2005, & 2006) suggested similar findings in their grounded studies

that defined and discussed the Leadership Identity Development (LID) model consisting of six stages of leadership development. Effects of peer influence emerged in stage two and appeared as more important in stages three through six. Although the authors discussed peer influences, the studies did not define specific competencies or skills. The competencies and skills defined here provided greater clarity and better defined peer leadership in the LID context.

As discussed earl ier, the Presence competency did not coincide with other survey questions but emerged as a competency of interest based on the ROTC data analysis. The importance of the competency indicated effective peer leadership resulted from the mere presence of the peer leader, although the physical appearance was unimportant. Regardless of peer status or serving in positions of legitimate authority, leaders increased their ability to influence others through their physical presence. The U.S. Army has long recognized the importance of physical presence to leadership and emphasized this competency during leader development. The ability to project a confident, physical presence when attempting to influence and lead soldiers creates a desired quality that increases the ability to gain influence. This article supported the Army's views on leader development regarding physical presence and indicated leading peers may generalize to different contexts.

The least influential competency, Reflect, focused on the situation and not on the leader or the peer. The emphasis of the leader and peer, rather than the situation, indicated the possibility that leadership ismore relational and less dependent on situational variables.

Adelman (2002) cited communication and interpersonal skills, self-awareness and confidence, a sense of civic and social responsibility, critical thinking, and reflective abilities as important aspects of peer leadership. The competencies identified in this article generally agreed with Adelman but, more appropriately, delineated the peer leader influences by defining specific competencies and skills. An analysis of the effects of gender and college level on peer leadership competencies provided insight into possible maturation influences and biases.

Analyses based on gender identified significant differences among the four competencies. Female statistical means compared with male statistical means indicated higher ratings by females of peer leadership questions, indicating females tended to have a more positive perception of the leadership process than males. The higher female ratings also may have indicated a more

relational characteristic of female leaders, as compared to their male counterparts (Baker, 2011).

Eagly, Karau, and Makhijani (1995) conducted a meta-analysis illustrating that men and women performed equally as leaders, except when in leadershIp roles congruent to their gender. Both genders III thIS article perceived the peer leadership scenario congruent to their gender and tended to rate responses accordingly, with females possessing a more positive frame of reference than males. Additional evidence of a possible female positive tendency occurred with rating the overall dependent variable.

Maturation is a very difficult aspect of leadership development to measure and analyze, and previous analyses supported that supposition. Pascarella and Terenzini (1991) notedmaturation occurs across multiple, broad constructs and is developmental in nature while students attend college. Most research viewed maturation as having a positive effect on leadership development and could account for significant differences between maturity levels. This analysis of competencies indicated no impact of maturation on these competencies (Baker, 2011).

Possible reasons for the lack of maturation impact could result from the scope or context of the research and the leadership aspect that was examined (peer leadership). The focus was on undergraduate students, with the majority of ages between 18and 25.This narrow range of years could account for the lack of differences between college levels. However, seven years is a substantial period of time, and considerable maturation occurs when transitioning from high school and home to higher education and college life. If these transitional factors impacted maturation, the results should, indicate significant differences.

Discussion

The context of this research was a medium sized, public university campus. Students choose whether to be involved in campus activities, creating a prevalent environment of equality, unlike smaller or private colleges where more peer pressure may exist to participate in campus activities. The general lack of peer pressure at the study university could create a more informal and less structured environment, mitigating the effects of maturation.

The aspect of leadership studied, peer leadership, represented a unique aspect of leadership, as an individual attempts to influence another without the use

az----------------------"'LCII'U\.IV' ..." "",1.1,,,1.1/ VI LC;U....CI~'"p urlv ...."Ull C; of traditional forms of power such as those identified by French and Ravens (1959). The leadership competencies needed to influence peers remained the same over time. Possible reasons for the consistent competencies observed by college levels could have resulted from the personal and relational nature of peer leadership. The competencies and skills needed by peers to establish and maintain effective relationships may not improve with maturity. Additional studies using different contexts and age groups could provide more insight into the effects of maturation on peer leadership.

A comparison of male and female peer leadership skills indicated significance for at least one gender for all questions, although three male and three female skill questions did not contribute significantly to regression models. Although similarity between genders occurred for the majority of skill questions, non-significant questions occurred in all four competencies, indicating pcssible gender-based tendencies (Baker, 2011).

Two skiII questions indicated a possible male tendency for al/tonomy. Those questions focused on assisting peers in developing objective criteria and including them during the decision-making process. A lack of significance by male participants may indicate malesperceived assistance from and inclusion of their peers as unimportant when making decisions. The perceived male tendency toward autonomy supported research conducted by van Engen and Williamsen (2004), who found women led in a more democratic and inclusive manner. A potential male tendency may exist, as males thought praise from peers or the celebration of small victories as unimportant. Female responses for each question found not significant by males indicated significance and potential gender tendencies when leading peers.

Two survey questions indicated no significance for female participants and may have illustrated that females tend to focus on the present, rather than the future or past, when attempting to influence peers. Females appeared to not need a physical nearness of the influencing peer for help and may rely more heavily on other means for communicating presence, such as texting or other electronic communications. Male responses indicated signi ficance for all three female questions that were found to be not significant, indicating potential female tendencies.

Regression rankings provided useful information regarding the importance of peer leadership skills as a component of the associated competency. The most important skills for the Assist competency focused on

a positive attitude by leaders that provided a distinct advantage (Baker, 2011). Colin Powell (2002) remarked, "Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier" (p. 259), portraying the significance of a positive leader inmilitary terminology. Consensus may relate to enthusiasm in certain situations, as both could positively influence the situation.

The Participate competency had greater variance in ranking peer skills and identified effective communication, good listening qualities, and constant encouragement as most important. Encouragement relates to the enthusiasm skill identified for the Assist competency and may indicate an overall positive attitude as effective for peer leadership. Both genders identified constant encouragement as the most important skill. Communication skills determined as important related directly to the literature review that identified communication as the most important peer leadership skill competency.

The skills identified as important for the Reflect competency focused on situational aspects. Assisting the peer to reflect and meditate in fuJJy understanding the situation was significant. Both genders identified the peer rellecting and meditating skill as important to the Reflect competency.

Only one peer skill surfaced as important for the Presence competency and focused on the mere presence of the peer leader when helping or supporting. An analysis by gender indicated both male and female participants ranked the mere presence of the peer leader as important. This competency indicated that individuals prefer peer leaders to be visible and act as a source of comfort and reassurance.

Overall, the leadership skills ranked most important by competency: (1) had themes of positive leader behaviors, (2) highly rated effective communication and listening skills, (3) focused on helping peers to reflect and fully understand the situation, and (4) indicated the importance of the presence of the peer on others. Results supported the general findings and themes discovered during the literature review and ROTC data analysis. The information provided several suggested foci for enhancing leadership pedagogy and peer leader development.

Limitations

Methodological considerations impacted the effectiveness of the influence survey. The methodology used to develop the survey followed prescribed methods

advocated by Peterson (2000) and Oppenheim (1992). The methodology provided for an adequate survey, but the results indicated participants might have had varying perspectives for the frame of reference scenario and questions. Despite the amount of variance (Baker, 20 II) rated as a large effect for the behavioral sciences, opportunities remain to improve the survey.

The participants were comprised of undergraduate students from a regional public university with a significant part-time population. The varied life experiences of students may have impacted perceptions and reflected a possible bias not found in a more traditional student population. The maturity level varied, as ages ranged from 17to 62 (the majority were between 18 and 25), which may have influenced data analysis. Although a limitation, the focus of this research required an aggregate sample of undergraduate students designed to allow analyses of peer leadership competencies and skills across maturity levels.

The majority of students originated from the same geographic region of the United States. The study university focuses on recruiting a diverse student population; however, 82% originated within the home state of the university. Potential influences from the culture of the geographic region could bias the data and findings.

Various characteristics, including academic discipline, race, family environment, and ethnic groups, could provide additional bias. The limited number of responses from students representing specific academic disciplines, the wide variety of family environments, and the limited number of represented ethnic groups prohibited more quantitative analyses. However, the potential bias remains unknown for any specific group based on academic discipline, race, family environment, or ethnicity.

Implications for Future Research

Future studies on peer leadership competencies and skills should focus on generalizing the influence survey and allowing investigations of different populations. Peer leadership is an aspect of leadership that transcends age, ethnicity, and other aspects of society, as peers exist in all human contexts. Although undergraduate students in higher education were analyzed, future studies could examine peer leadership influences that exist in different age levels, such as high school or graduate students. Maturation did not appear to impact perspectives on peer leadership at the undergraduate level; however, it could

emerge in other, more extreme age groups. Ultimately, generalization to different cultures and countnes would provide interesting results. Leadership training and education is often lacking in higher education and understandinz how one can influence and lead peers can

"prove useful in any education context. Demographic data included race information. The

low number of minorities prohibited a meaningful analysis on that aspect. Future research may take a purposeful approach to collect a larger sample of minority students to allow a meaningful analysis of the impact of race on peer leadership competencies and skills.

Summary

Many researchers have noted the positive impact of peer interactions on cognitive development and the application of peer leadership skills (Astin, 1968, 1985, 1996; Adelman, 2002; McDaniels, Carter, Heinzman, Candrl, & Weiberg, 1994; Cuseo, 1991; Roberts, [996). The ability to fully utilize the peer group in student education and development requires specific outcomes, particularly in the realm of leadership. By providing leadership educators and developers with a more defined focus on important competencies and skills needed for effective peer leadership, curricula and pedagogy can be enhanced.

Astin (1993) stated, ..... the student's peer group is the single most potent source of influence on growth and development during the undergraduate years" (p. 398). Peer interactions provide meaningful impacts on student learning and lead to opportunities for improving leadership development. Higher education environments provide a living laboratory for peer interactions, allowing peers to develop skills and competencies needed to effectively influence others of equal status and ability. By allowing educators and leadership developers additional means to leverage the higher education environment in enhancing student understanding of leadership, both curricular and extracurricular programs can benefit.

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