Longitudinal tests of an integrative model of leader development: Charting and understanding developmental trajectories

Reconsidering Leadership Development: From Programs to Developmental Systems

We argue for reconsidering leadership development based on open systems theory and systems design principles. A primary advantage of open systems thinking is that it encourages holistic approaches to development and avoids episodic program-based training and piecemeal thinking. The latter approaches are both limited and limiting yet tend to be the preferred approach to leadership development in organizations. Open systems approaches to development offer numerous advantages both conceptually and pragmatically, especially through the incorporation of ongoing feedback cycles. Core practices that define a leadership development system are presented and implications are discussed.

Shared Leadership for Total Worker Health in the Construction Industry

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study is to investigate the organizational, supervisor, team, and individual factors associated with employee and leader perceptions of shared Total Worker Health (TWH) transformational leadership in teams. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 14 teams across three construction companies. Results: Shared TWH transformational leadership in teams was associated with employees and leaders' perceptions of support from coworkers. Other factors were also associated it, but it differed by position. Conclusions: We found that leaders may be focused on the mechanics of sharing TWH transformational leadership responsibilities and workers may be more focused on their internal cognitive abilities and motivations. Our results suggest the potential ways of promoting shared TWH transformational leadership among construction teams.

Building Leadership Service Academies to Institutionalize a Strategic Leadership Development Focus

In this article, we propose a strategic view of leadership development, by defining a Leadership Service Academy (LSA) construct. The LSA represents a strategic approach that enables an organization and its leaders to institutionalize its own theory of leadership, narrative, models, learning methodologies, practices, and evaluation methods for determining the impact of investing in developing leadership. The LSA construct represents a shift in strategic thinking that involves moving beyond focusing on individual leader development training programs used for satisfying current role-requirements or tactical succession planning, to adopting a systemic view of leadership development aligned with the organization's strategic objectives, mission, values, and culture. Most leadership development research has focused on examining the efficacy of training methodologies linked to individual leadership models and modalities and has produced promising results. However, the narrow focus on individual leadership development has excluded the full spectrum of leadership development interventions from being explored and analyzed. Our primary goal here is to explore a comprehensive strategy for building a sustainable, multi-level leadership development system firmly anchored in both science and practice.

How to avoid others and influence people: Attachment orientations predict leader prototypicality in ad hoc teams

The existing literature has explored the role and importance of personality traits in leader prototypicality. However, limited research exists concerning the link between personality traits and leader emergence or prototypicality in ad hoc teams. Based on the relational leadership and attachment literature, we examine whether leader attachment orientations can serve as antecedents of leader prototypicality in ad hoc teams. Utilizing an ad hoc problem-solving task featuring a round-robin design in a sample of 197 participants, we find that individuals with a dominant avoidant attachment orientation were more likely to be perceived as leader-like or leader prototypical. In comparison, individuals with a dominant anxious attachment orientation were much less likely to emerge as leader prototypical. We interpret these findings in alignment with attachment theory and relational leadership and discuss the role of relational personality traits in ad hoc teams with no formally appointed leader.

Addressing the known unknowns in student leader development

This article highlights the current state of "what we know we do not know" about student leadership development and suggests specific research agendas and program assessment methods. This article includes the practical description of how rigorous methods could be used to address these issues using examples for both researchers and program assessment staff and the description of a conceptual model that could be employed to organize how leadership program outcomes are evaluated.

Exploring the leadership development journey of SME owner-managers

Purpose

This research aimed to investigate influences on and opinions of leadership development in small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) business owner-managers. Therefore, the objective of this study was to respond to the research question – How do SMEs’ founder-owner-managers develop their leadership over time?

Design/methodology/approach

This study applies a history narrative qualitative method to explore the leadership development journey of SMEs’ founder-owner-managers throughout their lifetime. Fifteen founder-owner-managers were interviewed.

Findings

Five main themes emerge reflecting a social contextual process starting from early childhood: (1) the dominant influence of parents on leadership qualities and behaviours; (2) the importance of sports activities in shaping leadership qualities and identities; (3) the dominant influence of role models especially bad role models on leadership perceptions and behaviours; (4) the importance of self-learning, experimentation and self-reflection in developing entrepreneurship capability and (5) the importance of community-based social networks in gaining support and practicing leadership capability.

Originality/value

The originality of this research lies within the methodology used whereby a history narrative qualitative method is employed to develop data for analysis purposes. Using this methodology, this study contributes to a broader understanding of SMEs’ founder-owner-managers’ leadership development journey by taking a more expansive view to explore the development process throughout their lifetime.

Leadership development through experimentation: a theoretical framework and empirical test

Purpose

Many theories have been proposed to understand and improve the process of leadership development. One useful way to structure the literature is around three complementary perspectives, briefly summarized as the “knowing, doing and being” dimensions of leadership. While the complementarities between these perspectives have been discussed, the mechanisms by which they are linked are less clear. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of experimentation as one such mechanism.

Design/methodology/approach

Building on interviews and prior literature, the authors argue that experimentation consists of two processes: task-prototyping focused on the work overseen by the leader and self-prototyping focused on how the leader relates to others. This study proposes a theoretical framework linking experimentation to action-taking (e.g. being entrepreneurial and taking on challenging assignments), which in turn links to leader effectiveness. The authors test the hypotheses on two groups of leaders (481 business school alumni and 310 financial services leaders).

Findings

The authors find evidence that both forms of experimentation provide significant explanatory power in understanding why some individuals engage in higher levels of action-taking than others. Additionally, their study confirms the central role of action-taking in leadership development.

Originality/value

Conceptually, this study distinguishes two dimensions of experimentation and their connection to action-taking, knowledge development and identity development. Empirically, the authors show that these two experimentation activities were significant predictors of action-taking, even after controlling for all other factors, and that action-taking (along with self-prototyping) was an important predictor of leader effectiveness. The results offer a practical framework for leadership and development professionals to use in designing and evaluating leadership development activities.

The Science of Leadership: A Theoretical Model and Research Agenda

I review the empirical literature on leadership, focusing on papers published since 2010. To do so, I introduce a framework composed of two features: whether theories ( a) involve the study of leaders or leading (i.e., the person versus the process) and ( b) conceptualize leadership as a cause or a consequence (i.e., an independent versus dependent variable). This framework can enable future research to accumulate in a more programmatic fashion and help scholars determine where their own studies are located within the landscape of leadership research. I end the review by critically evaluating existing work, arguing that the most popular subcategory of leadership research—lumped conceptualizations of leading, in which scholars examine multiple leader behaviors within a single construct—has significant limitations and may need to be replaced by a greater focus on split conceptualizations of leading, wherein scholars isolate single leader behaviors.

Go for the gold: Hurdles and winning strategies for conducting longitudinal and nonlinear research in undergraduate leader development

This article makes a case for longitudinal and non-linear methods when researching or evaluating student leadership development. After a primer on longitudinal methodology, barriers and aligned solutions to methodological challenges are presented.

Evidence-based medical leadership development: a systematic review

Health systems invest significant resources in leadership development for physicians and other health professionals. Competent leadership is considered vital for maintaining and improving quality and patient safety. We carried out this systematic review to synthesise new empirical evidence regarding medical leadership development programme factors which are associated with outcomes at the clinical and organisational levels. Using Ovid MEDLINE, we conducted a database search using both free text and Medical Subject Headings. We then conducted an extensive hand-search of references and of citations in known healthcare leadership development reviews. We applied the Medical Education Research Study Quality Indicator (MERSQI) and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Tool to determine study reliability, and synthesised results using a meta-aggregation approach. 117 studies were included in this systematic review. 28 studies met criteria for higher reliability studies. The median critical appraisal score according to the MERSQI was 8.5/18 and the median critical appraisal score according to the JBI was 3/10. There were recurring causes of low study quality scores related to study design, data analysis and reporting. There was considerable heterogeneity in intervention design and evaluation design. Programmes with internal or mixed faculty were significantly more likely to report organisational outcomes than programmes with external faculty only (p=0.049). Project work and mentoring increased the likelihood of organisational outcomes. No leadership development content area was particularly associated with organisational outcomes. In leadership development programmes in healthcare, external faculty should be used to supplement in-house faculty and not be a replacement for in-house expertise. To facilitate organisational outcomes, interventions should include project work and mentoring. Educational methods appear to be more important for organisational outcomes than specific curriculum content. Improving evaluation design will allow educators and evaluators to more effectively understand factors which are reliably associated with organisational outcomes of leadership development.

Authentic Leadership and Innovation: The Mediating Role of Affective and Cognitive Integration, and Engagement in Work Teams

This study explores the relationship between authentic leadership and innovation at the team level of analysis. The proposed research model outlines the intervention of three mediating variables: cognitive integration, affective integration, and work engagement. Data were collected from 32 organizations (132 teams) ascribed to the so-called digital ecosystem, an organizational context in which the needs for authentic leadership and innovation seem to be integral to the firm’s performance to succeed in the marketplace. The research supported the presence of a positive relationship between authentic leadership and innovation in work teams. Additionally, affective integration and engagement were found to mediate the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. Cognitive integration, however, did not manifest any mediating effect. Theoretically, these findings support the consideration of authentic leadership as a job resource that is able to enhance the organizational outcomes, according to the Job Demand and Resources Model.

Being a Leader and Doing Leadership: The Cross-domain Impact of Family and Friends on Leader Identity and Leader Behaviors at Work

This research presents a cross-domain exploration of leader identity. Drawing from theory about multidomain leader development and leader identity social processes, we examine how endorsement as a leader by those internal and external to work can impact an individual's own self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work. Specifically, we examine how the collective endorsement of one's leader identity by family and friends in addition to work colleagues (managers, peers, and direct reports) influences the individual’s own self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work. We also examine the relationship of the individual’s self-internalized sense of identity as a leader at work to enacted transformational leadership and contingent reward behaviors as rated by colleagues in the work domain. Data from a multisource and multidomain 360° evaluation of 256 leaders by 3,255 raters in the United States and Ireland provide support for the hypothesized relationships. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Why do you treat me in such ways? An attachment examination on supervisors’ early family environment and subordinates’ responses

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to fill important gaps by using the attachment theory and examining the effects of supervisors’ early family environment on their behaviors toward subordinates and subordinates’ responses.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used samples of 334 supervisor–subordinate pairs from a manufacturing company.

Findings

The study finds that supervisors’ harmonious family environment has a positive influence on subordinates’ responses (job satisfaction, work-to-family enrichment and task performance) through the effect of supervisors’ positive working model and caregiving behavior. On the contrast, supervisors’ conflicting family environment has a negative influence on subordinates’ responses through the effect of supervisors’ negative working model and aggressive behavior.

Originality/value

Existing studies mainly explore the influence of organizational environment on supervisors’ treatment of their subordinates. However, few have examined the relationship between supervisors’ early family environment and their treatment of their subordinates.

An Assessment of Impact of Leadership Training on Health System Performance in Selected Counties in Kenya

Introduction: The provision of health care services in Kenya was devolved from the national government to the counties in 2013. Evidence suggests that health system performance in Kenya remains poor. The main issue is poor leadership resulting in poor health system performance. However, most training in Kenya focuses on “leaders” (individual) development as opposed to “leadership” training (development of groups from an organization). The purpose of that study was to explore the impact of leadership training on health system performance in selected counties in Kenya.

Methods: A quasi-experimental time-series design was employed. Pretest, posttest control-group design was utilized to find out whether the leadership development program positively contributed to the improvement of health system performance indicators compared with the non-trained managers. Questionnaires were administered to 31 trained health managers from the public, private for-profit, and private not-for-profit health institutions within the same counties.

Results: The pretest and posttest means for all the six health system (HS) pillar indicators of the treatment group were higher than those of the control group. The regression method to estimate the DID structural model used to calculate the “fact” and “counterfactual” revealed that training had a positive impact on the intended outcome on the service delivery, information, leadership and governance, human resources, finance, and medical products with impact value ≥1 (57.2).

Conclusion: The study findings support both hypotheses that trained health care management teams had a significant difference in the implementation status of priority projects and, hence, had a significant impact on health system performance indicators compared with non-trained managers.

“Mommy and Me”: raising implicit followership theories

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents to implicit followership theories (IFTs) and make recommendations for developing positive IFTs. Female transformational parenting is highlighted, showing that although followership is typically associated with one’s role in an organization, its development is not relegated to that context. Accordingly, this paper encourages transformational-parenting training and features activities for current leader-training programs to enlighten trainees about their IFTs.

Design/methodology/approach

Through one online and one paper survey, participants self-defined “follower,” rated their female primary caregivers’ transformational leadership during adolescence, reported their IFTs and provided demographic information.

Findings

Qualitative and quantitative data analyses found that the degree to which female primary caregivers demonstrated transformational leadership related to children’s positive IFTs and positive definitions about followers in young adulthood.

Research limitations/implications

Future research should test female caregivers’ influence on IFTs at more advanced stages of one’s career, examine their influence over participants’ followership behavior and incorporate external ratings of leadership and followership.

Practical implications

Recommendations for embedding IFTs into transformational-leadership-training programs are provided, falling into the categories of feedback, reflection/introspection and mentoring/coaching. In the spirit of contemporary approaches to leadership, recommendations require trainees to recognize their biases/knowledge of followers and followership and use that knowledge to facilitate collaboration between leaders and followers.

Originality/value

Findings spotlight female leadership, an often-overlooked source of power in organizations, and go beyond leader/follower dichotomies by insisting on IFTs awareness and development for both parties.

The Risky Side of Leadership: Conceptualizing Risk Perceptions in Informal Leadership and Investigating the Effects of Their Over-Time Changes in Teams

Despite the common portrait of leadership as a worthy, needed, and frequently rewarded endeavor, individuals do not always step up to lead as informal leaders in their teams. In the present research, we introduce the idea of leadership risk perceptions, arguing that individuals sometimes see risks for themselves if they step up to lead. We conceptualize three types of leadership risk perceptions (interpersonal, image, and instrumental) and investigate how changes in these risk perceptions over time impact the overall level of informal leadership that individuals contribute in their teams, as well as how these risk perceptions’ change trajectories are shaped by the level of conflict in a team. To address these issues, we conducted a series of studies, exploring the relevance of the three risk perceptions qualitatively, developing measures for them, and then testing our hypotheses in a field study following 454 individuals working in 89 master of business administration (MBA) consulting teams. We found that a decrease in an individual’s leadership risk perceptions over time was related to the individual’s overall informal leadership contributions in the team, though the pattern of relationship was not the same for all three risk perceptions. Furthermore, in teams with higher levels of relationship conflict, interpersonal and image risk perceptions decreased less over time, suggesting the importance of the social context in shaping perceived risks. Overall, this research calls attention to the much under-investigated risky side of leadership and highlights a temporal approach to understanding the impact of leadership risk perceptions.

Predicting Leadership Competency Development and Promotion Among High-Potential Executives: Role of Leader Identity

We propose that distinct leadership competencies differ in their development over time. Extending the integrative model of leader development (Day et al., 2009), we further propose that leader identity will form complex relationships with leadership competencies over time. To test these propositions, we use longitudinal data (i.e., 5 months, four measurement points) of the 80 in total high-potential executives in a corporate leadership development program. We find a significant difference in the initial levels and the changes of eight distinct leadership competencies. We also find that leader identity relates to the development of certain – but not all – leadership competencies. Finally, we demonstrate the importance of developing leadership competencies by linking them to career advancement (i.e., job promotion). These findings are discussed in light of their theoretical and practical implications.

A case study of the evolving management of leadership development in the retail banking sector

Orientation: Leadership and its development continue to be an urgent and critical priority for firms. As a field of practice and research, one observes that leadership development continues to be characterised by the failure to achieve its outcomes in spite of the scale of firms’ investment in it and the availability of a rich repertoire of developmental methods. Therefore, there is a need to understand how leadership development is configured and managed within firms as a bounded function, as programmes and as learning and development processes.Research purpose: The study explored how leadership development is articulated, configured and managed within the retail banking sector in South Africa; in particular, the retail banks and the Banking Sector Education and Training Authority (BANKSETA).Motivation for the study: There is a dearth of research on how the purpose of leadership development is defined by and within firms and, relatedly, how the management of leadership development has evolved within these organisations.Research approach/design and method: The research comprised a multi-site, qualitative case study that utilised semi-structured interviews at five retail banks, the BANKSETA and the local business school that hosted the BANKSETA International Executive Development Programme (IEDP). Thematic analysis was used for the within and cross-case analysis of the data.Main findings: The study illustrated how the institutional dynamics, contingencies and compromises inform the evolving management of leadership development within organisations. It traced the evolving purposes and the internal and external differentiation of the Leadership Development Centres (LDCs) of the retail banks and the BANKSETA IEDP. These illustrate how leadership development as a function, centre, programme and process is shaped over time. This includes the sampled stakeholders’ developing capabilities, their internal and external partnerships, their different positions, and the contestations and integration challenges they contend with.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides insights on the evolving management of leadership development, in particular the capabilities, roles, partnerships and identity work that needs to be grappled with.Contribution/value-add: The research can help practitioners diagnose and manage their firm’s evolving capabilities and detail a road map for managing and innovating leadership development.

Implicit Leadership Theories, Implicit Followership Theories, and Dynamic Processing of Leadership Information

We offer a comprehensive review of the theoretical underpinnings and existing empirical evidence in the implicit leadership and implicit followership theories domain. After briefly touching on the historical roots of information-processing approaches to leadership and leader categorization theory, we focus on current contextualized and dynamic perspectives. We specifically present neural network approaches and adaptive resonance processes that guide leadership perceptions. We further address measurement issues, emerging areas of study such as implicit leadership theories, and identity and cross-cultural issues. We offer specific avenues for future research in the form of a systematic list of unanswered research questions and further outline leadership development implications.

Weakest Link Goal Orientations and Team Expertise: Implications for Team Performance

Using prior theory and research, we argue that a team member with a low learning goal or a high avoid orientation is detrimental for the expertise–performance relationship in team tasks. Results from a study of 82 teams showed that, after controlling for goal orientation team composition, expertise improved team performance only when teams did not have a weak link team member. In contrast, when teams had this weak link teammate, expertise did not improve performance, and in some cases damaged it. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Identifying high potentials early: case study

Purpose

Driven by a shortage of leadership capacity, companies are seeking to identify leadership talent earlier. Some companies are introducing programs to identify leadership potential among university students and then hire “high potentials” directly into management designate roles. The purpose of this paper is to explore one such early-stage leadership development program. Currently, little information is available about these initiatives.

Design/methodology/approach

Case study based on interviews with 18 managers and director of HR and archival employee records.

Findings

This case study provides a detailed description of an early-stage leadership identification and development program. This program has been developed to identify leadership talent among senior university students prior to hiring and onboarding, provide support, training and development and fast-track them into leadership positions. The study provides insight into the challenges and effectiveness of an early-stage leadership program and offers some practical implications.

Originality/value

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to document a leadership development program that identifies “high potentials” among university students for the purpose of developing them into company leaders.

A Critical Evaluation of the State of Assessment and Development for Senior Leaders

Practice and research with senior leaders can be rewarding but also challenging and risky for industrial and organizational (I-O) psychologists; the fact that much of the work with these populations is difficult to access elevates these concerns. In this article we summarize work presented by prominent researchers and practitioners at a symposium organized to share common practices and challenges associated with work at higher levels of organizational management. We review implications for research and practice with senior leaders by examining how assessments are applied at senior levels, how assessments and development practices can be linked, and the challenges associated with research and evaluation conducted with these leaders. Also, we offer suggestions for advancing research and practice at senior levels.

Developmental Trajectories of Leader Identity: Role of Learning Goal Orientation

This study examines within-person change in leader identity (LI) over the course of a formal leader development program and how that change relates to learning goal orientation (LGO). Results of multilevel modeling of 299 data points from 39 leaders over 5 months indicate a positive, linear increase in LI across 12-time points. LGO was predicted and found to have both trait-like and state-like components. Trait-like LGO was positively associated with the mean change in LI over time, whereas state-like LGO was associated with within-person variance in LI over time. State-like, but not trait-like LGO positively related to differences in LI growth rates. However, we found larger rates of LI growth for leaders reporting lower levels of state-like LGO. This study adds to the body of research on leader development by providing a prospective and longitudinal test of LI development. Future research may investigate the aspects of leader training that most facilitate growth and change in LI.

Attaining elite leadership: career development and childhood socioeconomic status

Purpose

The existence of disadvantaged sub-populations whose talents are under-leveraged is a problem faced by developing and developed countries alike. Life history data revealed that a large proportion of elite business leaders in the Caribbean emerged from childhood poverty (families subsisting on US$1-2 a day, 40 percent). The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors supporting the career development of elite leaders from a broad socioeconomic spectrum and both genders in order to build a model of career development for elite leadership.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected via in-depth interviews from a deliberately gender-balanced sample of 39 male and 39 female elite business leaders. Thematic analysis identified consistencies across independent interviews and resulted in a model identifying factors supporting pre-career development as key to eventual attainment of elite leadership.

Findings

Findings indicated that in childhood and youth, proactivity plus talent recognition and mentoring by adults enhanced access to early developmental opportunities. Early career mentoring guided talented youth to build personal drive, self-esteem, altruism, and integrity, which created a foundation for developing career capital through values-based action. Altogether, these findings indicate the importance of pre-career relational capital to attainment of elite career success.

Originality/value

Difficult-to-access elite leaders provided rich information emphasizing the importance of pre-career development in childhood and youth to eventual elite leadership attainment. Virtually all of the elites in the sample remember being identified as talented early in life and consider early messages about drive to achieve as well as support received from parents, teachers, and other interested adults to be critical to their success. Hence, a process of talent recognition and encouragement to excel appear to be crucial for connecting young people to important relational capital allowing them to eventually achieve elite status, particularly those individuals hailing from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Leader Role Crafting and the Functions of Leader Role Identities

This article explores how experienced leaders address an inherent tension between leader role expectations and leader role identities when they enter a new position. Building on analysis of interviews with leaders in intrarole transition, role, and identity theories, we suggest they engage in a process of leader role crafting. We present four sets of role-crafting strategies which aim to influence the development of leader roles, and show how leader role identities both facilitate and impede the use of these. The article contributes to the leadership literature by extending contemporary perspectives on dynamic roles and role identities, while shedding light on an important challenge for today’s leaders who are faced with a particularly ambiguous and demanding role that is always in the making. The study also adds to practice by suggesting ways that leaders can engage in leader role crafting in a more reflexive manner.

Why and when leadership training predicts effectiveness

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to build and test an integrative model of leader identity as an important mechanism explaining why reactions to leadership training associate with leader effectiveness. It is proposed that this mediation relationship is conditional on leadership experience (i.e. time in a formal managerial role), such that it will be weaker for more experienced leaders because they already possess complex leadership-related knowledge and skills.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses were tested using a sample of German managers (n=196) in formal leadership positions (i.e. with direct subordinates) across a range of industries. Data were collected using online questionnaires. The proposed first-stage mediation model was tested using the structural equation approach.

Findings

Leader identity was found to mediate the relationship between reactions to leadership training and leader effectiveness. This mediation was conditional upon leadership experience, such that the indirect effect only held for less, but not for more, experienced leaders.

Research limitations/implications

The findings should be interpreted with caution because all data are self-report and cross-sectional.

Practical implications

Leadership training for senior leaders should qualitatively differ (in terms of content and length) from that for novice leaders.

Originality/value

Leadership training can substantially improve managers’ ability to lead effectively. The present study is the first to establish leader identity as a motivational mechanism that explains this relationship. This is also the first study to test for the role of leadership experience in leader development.

Protean Careers at Work: Self-Direction and Values Orientation in Psychological Success

How do self-direction and personal values influence career outcomes? Such questions have been central in research on the protean career—a career process characterized by the exercise of self-direction and an intrinsic values orientation in the pursuit of psychological success. This article provides an integrative review, with a focus on three empirically supported protean processes—identity awareness, adaptability, and agency. In addition, we discuss the role of protean careers in the contemporary work environment, clarify definitional and measurement issues, recommend research directions, and provide practical implications for organizations. Our underlying assumption throughout this discussion is that the elements of a protean career orientation (PCO) are basic elements of human needs for growth and meaning. In addition, we discuss how protean careers can be beneficial for organizations. In particular, we identify the “Protean Paradox” as a phenomenon that merits further investigation. More specifically, the protean paradox is a process by which greater levels of individual self-direction and values orientation, thus serving the purpose and interests of the individual, can also have a positive influence on the groups and organizations in which they work. Our recommendations for future research and practice promote these qualities in the contemporary world of work.

The importance of confidence in leadership role

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of leadership programmes on leaders and co-workers, as well as which mechanisms are involved in the process.

Design/methodology/approach

An analysis was done into 431 free-text answers to questionnaires given to 120 participants in two different leadership programmes and their co-workers six months after their participation, using a grounded theory inspired approach.

Findings

The result is a model, linking internal psychological and external behavioural aspects, with the central outcome that leaders gained more confidence in their leadership role through theoretical models learned, and reflection.

Research limitations/implications

The course participants as well as the co-workers seemed to experience a positive leadership development indicating a value of participating in the courses.

Practical implications

Confidence in leadership role seems important for having positive outcomes of leadership. Although this needs further research, it is something organisations should consider when working with leadership questions.

Social implications

The co-workers perceived their leaders to be calmer, more open for discussions, and willing both to give and receive feedback post training. There appears to be an increase in trust both in the leader and reciprocally from the leader in the co-workers.

Originality/value

Until now there has not been any systematic research into the effects on participants and co-workers following the programmes, despite the fact that over 100,000 have participated in the courses.