Leadership Development

The concept of leadership development can be unclear or even confusing because it is made up of two terms—leadership and development—that are each ambiguous and multifaceted. There is no single, universally accepted definition of leadership. Some researchers have gone so far as to say that it is impossible to define leadership in words, but people know it when they see it. Leadership can mean different things to different people depending on their experience, background, and developmental level. The best we can apparently do is to describe leadership as a process (not a position) that involves leaders, followers, and situations. The social-influence aspect of the proposed definition is limiting. There are potentially other forms of leadership such as relational dialogue that transcend influence processes. Also, research has shown that people hold implicit leadership theories that vary based on their experience and background. The distinction between leaders and followers is a somewhat arbitrary one. Everyone is a leader at some time or another, and everyone is also a follower at times. The roles change in a dynamic, fluid, and ongoing fashion. In a given situation, an individual may adopt both a leader and a follower role depending on whether he or she is influencing others or being influenced, setting direction or following direction, or providing support or receiving support at a particular moment.

Another aspect of leadership worth noting is that it is inherently a multilevel phenomenon. Leadership involves individuals, groups, and organizations. On an individual level, people adopt leader and follower roles. In groups and organizations, leadership emerges in the context of social structures and processes. Without a context in which to interact, there can be no leadership. Therefore, leadership is not something that is added to individuals, groups, or organizations; rather, it is drawn from those various entities.

Development, for its part, implies a change in state. It is growth from a less complex to a more complex way of thinking or acting. By this definition, aging is not necessarily development, because getting older without a corresponding change in cognitive or behavioral complexity does not constitute development. In most people, however, aging and development tend to go hand in hand. Research on adult development and in gerontology suggests that development often occurs throughout the lifespan, even into old age.

Human development has been discussed as an ongoing cycle of differentiation (acquiring new knowledge, skills, and abilities) and integration (organizing knowledge, skills, and abilities into more complex forms), moving toward increasing levels of complexity. But the change from a relatively simple state to a complex one is not always straightforward, and development is not perfectly predictable. Two individuals participating in an identical development program are likely to change in very different ways. What and how someone learns is of critical importance to development. Enhancing the ability to learn from experience is a key concern in development in general and in leadership development in particular.