The Leadership Challenge: New
Forms and Thinking in Leadership
Development
Nicholas Clarke
University of Southampton Business School
1
Differences Between the Leadership we Have
and the Leadership we Need
2
Three Major Challenges
 Capacity
 Context
 Crisis
Capacity
3
 1997 US Fortune 500 survey: 85% of organizations lacked quality
and quantity of leadership talent.
 ASTD (2012) Bridging the Skills Gap
 Dept BIS (2012) 75% of organisations in England reported
a deficit of leadership skills
 PwC (2014) Report HR Directors in Ireland – Shortage of
Management Talent
Context
4
Crisis
5
What are we currently Doing?
6
 Leadership Development Literature
 Leadership Development Practice
Differences Between the Leadership we Have
and the Leadership we Need
7
(1) Significant limitations with the literature on
Leadership Development
“Leader Development
Experience”
ASSESSMENTS
INDIVIDUAL
FEEDBACK
GROUP
FEEDBACK
DEVELOPMENT
AND
ONGOING
PERFORMANCE
MANAGEMENT
Performance Management: Aligning and developing leader
competencies and skills to enhance overall capabilities in
achieving individual and organizational goals.
What’s wrong with the traditional model?
9
 Argument: Much of the writing on Leadership
Development is largely unitarist and universalist
 Yet
1. The notion of Leadership is contested and operates
at different levels
2. Leadership is culturally informed
3. Resource-Based View of the Firm
4. Heroic leader idea of leadership
Differences Between the Leadership we Have
and the Leadership we Need
10
(2) What about Leadership Development Practice
Clarke & Higgs (in press Human
Resource Management
US)
11
 How does the pattern of formal leadership training and
development differ across organisations?
 What factors account for the pattern of formal leadership
training and development practices that can be found?




Multi-level perspective
Large organisations (>5000 employees)
Significant budgets (>250K)
10 organisations (1) The Police service, (2) Health service, (3) Local
government, (4) Higher education; (5) Risk management, (6)
Telecommunications; (7) The Third Sector (8) The Anglican
Ministry; (9) Cultural Industries and (10) Social Care.
The Strategic12Context: 3 cases
Leadership Academy
Risk management
Although initially establishing itself as a dominant player in the marine industry, growth in other business
sectors was forecast that would see a doubling of profit within four years to reach £1.5 billion. LTD was seen as a
playing a chief role in driving through the new growth strategy. This needed a focus on the leadership skills
needed to manage change and to improve performance of staff. Employing approximately 8,500 staff globally,
the organization has examined all job grades to identify the leadership skills necessary for that level, and put
staff through an assessment center to establish leadership skills and allocate training where skill deficits are
identified.
Telecommunications
The company strategy is to drive broad-band based consumer services and be the network provider of choice.
The European Union (EU) has a significant influence on the policy and regulatory environment with EU
legislation affecting areas such as fibre access, spectrum, net neutrality, and Green ICT. The European
Commission’s “Digital Agenda” initiative emphasizes ICT and telecoms as central to Europe’s economic growth
and recovery. The LTD strategy is to equip leaders with the skills needed to implement projects, identify
problems, and provide strategic solutions that align company and business unit goals.
Health service
The overarching strategic aim of the academy is to continuously improve the quality and safety of heath care in
the United Kingdom. LTD delivery is directed toward working at every level of the health care system to develop
the technical skills, leadership, capacity, knowledge and the will for change, that are seen as key to real and
lasting improvement. The LTD strategy is chiefly concerned with enabling leadership to drive quality
improvement and innovation.
Risk
Telecommunications
Health
Strategic Focus
1. Individual: Career
Pathway
2. Organisational:
Performance
1. Organizational:
Performance/Transformation
2. Community: Social Gain and Customer
Relationship
1. Sector: System Change
2. Community: Health Gain
Major Products
and Services
1. Training Programmes
for
(i) First line managers
(ii) Middle managers
(iii) Senior managers
2. Assessment Centres
Training Programs for (a) Inspirational
Leadership: First/Second line managers
(b) Vital Vision: CEOs from across the
public sector
1. Leadership Development
through Quality Improvement
in Health (OD) (18)
2. Training Programs
3. Fellowship Program
1. Specified
2. Specified and responsive
1. Combination of specified &
emergent
2. Specified
3. Participant directed
Training/Developm Specified & Responsive
ent Content
Behavioural
Framework
Yes
No
No
Participation
Criteria
Mandatory
1. Mandatory
2. Voluntary/By invitation
1. Targeted and invited
2. Voluntary subject to
interview and criteria
What Values
underpin
Leadership
Training and
Development
1. Personal integrity
2. Credibility
3. Passion for new
1. Trust (integrity)*
2. Integrity (backbone)*
3. Authenticity (sensing)
1. People can change
2. Passion for quality
3. Discovery
Leadership
Transformational
Transformational
Complexity
LTD DELIVERY
STRATEGIC
FOCUS OF LTD
LEVELS OF
IMPACT
Behavioral
Framework
Criteria
Learning
Philosophy
Individual
Yes
Specified
Organizational
Yes
Specified/
Responsive
Sectoral
Yes/No
Participation
Mandator
y
LTD GOALS
BUSINESS
GOALS
Mandator
y/Volunta
ry
Specified/
Responsive
LEADERSHIP
PHILOSOPHY
Voluntary
/Targeted
Community
No
Emergent
Voluntary
/Targeted
A Contingency Model of Leadership Training & Development
14
Insights
15
 There is some evidence that leadership
development is contextual – but this is determined
by level of impact: More nuanced ideas of adding
value are less developed
 Leadership development in some organisations
remains underpinned by a heroic leadership
model.
 How leadership development can be used to
address social responsibility issues remains as yet
unexplored.
What we need to
do differently
Leadership Development- A New
Agenda
What do we need to do differently:
CIPD (2012) Next Generation HR
17
 Balanced Between the Needs of Today and Tomorrow:
Sustainability
 A more focused role on integrity and trustworthiness and
social contribution
 How HR Keeps Organisations Agile and Adapting
 Business Driven and Unique to the Context: Drive Value
Through Business Insight
Shared Leadership Development
18
Internal Team Context
1. Learning/
Innovative Culture
2. Ambiguity and
Complexity
3. Empowerment
4. Political context
5. Disruptive events
Shared Leadership
1. Emergent groups
working on
adaptation
2. Self organised
problem solving
•Tteam cohesion
•Information and knowledge exchange
•Collaborative problem solving
•Conflict Management
5.\team dynamics
6. Social support
7. Voice
1. Formal Leader Behaviours
2. Team Member Behaviours
3. Individual leadership schemas
Team Intermediate
Outcomes
1. Adaptive performance
2. Collective efficacy
3. Satisfaction
8. Communication patterns
9. Decision making processes
10. Team affective climate
Individual Knowledge,
Skills, Behaviours and
Schemas
What is Value for Leadership
Development ?
Best HR Practices help almost every business…
Bottom
10%
Top 10%
No. of training hrs. for new
employees
35
117
Percentage of employees
receiving a performance
appraisal
41%
95%
No. of employees per HR
professional
254
140
Percentage hired based on a
validated selection test
4%
30%
HR Practice
From Huselid et al., 2000, AMJ
Firm Brand: This organisation is
known for
Leadership Brand: Leaders here
are known for:
Walmart
Always low prices
Managing costs efficiently,
getting things done on time
FedEx
Doing whatever it takes
Managing logistics, Meeting
deadlines, solving problems
quickly
Lexus
Pursuing Perfection
Managing quality processes for
continuous improvement
Procter & Gamble
Brands you know and trust
Developing consumer insights,
product innovation
McKinsey
CEOs trusted adviser
Leading teams that deconstruct
business problems and develop
solutions
Boeing
People working together for
aerospace leadership
Working as teams, possessing
technical excellence
Apple
Innovation and Design
Creating new products that
break industry norms
Bon Secours Health
Good Help to those in need
Business Skills with compassion
and caring
PepsiCo
Appealing to the younger
generation
Building the next generation of
talent
21
HR architecture as a strategic asset
•Goal of corporate strategy: create sustained
competitive advantage.
•Goal of HR strategy: maximize the contribution of
HR towards that same goal.
HR FUNCTION
HR professionals
with strategic
competencies
(delivery of HR
services in a way that
supports the
implementation of
the firm’s strategy
HR
ARCHITECTURE
HR SYSTEM
High-performance,
strategically
aligned and
integrated HR
policies &
practices
EMPLOYEE
BEHAVIORS
Strategically focused
competencies,
motivations, and
associated behaviors
Level
Summative Criteria
Formative Criteria
Example LTD Approaches
INDIVIDUAL
Leader
1. Leader Knowledge, Skills and
Behaviors (Cognitive Skills,
Business Skills, Strategic Skills,
Social Skills
Emotional Skills
2. Leader Self-Awareness
3. Leader Effectiveness
1. Leader characteristics
(Developmental Readiness,
Opportunities and Motivation to
Lead, Motivation to Perform)
2. Transfer climate
3. Job Developmental Challenge
(Working across boundaries,
Unfamiliar responsibilities, High
level responsibility
Creating change, Managing
diversity
Access to feedback)
1.. 360 degree feedback
2. Action learning
3. Coaching
4. Mentoring
5. Job assignments and projects
6. Self-development activities
7. Leadership training
8. Questionnaires and Surveys
INDIVIDUAL
Follower
1. Follower Outcomes (Attitudes
and Performance)
1. Follower Implicit Leadership
Theories
1. Training for followers
2. Training for leaders and
followers together.
3. Socialisation practices
LEADER-FOLLOWER
1. Leader-Follower Bonding
Social Capital
1. Leader-Follower Relationship
Quality (Affect, Contribution,
Loyalty, Respect)
Same as for Individual Leader
and Individual Follower above
23
Level
Summative Criteria
Formative Criteria
Example LTD Approaches
TEAM
1.Team Effectiveness (eg
team climate, team
dynamics)
2. Team Performance
3. Team Bonding Social
Capital
1.Team Leadership Processes
(Maintenance of team mental
models, Monitoring the
internal and external
environment, Behavioral and
performance expectations,
Task-focused and Personfocused team behaviors).
2. Team Leader Behaviors
(Relational leader behaviors,
Citizenship behaviors, Social
and Emotional behaviors)
1. Team training and
development activities.
2. Team leader training and
development
3. Transactive memory
training
4. Team projects and
assignments
5. Team building activities
ORGANIZATIONAL
1. Organizational
Performance and
Effectiveness (Efficiency,
Human Capital and
Adaptation to environment)
2. Organizational Bridging
Social Capital
1. Leadership Culture
2. Indices of Connectivity
(eg network collaboration,
trust and growth)
1. Same as for Individual
Leader above
2. Organizational Visioning
exercises.
3. Organization
Development
4. Strategic planning
exercises
5. Change Management
projects
6. Leader planning meetings
COMMUNITY
1. Community Social Capital
1. Integrative Leader
Behaviors
2. Shared Leadership
3. Inter-organizational
Learning Capability
1. Same as for Individual
leader above.
2. Inter-organizational
development activities (eg
search conferences
24
Finally…
25
 How Do You Differentiate Your Leadership and the
HRD processes that support it?