Matakuliah
Tahun
: L0244 – Psikologi Kepemimpinan
: 2010
Leadership Is Developed through
Education and Experience
Pertemuan 5 & 6
The Action-Observation-Reflection Model
• Making the most of experience is key to developing
one’s leadership ability.
• The theory shows that leadership development is
enhanced when the experience involves three
different processes:
– Action
– Observation
– Reflection
• Spiral of experience: Colin Powell’s example.
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The Spiral of Experience
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The Key Role of Perception in the Spiral
of Experience
• Experience is not just a matter of what events
happen to you; it also depends on how you perceive
those events.
• Perception affects all three phases of the actionobservation-reflection model.
• People actively shape and construct their
experiences.
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Perception and Observation
• Observation and perception both deal with attending to
events around us.
– We are selective in what we attend to and what we, in turn, perceive.
• Perceptual sets can influence any of our senses:
– They are the tendency or bias to perceive one thing and not another.
– Feelings, needs, prior experience and expectations can all trigger a
perceptual set.
• Stereotypes represent powerful impediments to learning.
– Awareness of biases occurs upon reflection.
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Perception and Reflection
• Reflection deals with how we interpret our observations.
• Perception is inherently an interpretive, or a meaningmaking, activity.
• Attributions: Explanations we develop for the behaviors or
actions we attend to.
• Fundamental attribution error: Tendency to overestimate
the dispositional causes of behavior and underestimate the
environmental causes when others fail.
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Perception and Reflection
(continued)
• Self-serving bias: Tendency to make external
attributions for one’s own failures, yet make internal
attributions for one’s successes.
• Actor/observer difference: Refers to the fact that
people who are observing an action are much more
likely than the actor to make the fundamental
attribution error.
• Reflection also involves higher functions like evaluation
and judgment, not just perception and attribution.
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Perception and Action
• Research found that perceptions and biases affect
supervisors’ actions towards poorly performing
subordinates.
• Self-fulfilling prophecy: Occurs when our expectations
or predictions play a causal role in bringing about the
events we predict.
• Research has shown that having expectations about
others can subtly influence our actions.
• These actions can, in turn, affect the way others
behave.
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The Role of Expectations in Social Interaction
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Reflection and Leadership Development
• Reflection provides leaders with insights into
several ways of framing problems, multiple
perspectives, or better understanding.
• Leaders tend to ignore reflection due to lack of
time or lack of awareness of its value.
• Intentional reflection might prompt one to see
potential benefits in experience not initially
considered relevant.
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Single and Double-Loop Learning
• Single-loop learners seek relatively little feedback
that may significantly confront their fundamental
ideas or actions.
– Individuals learn only about subjects within the
“comfort zone” of their belief systems.
• Double-loop learning involves a willingness to
confront one’s own views and an invitation to
others to do so, too.
– Mastering double-loop learning can be thought of as
learning how to learn.
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Leadership Development
through Experience
• Factors that make any given experience potent in
fostering managerial growth:
– The people you work with
– The characteristics of the task itself
• Leaders in any field tend to first stand out by virtue
of their technical proficiency.
– Competence or proficiency are factors that serve as basis
for emergence or selection of a leader.
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Changing Requirements for Success
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The People You Work With
• A boss can be a powerful catalyst for growth.
• People from different backgrounds, perspectives, or
agendas can impact the growth experience.
• Working with problem subordinates can stimulate
managerial growth, as can peers.
• Both mentors and mentorees benefit from having the
relationship.
• Executive coaching: General responsibility of all executives
towards managers who report to them.
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Developmental Tasks
• Leadership development can be enhanced in a changing,
dynamic, uncontrollable, and unpredictable environment.
– Strategic planning and projections can contribute to a leader’s
development.
• Opportunities that stretch individuals and allow them to test
themselves provide learning.
• The risk of possible failure is a strong incentive for managers
to learn.
• Organizations may not provide the same development
opportunities for all their members.
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Making the Most of Your Leadership
Experiences: Learning to Learn from Experience
• The learning events and developmental experiences that
punctuate one’s life are usually stressful.
• A flat learning curve can result due to an inability to move
against one’s grain of personal success and tolerate a dip in
performance results.
• To be successful, learning must continue throughout life,
beyond the completion of one’s formal education.
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Anatomy of a Learning Experience
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Leadership Development through
Education and Training
• Research has shown that:
– Education level or academic performance in college was positively
related to future managerial success.
– Educational programs generally have a positive effect on
leadership development.
– Formal education and training programs can help one become a
better leader.
• The content of different leadership programs varies considerably,
depending on the target audience.
• Leadership education is a component of leadership development.
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University Courses in Leadership
• Leadership training programs can include formal courses or
extracurricular leadership activities.
• The pedagogy used to impart different leadership concepts
vary greatly.
• Many courses use the standard lecture methods, or provide
individualized feedback through:
– Case studies
– Role Playing
– Simulations
– Games
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Leadership Training Programs
• Programs aimed particularly at industry and public service
leaders and supervisors use:
– Lectures
– Case studies
– Role-playing exercises
• Programs for midlevel managers often focus on:
– Individualized feedback, case studies, presentations
– Role playing, simulations
– In-basket exercises
– Leaderless group discussions
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Leadership Training Programs
(continued)
• Conger offers that a multi-tiered approach is effective.
• Leadership development in the 21st century must occur in
more lifelike situations and contexts.
• Leadership programs for senior executives and CEOs focus on
strategic planning, PR, and interpersonal skills.
• No matter the type of program chosen, a systematic
approach guarantees its usefulness.
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Building Your Leadership Self-Image
• Leadership develops through experience and formal
education.
• Not everyone wants to be a leader or believes he/she can
be.
• Avoid selling yourself short.
• Understand the importance of leadership, keep an open
mind.
• Avoid self-defeating generalizations.
• Experiment and take a few risks with different leadership
roles.
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Summary
• One way to add value to your leadership courses and
experiences is by applying the action-observation-reflection
model.
• Be aware of the role perception plays in leadership
development.
• Education and experience can contribute to your
development as a leader.
• To become a better leader, one must seek challenges and try
to make the best of any leadership opportunity.
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