Leader Development or Leadership Devlopment

The leadership culture has changed.

We live in a “postheroic” era.

People attribute authority to those they trust . . . those with proven integrity.

Titles no longer matter as much as character.

People want to be inspired into action, not driven.

The top three leadership traits that are needed for a “postheroic” era are the abilities to network, collaborate, and have influence without authority.

But these are not traditional leadership skills that universities teach. These topics rarely form the core subject matter of the next leadership conference.

These skills have much more to do with social capital than human capital.

Some thought leaders have begun to differentiate between leader development and leadership development.

Is there a noteworthy difference–or is this semantics?

Maybe both.

David Day, a scholar at the University of Western Australia, makes the case that there is a need to consider both kinds of development for the 21st century leader. He separates leader development from leadership development and says both are necessary.

Day makes the distinction in the following way:

Leader Development

• Focus on Human Capital
• A Model of Individual Personal Power, Knowledge, and Trustworthiness
• The Competence Base is Intrapersonal
• Necessary Skills:
  • Self-Awareness
    • Emotional Awareness
    • Self Confidence
    • Accurate Self-Image
  • Self Regulation
    • Self-Control
    • Trustworthiness
    • Personal Responsibility
    • Adaptability
  • Self-Motivation
    • Initiative
    • Commitment
    • Optimism

Leadership Development

• Focus on Relational Capital
• A Model of Relational Commitments, Mutual Respect, and Trust
• The Competence Base is Interpersonal
• Necessary Skills:
  • Social Awareness
    • Empathy
    • Service Orientation
    • Political Awareness
  • Social Skills
    • Building Bonds
    • Team Orientation
    • Change Catalyst
    • Conflict Management

Most would agree that all of the above competencies are needed to effectively network, collaborate and and have influence without authority. Leader development focuses on the individual and can be accomplished in an individual training context. Leadership development focuses more on the team and is better accomplished in a cohort or team context.

Consider these principles for your development of leaders:

• Development needs grounding, a base from which to establish character and integrity.
• Development is best done in the context of the mission–the actual work of the organization.
• Holistic development requires both “hard” trait oriented skills and “soft” people/social oriented skills.
• Leader development can be done in a one on one training context.
• Leadership development is best done in a cohort/team environment.

In a “postheroic” era a premium will need to be placed on leadership development with a grounding in the leader development necessity of self -awareness, character and integrity.

What are your thoughts?

(photo credit)

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