Personal Leadership Capabilities and Their Development

Table of ContentsIntroduction.......................................................................................................1

Learning Outcomes..........................................................................................1

Introduction to the Integrator Role....................................................................2

The Integrated Competing Values Framework.................................................2Academic Leadership Development and the Integrated Competing Values Framework.................................................................................................................2

Practical Activity.........................................................................................................4

The Scholarship of Work Integrated Learning and Action Learning Projects. . .5

Additional Resources.......................................................................................7

References.......................................................................................................7

Personal Leadership Capabilities and Their Development

Personal Leadership Capabilities and Their DevelopmentIntroduction

Hello and welcome to Personal Leadership Capabilities and Their Development

In this module you will review your personal leadership results from the 360° ICVF survey and in doing so explore the key role identified in the ICVF—the Integrator. As part of this module you will begin to form a development plan for your leadership and an action learning project, which will be informed by the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Figure 1: Integrator role from the Integrated Competing Values Framework

Learning OutcomesOn successful completion of this module participants will:

Review and understand personal leadership results using the Integrated Competing Values Framework (ICVF)

Begin to formulate a personal leadership development plan Strengthen peer coaching relationships Explore an action plan for building the scholarship and leadership development in WIL.

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Introduction to the Integrator RoleAs important as the five operational roles of academic leadership are, the role of the Integrator is the most critical to your effectiveness as an academic leader and fieldwork coordinator. No matter how good an academic leader is, it is your ability to select and adopt the most appropriate role in a particular situation that will ultimately determine your effectiveness as a fieldwork coordinator.

The Integrator has been called the ‘behavioural control room’ (Vilkinas & Cartan, 2001). It is this role that ensures that previous experiences and their outcomes (the successes and the failures) have been reflected on and analysed in the context of relevant data from a particular situation, and that both have informed the selection of the appropriate role to be taken during a particular situation. As stipulated previously, this role essentially has two parts – critical observer and reflective learner.

When using your Integrator role you will be:

• Developing critical observation skills that allow you to observe your own behaviour and its impact on others at your university and WIL agencies.

• Critically assessing the appropriateness of this behaviour.

• Reflecting on what you have observed.

• Learning new behaviours if current ones are inappropriate or ineffective.

When your Integrator role is overused or used inappropriately you will be:

• Insensitive to others’ needs

• Behave inappropriately

• Respond in a similar fashion to different situations, often ineffectively

• Overuse reflection at the expense of other appropriate behaviours.

This role will assist you in the development of the other 5 operational roles.

The Integrated Competing Values Framework

In this module you will explore in detail the operational roles as defined by Vilkinas & Cartan (2001) as a result of receiving your 360˚ analysis of your leadership as measured by the Integrated Competing Values Framework. With this understanding, you will be better able to consider and interpret the results of your 360˚ leadership review and put together an appropriate action learning project.

Academic Leadership Development and the Integrated Competing Values Framework

Academic leadership is critical in higher education because it has an impact on the quality of student learning (Ramsden, Prosser, Trigwell, & Martin, 2007). Academic leadership is also complex and challenging. Many academics, such as fieldwork coordinators, may not conceptualise themselves as leaders in the traditional sense. This often stems from a lack of formal authority or line management over those other academics and agency staff that deliver the WIL program. However, leadership is

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also about inspiring individuals without necessarily using force or power. Leaders need to be able to influence, motivate and inspire others to follow through on their work. Fieldwork coordinators have this responsibility. They must build relationships and use their influence to get their peers to deliver on course outcomes and quality. Therefore, fieldwork coordinators must consider themselves leaders in the roles they occupy. This is becoming more important as work is delegated and distributed in the flattened organisational structures of most universities. In the case of WIL, much of the learning development occurs in agencies external to the university.

Academic leadership requires a breadth and depth of knowledge and skills and is defined—as a whole—by a complex suite of behaviours. The Integrated Competing values Framework (ICVF), is a managerial leadership development tool that provides a model for isolating the different types of skills and knowledge required of your academic leadership role and your strengths and weaknesses in relation to them. Through providing a model or framework to differentiate between different functions in the fieldwork coordinator role, the ICVF assists in overcoming one of the difficulties we have in improving our effectiveness as academic leaders. That is, the difficultly of understanding what areas require focussed development (and which we should be spending less time on) when those areas or functions are usually practiced and evaluated as a ‘whole.’

Effective academic leaders are, however, more than the composite of their constituent parts. They will know when to focus on the people and when to focus on the task; how to achieve a balance between a focus on internal vs. external factors; and are able to move between the five operational roles identified in the ICVF: Innovator, Broker, Deliverer, Monitor and Developer. Academic leaders also need to be effective Integrators.

Integrators are able to make split second decisions on which operational role is most appropriate in a given situation. This usually involves reflection on, and analysis of, previous experiences relevant to the new situation. For example, what worked and didn’t work in the past in the same or a similar situation, and what is therefore needed now.

Academic leadership development is also not a straightforward process. The literature on transfer of training (Baldwin & Ford, 1998) and leadership development makes it very clear that merely attending a development course will not lead to significant changes in leadership style and potential.

Research in leadership development also indicates that individuals must triangulate their self awareness of their leadership style and influence (Atwater, Brett, & Charles, 2007). As our self-evaluations are often flawed, the contribution from our significant others is important to enable us to gain a holistic or ‘360 degree’ view of our leadership capabilities. After all, those who probably have the most important experience of our leadership style are those individuals who frequently interact with us in our work.

With a valid and reliable triangulation of your leadership profile—which is what the ICVF will provide you with—you can then use experiential learning principles (Kolb, 1984) to build your leadership skills and profile. A clear goal or target is critical to focus your learning and attention (Locke, 1996). Experiential learning requires you to connect with experiences in your leadership practice, reflect on those experiences, make conclusions and then layer your learning into further experiences. Reflection can be aided by maintaining a journal of your experiences, which you can review at regular intervals to map progress and also gain insights into patterns of behaviour. The experiential learning

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cycle can also be aided by engaging in dialogue about your leadership practice with a peer coach or a critical friend. It is only through these practices, and exposure of your mental models to others, that you can build your personal mastery towards becoming a highly proficient and competent leader (Ericsson, Prietula, & Cokely, 2007; Quinn, Faerman, Thompson, McGrath, & St. Clair, 2007; Senge, 1996).

This part of this leadership development program for fieldwork coordinators is designed to assist you to triangulate your perceptions of your capabilities, your significant other’s perceptions of your capabilities and the demands of the academic leadership role within the context of the ICVF [see Figure 2 below]. Each of the roles in the ICVF are interdependent, and it is how you and your significant others see how these interplay that forms the basis of your leadership analysis. Hence, the role of the integrator is the most important as it is the skill that enables you to examine these interconnections and interplays. It is the role you should spend the most time in.

Consider your feedback from your 360° survey and explore the appropriate role for ideas that may inform your development planning and subsequent action learning project.

People focus

Task focus

Internalfocus

External focus

Innovator

BrokerDeliverer

Developer

IntegratorMonitor

Personal ActionPlan

Academic leadership

role evaluation

Significant other evaluation

Self evaluation

People focus

Task focus

Internalfocus

External focus

Innovator

BrokerDeliverer

Developer

IntegratorMonitor

People focus

Task focus

Internalfocus

External focus

Innovator

BrokerDeliverer

Developer

IntegratorMonitor

Figure 2: The triangulation of feedback for developing action plans (Leask, 2008)

You may also develop your Integrator function by creating a development plan for a specific leadership category. For example, if you realise you need to develop your Broker further, you may want to create a specific development plan, embedded within an action project to improve this skill. For example, you may see a need in your program to introduce more group based WIL experiences. This stems from an increase in enrolments and a need for more placements. By having 2 – 3 students on a placement, this would free up space to accommodate the larger cohort. To sell this

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idea would require significant application of Brokering skills and would, thus, be an excellent action learning project.

Practical ActivityIn the Practical activity for this module you will explore the outcomes of your ICVF 360° review independently and participate in larger group discussions.

You will work with the group to discuss potential development plans that will enable you to structure your fieldwork coordinator leadership development experience in the form of an action learning project.

Towards the conclusion of the seminar, you will be asked to share your action learning project ideas with the group to help everyone elevate their understanding of this process.

The Scholarship of Work Integrated Learning and Action Learning Projects

In the module addressing Innovation in Fieldwork and Managing Change, the scholarship of teaching and learning is applied to being innovative as a fieldwork coordinator. Here we explore in more detail the benefits of applying a scholarly approach to the development of an action learning project to improve your fieldwork program. Earnest Boyer’s 1990 text, Scholarship Reconsidered, moved the agenda in learning and teaching away from a focus on the quality of teaching alone toward a consideration of teaching as scholarship. For example, a scholarship of teaching and learning approach to placement or fieldwork supervision in the discipline of physiotherapy would take the following four dimensions:

1. Being informed of the literature and/or knowledge of teaching and learning in a discipline

Cooperative learning literature

Literature on WIL

2. Focussing on student learning and teaching rather than just teaching alone

Evaluating/measuring differences in student learning across different models

Impacts on teachers of new model

3. Reflection on the literature in one’s own context and relations between two

Exploring literature in physiotherapy on models of supervision and comparing other disciplines, cooperative learning literature, professional reasoning literature

4. Communication

Sharing findings through publications and conferences

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In other words, becoming scholarly means becoming involved in more formal approaches to inquiry; Table 1 (page 7) illustrates the relations between intentions and strategies in the scholarship of work-integrated-learning (Trigwell et al.). By taking a formal scholarly approach to your action learning project you will be providing a sound evidence-base for your project, improve the likelihood of success in implementing innovations, build your own knowledge of work-integrated-learning pedagogy, raise the profile of the work you are doing within the field, improve the likelihood of gaining support with academic colleagues for your innovations and, ultimately, improve the learning experience for your students. A template for developing your action learning project is available.

Some examples of previous action learning projects include:

Survey and interview expectations of pharmacists: what do they see as the important graduate attributes? What is reasonable at each year level?

Develop a communication strategy/tool to increase awareness of WIL program.

An exploratory study of English as an Additional Language (EAL) onshore occupational therapy students in a clinical context. The aim of the research is to develop strategies and resources to support EAL students on clinical practice.

Developing a national assessment tool for workplace learning in nursing, a pilot study.

In order to apply the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in fieldwork, it is useful to consider the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) (2010) ADRI cycle to fieldwork (as discussed in The Role of Quality in Fieldwork Programs) and the extent to which each stage of the cycle is informed be evidence from the literature. For example, Approach relates to the pedagogical underpinnings of the fieldwork program (or aspect of the program) and relates to knowing the literature as it pertains to the type of fieldwork programs being conducted. Deployment considers if and how effectively a particular aspect of the fieldwork program is being put into effect and whether this is consistent with the literature or not. Results look at the fieldwork program results to determine how well the deployment is achieving the planned approach. Tools and strategies to evaluate program results should also be informed by the literature. Improvement focuses on whether the fieldwork program is actively and continuously engaged with understanding its performance and if it is using this data to make improvements (and this stage draws on comparison with the literature as well as making contributions to the fieldwork community through conference presentations/publications.

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Table 1: The Scholarship of Work-Integrated-Learning

The Scholarship of Work-Integrated Learning

Intention/Strategy Know the Literature

Improve Fieldwork

Improve Student Learning

Improve Student Learning Generally

Collect and read the literature on WIL and related areas

A (know the literature)

B (know the literature and use it to improve fieldwork experiences)

Investigate own fieldwork program and student learning in WIL

C (A + B + improve student learning by investigating how they learn through your fieldwork program)

Relate discipline knowledge to teaching in fieldwork and learning literature on WIL

D(C + relate discipline literature to teaching in fieldwork and learning literature)

Communicate results of own work and existing literature on WIL

E (Sharing results of D with the larger higher education community)

Adapted from http://www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/A.Model.html#Model

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Additional Resources

Brockbank, A., & McGill, I. (2006). Facilitating reflective learning through mentoring and coaching. London: Kogan Page.

Groves, K. S. (2007). Integrating leadership development and succession planning best practices. Jo

urnal of Management Development 26(3), 239–260.

Scandura, T. A., Tejeda, M. J., Werther, W. B., & Lankau, M. J. (1996). Perspectives on mentoring. Leadership & Organization Development Journal 17(3), 50–56.

Watty, K., Hilliar, K., Ji, S., Magdziarz, S., & Simpson, M. (2006). Reflections on the mentoring process with academic entering a "new" educational experience. Asian Review of Accounting 14(1/2), 37–48.

Drucker, P. 1999. Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review March/April: 65-74.

Ladyshewsky, R., & Ryan, J. (2006). Peer coaching and reflective practice in authentic business contexts: A strategy to enhance competency in post-graduate business students. In Authentic Learning Environements in Higher Education, by A Herrington and J Herrington, 61-75. Hershey, Pennsylvania: Idea Publishing Group.

Ladyshewsky, R. (2007). A Strategic Approach for Integrating Theory to Practice in Leadership Development. Leadership and Organization Development Journal. 28:5; 426-443. Retrieved 10 August 2010 from http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?issn=0143-7739&volume=28&issue=5&articleid=1615937&show=abstract

Robertson, D. (2005). Generative paradox in learner-centred college teaching. Innovative Higher Education 29(3): 181-194.

Rogers, R. 2001. Reflection in higher education: A concept analysis. Innovative Higher Education 26(4): 37-57.

Vilkinas, T., & Cartan, G. (2001). The behavioural control room for managers: The integrator role. Leadership and Organisation Developemnt Journal 22(4): 175-185.

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References

Atwater, L. E., Brett, J. F. and Charles, A. C. (2007), Multisource feedback: Lessons learned and implications for practice. Human Resource Management, 46: 285–307. doi: 10.1002/hrm.20161

Baldwin, T., & Ford, J. (1998). Transfer of Training: A review and directions for future research. Personnel Psychology, 41, 63-105.

Boyer, E.L.. (1990). Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate. Princeton, N.J: The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Ericsson, K., Prietula, M., & Cokely, E. (2007). The making of an expert. Harvard Business Review(July-August), 115-121.

Kolb, D. A .(1984) Experiential Learning: experience as the source of learning and development New Jersey: Prentice-Hall

Locke, E. (1996), Motivation through conscious goal setting. Applied and Preventive Psychology, 5(2),117-124.

Ramsden, P., Prosser, M., Trigwell, K, and Martin, E. (2007). University teachers' experiences of academic leadership and their approaches to Teaching. Learning and Instruction,17,140-155.

Quinn, B., Faerman, S., Thompson, K., McGrath, M., & St. Clair, L. (2007). Becoming a Master Manager: A Competing Valurs Approach (4th edn ed.). United States: John Wiley & Sons.

Senge, P. (1996). Rethinking leadership in the learning organisation. Systems Thinker, 7(1), 1-7.

Trigwell, K., Martin, E., Benjamin, J., & Prosser, M. Scholarship of Teaching a Model. Retrieved 2 May 2011 http://www.clt.uts.edu.au/Scholarship/A.Model.html#Model

Vilkinas, T., & Cartan, G. (2001). The behavioural control room for managers: The Integrator role. Leadership & Organization Development Journal 22(4), 175–185.

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