Leader Development – what the science suggests we do differently.

What?  The world in which leaders lead is becoming increasingly brittle, anxious, non-linear and incomprehensible. Leader development remains a priority, yet traditional approaches are difficult to scale and fail to keep pace with the exponential shifts in our world of work.

So What?  We need to keep leadership talent pools wide, diverse, agile, in terms of their capacity to take on yet to be defined leadership roles and challenges. We can’t keep doing what we’ve been doing - which often looks like investing deeply in ‘the chosen few’ - and expect a different result. The practical question for HR, OD and business leaders is how to build and embed wider leadership capacity and capability, across the organisation.

Now What? Leader development initiatives must be relevant, scalable and best prepare a wide range of leaders to take on the yet to be defined challenges and opportunities of our rapidly evolving world of work.

As part of our recent HR Leadership Summit presentation, I shared insights from a research paper that have had a significant influence on WBL’s leader and leadership development kaupapa and mahi. Day and Dragoni’s 2015 Leadership Development: An Outcome-Oriented Review Based on Time and Levels of Analyses, is one of the most cited and influential works in the field over the last decade, and has been described as “the most rigorous summary of the science of leadership development”.

As with many academic reviews it is both fulsome and a bit dense. Yet, it also offers a series of very practical, applicable lessons. I have summarised and distilled some of those here. If you have the time and bandwidth, I also recommend diving into the original paper at some stage.

1. Focus on Proximal and Distal Outcomes

• Proximal Outcomes: Early indicators like increased self-efficacy, self-awareness, and leader identity signal that development is underway.
• Distal Outcomes: Over time, look for deeper changes, such as the ability to handle complex challenges, integrate multiple skills, and adapt meaningfully to new contexts.

Practical Tip: Define success at more than one horizon; use a mix of quantitative and qualitative, short-term and long-term measures to evaluate leadership development initiatives. For example, repeated 360-degree feedback surveys, with an appropriate period between, can provide clear and compelling evidence of development shifts.

2. Leverage Experience AND Get the Challenge Right

• Developmental Challenge: Assignments should stretch leaders, but too much challenge without the right support can backfire. All developmental challenge experiences must be paired with real-time, quality feedback.
• Streams of Experience: Consider work experience as a series of interdependent activities, not isolated events.
• Disruptive Experiences: Assignments in unfamiliar or culturally distant environments can trigger significant growth.

3. Make Feedback and Reflection Central

• 360-Degree Feedback: While widely used, evidence for its impact on self-awareness is mixed. The key is how feedback is processed and acted upon.
• After-Action Reviews (AARs): Structured reflection after key events accelerates learning. Ensure the framework for the AAR covers both content (outcomes/deliverables) and process (how ).

Practical Tip: Embed regular reflection and coaching into leadership programs, not just one-off feedback sessions. Ensure 360-feedback is more than a ‘data-dump’. This can be achieved through facilitated discussions and / or reports that are evidence-based and insight rich, and designed to support developmentally focused reflective learning

4. Provide Tailored Support

• The Leader’s Leader: Effective Leaders role-model leadership and provide leadership role clarity, especially for those transitioning into new roles.
• Individualisation: Development support needs vary. Tailor support and mentoring to the leader’s experience and context. One size does not fit all. Leaders can outgrow mentors as they transition; check that mentoring relationships are relevant and appropriately focused.

Practical Tip: Support the Leaders of Leaders to be active partners in leadership development, offering both challenge and support. Provide feedback frameworks that support leadership development, not just technical / professional development.

5. Measure What Matters

• Indicators: Track both immediate changes (e.g. leadership confidence and identity, as well as leadership KSAs) and long-term outcomes (e.g. complex problem-solving, adaptability).

Practical Tip: Combine quantitative and qualitative data, and assess progress over time, not just at program completion.

6. Appreciate the Humanity within Leadership Development

• Leader Development is Non-Linear: Human growth and development occurs in cycles, not straight lines. Tailor development interventions to individual readiness.
• System and societal biases: While progress is being made, there remain many subtle and not so subtle biases that make leadership identity exclusive. Don’t let these narrow your leadership talent pool before you’ve even begun supporting their growth. Pay attention to the system and other external influences: “It’s not just the seed, it’s the soil.”
• Holistic Change: Aim for deeper shifts in meaning-making and adaptability, not just skill acquisition.

Practical Tip: Use developmentally focused talent assessments and insights to support leadership identity and self-awareness, and to inform personalised leadership journeys. Embed reflective practice in your wide talent pool - focused on “How I lead?” vs. “Can I lead?”

Audit the tools and reports you are using - to ensure they are supporting leader and leadership development. Directly or indirectly, many off-the-shelf personality reports, infer the short-sighted question: “Can you lead?” These reports often describe leadership potential in terms of single-scale constructs such as Ambition or Drive, where ‘high scorers’ are labelled as “leader-like.” Even when not explicitly stated, individuals who score ‘lower‘ on these scales will often infer they are somehow less leader-like; a conclusion that can undermine identity and confidence, in those who may have the potential to lead beyond the narrow, stereotype of ‘follow-me, action-man’ leadership.

In Summary

Leader effectiveness takes myriad forms, depending on context, timing, situation, and the associated underlying challenges and opportunities. Our rapidly evolving world of work makes it difficult to predict precisely what future ‘leadership effectiveness’ may need.

This should not detract from our intention to best prepare leaders to effectively navigate this uncertain, dynamic future. Day and Dragoni’s work offers insight into the foundations for leader development, that keeps talent pools wide, diverse, agile and ‘best prepared’.

Image credit: Atturi Jelli

Need more information? Contact the WBL Team:
winsborough.co.nz | 0800 222 061 | support@winsborough.co.nz