Anonymous Virtual Interactions as a Tool to Impact Self-Perception of the Leader Identity

• In Event: 30821 - Open Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 11

Abstract

Leadership studies have begun to emphasize the importance of cultivating unique ways to foster leadership development. Whether you are an institution, company, community, or a youth sports team, relationships training individuals of various confidence levels to become leaders helps to dictate the quality and longevity of the organization (Friedkin, 2004; Piper et al., 1983; Tyler & Blader, 2003). Unfortunately, the capabilities of measuring the change in an individual’s perception of their adopted leader identity have been lacking in the literature. However, a Virtual Leadership Academy (VLA) attempts to harness a curriculum that facilitates leadership development through a virtual platform. For 10 weeks, at 4 hours a week, participants hone their leadership and teamwork skills. These skills include project management, communication techniques, task delegation, various leadership styles, and motivation techniques. What makes the VLA program unique lies in its ability to harness a virtual platform to produce changes in self-perception of the leader identity which ultimately can have an impact on behavior outcomes associated with the development of the leader identity. When combined with the measurement of how the perception of an identity changes as the individual continues enacting the identity, the controlled virtual platform environment produces an opportunity to track how an individual’s leadership development trajectory can be affected by its surroundings. Understanding how the VLA process works will help to shed light on the manner in which different environments vary how, amidst group interactions, they establish and cultivate change in the self-perception of the leader identity.

Authors

• Gary L. Myers, Central Washington University

• Kelli Bergquist, Student

• Ashlyn Galloway, Central Washington University

• Laura Rachelle Mead, CWU

• Emily Williams, Central Washington University