Creating a Taxonomy of Leadership Development

• In Event: What Do We Teach Again? Making Sense of Leadership Education

Short Description

With so many leadership topics to cover in our programs and courses, in what order should we teach them to provide a developmentally sequenced curriculum? Based on recent research findings, this presentation will showcase a taxonomy of leadership development, offering a blueprint for intentional sequencing of topics to maximize learning.

Detailed Abstract

Much attention has been given to “what” to teach in leadership studies (eg. Northouse, 2014; Komives, Lucas, & McMahon, 2013), “how” to teach leadership (Jenkins, 2012), “who” teaches leadership (Jenkins & Owens, 2016; Seemiller & Priest, 2015), and even “where” to teach leadership (online, face to face, etc.). But, what appears to be missing from the literature is “when” to teach particular leadership concepts.

Very little research has been conducted attempting to sequence leadership content for instruction. It is not uncommon to find educators teaching leadership concepts in whatever order makes sense to them, creating a haphazard, gut approach to developmental sequencing. If a resource is used to sequence content, oftentimes the ordering matches the table of contents of the selected textbook, even if that ordering is vastly different from a similar textbook. Another method of sequencing often includes using a conceptual framework like the Social Change Model to teach first about individuals, then groups, and then communities (Komives & Wagner, 2016). But, most models have large categories that are comprised of multiple concepts making it difficult to know in what order these concepts should be taught. What is missing is an empirically-based taxonomy that includes developmental sequencing of various leadership concepts, or in this case, leadership competencies.

The Student Leadership Competencies (Seemiller, 2013) were used in developing this taxonomy because of the rigorous nature of the research conducted. Four contemporary leadership models, the CAS Standards (Council for the Advancement of Standards, 2009), and the learning outcomes of all 522 accredited academic programs in the U.S. were analyzed to derive a list of leadership competencies that cut across leadership models and academic programs. These 60 Student Leadership Competencies provide a more empirically sound list of “concepts” to use in developing a taxonomy than a researcher-derived list, components of any one leadership model, or concepts listed in the table of contents of a leadership textbook.

In order to develop the taxonomy for leadership development, a virtual panel of 42 seasoned leadership educators who have worked in student affairs and/or as faculty members in higher education were invited to participate. The majority of participants identified as having 15 or more years of experience and as being either full-time faculty members, many as program directors or chairs as well, or as directors of leadership programs in student affairs. Participants were asked to assess each of the 60 Student Leadership Competencies (Seemiller, 2013) for both level of complexity and sequential order of delivery. What resulted was a model dispersing the 60 competencies within three levels, beginning, intermediate, and advanced and across four domains, intrapersonal, interpersonal, societal, and strategic.

This session will overview both the study methodology used and the taxonomy model that emerged, providing a tangible tool that can be used in both curricular and co-curricular leadership programs.

Participant

• Corey Seemiller, Wright State University