Making leadership development more effective: Psychological changes have implications for training programme design

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the connection between individuals’ response to transformational leadership training and their psychological makeup.

Design/methodology/approach

Investigates leadership performance before and after training according to participants’ self-evaluation and that of their supervisors, peers and team members. Analyzes this in connection with their assessment of their psychological attributes of positive affect, perspective-taking and self-efficacy.

Findings

More than $45 billion is spent on leadership training every year – and a lot of that money is wasted. A sizeable number of people actually become less effective leaders after being exposed to this sort of training – so there is a strong financial incentive to find out how this happens. Is it something about the training content, the way it’s delivered – or something about the individual?

Practical implications

Shows that behavioral and psychological reactions to leadership training are strongly linked. Suggests that positive affect may provide a pathway for improving the effectiveness of leadership development interventions.

Social implications

Highlights the importance of considering the impact of leadership training on individuals’ psychological well-being.

Originality/value

Focuses on the processes underlying change in leader behavior.

Citation

(2015), "Making leadership development more effective: Psychological changes have implications for training programme design", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 20-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-05-2015-0046