Can you develop self-awareness? Only if you are willing

Abstract

Purpose

We examine how leaders can become more self-aware in one graduate program that helped students develop their leadership competencies and become more accurate in their self-assessment of those competencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The Master of Science in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change program was created in response to the challenge of developing and accessing leaders in emotional and social intelligence competencies.

Findings

The analysis of student self-assessments and assessments by others at the beginning and end of the program provided the data for our research, showing empirical evidence of leadership development and improvement.

Research limitations/implications

The study examined students in one program at one university so the generalizability of results is not clear. We have no way to rule out other experiences students had during the two-year period. We chose a single approach to measuring accuracy of self-assessment, future research may compare the results from a variety of approaches to this measurement issue.

Practical implications

We describe the program that helped students develop leadership competencies, develop the self-awareness necessary to take action as a leader and calibrate a more accurate self-assessment of leadership competencies over a two-year period.

Originality/value

We demonstrate how one leadership development program can help all students become more accurate in their self-assessments. We do not need different development programs to help one group of leaders gain confidence and another for leaders who are overly confident. An educational curriculum can foster transformational learning that enables ongoing leader development (Petriglieri, Wood, & Petriglieri, 2011). Academic programs can create experiences that help students develop and increase their self-awareness so that they are confident enough to put their learning into action. Like effective leadership development programs (Van Velsor, McCauley, Ruderman, & Ruderman, 2010), management education programs can incorporate assessment, feedback and support so that students become the effective and outstanding leaders the world needs.

Citation

Rhee, K. and Sigler, T. (2024), "Can you develop self-awareness? Only if you are willing", Journal of Leadership Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOLE-02-2024-0045

The need and desire to develop more leaders is universal and continues to be identified as a top priority for organizations. A Boston Consulting Group study of 5,000 executives across more than one hundred countries (Strack et al., 2010) showed agreement that their top priority is improving leadership development. The world needs more good leaders, employees want to work for good leaders, and people strive to become great leaders. While there are many classes, programs, and degrees that purport to develop leaders, not all will create effective leaders. In the Academy of Management Education and Learning special issue on teaching leadership, DeRue, Sitkin, and Podolny (2011) noted that the lack of research related to teaching leadership hinders understanding of the impact of teaching on leadership development. Even though a review of the third decade of The Leadership Quarterly (Gardner et al., 2020) saw considerable attention placed on leadership development in the most recent decade (5.8% of articles), we still have much to learn to develop effective leaders.

In this paper, we share one example of a leadership development program that helped students develop as effective leaders and become more accurate in the self-assessment of their leadership competencies. This work builds on previous research on leadership development and self-assessment by (1) Providing empirical evidence of the change in leadership competencies, and (2) Providing the specific tools, techniques, and approaches that led to the reported results, (3) Demonstrate improvement in accuracy of self-assessment, and (4) Explaining the mechanism by which improved accuracy in self-assessment occurred. We provide specific examples of the targeted and systematic interventions that facilitated change in students.

Self-awareness

Emotional intelligence has been shown to be positively correlated with leadership effectiveness (Barling, Slater, & Kelloway, 2000; Goleman, 1998; Harms & Credé, 2010; O'Boyle, Humphrey, Pollack, Hawver, & Story, 2011). While discussions about the measurement and conceptualization of emotional intelligence continue, one group of authors (Dasborough et al., 2022) conclude that three outcomes seem clear:

(1) EI is a practical, theoretically sound an assessable psychological construct; (2) EI demonstrates predictive validity across many organizationally relevant variables; and (3) the effects of EI in organizational contexts are manifest over and above the effects of other psychological variables (p. 11).

One of the key components of emotional intelligence, self-awareness, is closely related to leader effectiveness (Bass & Yammarino, 1991; Carden, Jones, & Passmore, 2022; Cashman, 2014; Farh & Dobbins, 1989). The concept of self-awareness permeates throughout history. The phrase nosce te ipsum (know thyself) has been communicated from the ancient period until the modern day. The modern psychological concept of self-awareness defines it as the ability to focus on the self, which gives rise to the ability to compare the self with standards of correctness in the environment (Duval & Wicklund, 1972). Subsequent research since the 1970s has strongly supported this self-awareness theory (Silvia & Duval, 2001). When people focus their attention on the self, they compare the self with standards, try harder to meet standards, and show stronger emotional responses. Many experiments have shown that without self-awareness, people’s actions are often unrelated to standards. In other words, self-awareness is needed for people to reduce disparities between their actions and their ideals. (Silvia & Duval, 2001). Researchers have also been studying various dimensions of self-awareness, such as internal awareness related to emotional state, mood, or capacity to perform, and external awareness related to others’ perceptions of self (Carden et al., 2022; Chon & Sitkin, 2021; Eurich, 2017; Rasheed, Younas, & Sundus, 2019).

There are many positive benefits to demonstrating self-awareness. According to Boud, Cohen, and Sampson (1999), self-awareness allows individuals to evaluate their capabilities regarding strengths and areas of improvement. Self-assessment can foster self-regulated behavior and enhance learning effectiveness. Self-awareness can enhance self-efficacy (Chen, Thomas, & Wallace, 2005; Kraiger, Ford, & Salas, 1993) and increase self-assessment accuracy. Self-awareness can also make oneself more resilient and adaptive to help improve performance (Park & Park, 2019). Increases in self-awareness contribute to better decision-making and team performance (Dierdorff & Rubin, 2015) and ultimately to leadership success (Showry & Manasa, 2014). Leaders with high self-awareness can incorporate feedback and adjust their behavior to improve performance (Murphy, Reichard, & Johnson, 2008). Self-awareness is also related to leaders demonstrating authentic leadership (Chen et al., 2005; Steffens et al., 2021). On the other hand, a lack of self-awareness might lead individuals to choose not to engage in certain activities due to low self-efficacy (Wilson, 2009). Low self-awareness can also impact motivation and behavior (London & Sherman, 2021).

While there are many different dimensions of self-awareness, in this study we are focusing on both internal and external aspects of self-awareness (Murphy et al., 2008): how self and others perceive oneself (Carden et al., 2022; Eurich, 2017, 2018). Accurate self-assessment in leadership is defined as how accurately one can assess one’s capabilities compared to others’ assessment (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992; Wenger & Vallacher, 1980; Wohlers & London, 1989). Atwater and Yammarino (1992) found that accurate self-assessment is positively related to leader performance, and the best predictors of leader behavior lie in whether the leader tends to overestimate, underestimate, or accurately rate oneself.

The most significant barriers to achieving accurate self-assessment are positive self-bias (Alicke, Zhang, & Stephenson, 2020) and self-deception (Baumeister, 2010). Zell and Krizan (2014) found that the ability to assess one’s self accurately compared to objective performance measures was low to moderate at best (M = 0.29). Other researchers have also questioned the accuracy of self-assessment. Kruger and Dunning (1999) found that people often overestimate their capability, especially those with lower ability in many social and intellectual domains, while those with high capability often underestimate their capacity. Research has shown that self-ratings tend to be inflated and not related to others’ assessments (Harris & Schaubroeck, 1988; Podsakoff & Organ, 1986). In 360-degree feedback, self-ratings are shown to be less accurate than ratings from peers, supervisors, or subordinates when compared to objective measures (Hough, Keyes, & Dunnette, 1983; Kass, Kim, Rotenberry, & Bommer, 2024). Some suggest that even measurement of personality should include assessments by others (Connelly, McAbee, Oh, Jung, & Jung, 2022). In a study of college students, Rosch, Collier, and Zehr (2014) suggested that the leadership of emerging leaders could benefit from the opportunity to be assessed by their peers to improve their self-awareness.

Eva and Regehr (2005) explored factors affecting the accuracy of self-assessments. They highlighted that overconfidence, lack of metacognitive skills, and lack of exposure to external feedback contribute to inaccurate self-assessments. Previous research has also shown that women have a greater tendency to underrate their capability due to external attribution, where they attribute their success to external factors, such as societal expectations, gender roles, and stereotypes, rather than their own capabilities (Beyer, 1990; Chatard, Guimond, & Selimbegovic, 2007; LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company, 2018; Meland, Haugland, & Breidablik, 2007; Parsons, Meece, Adler, & Kaczala, 1982).

Self-awareness and leader development

Can self-awareness, especially accurate self-assessment, be developed and improved? Andrade and Valtcheva (2009) suggested that effective training combined with self-reflection can improve self-awareness. Davis et al. (2006) found in their meta-analytic study that physicians' self-assessment accuracy is unreliable, particularly in the areas where they are least skilled. They suggested that continuous feedback and validation from peers and supervisors could improve self-assessment accuracy. Bass and Avolio (1990) suggested that training that focuses on narrowing the gap between self and others’ assessment via feedback proved successful. Van Velsor, Ruderman, and Phillips (1991) found that when managers received feedback from others, their self-perception changed, and this improvement in the accuracy of self-assessment was positively related to performance. In a study of principals and teachers, Ham, Duyar, and Gumus (2015) concluded that multiple-source assessment can provide unique leadership performance information that would not have been captured by self-assessment alone. Several researchers have proposed strategies to improve the accuracy of self-assessment. Using structured reflection exercises, regular feedback from others, and comparative data have been suggested as effective strategies (Colthart et al., 2008). In their review, Sargeant et al. (2011) proposed the use of multisource feedback as a complementary tool to self-assessment to increase its accuracy.

While a specific focus on self-awareness development can be effective as shown above, can a general leadership development program be effective in developing accurate self-assessment? Leader development can be defined as the process by which individuals learn and develop leadership skills and abilities necessary for effectiveness in leadership positions (Dragoni, Tesluk, Russell, Joyce, & Oh, 2009). Leader development activities and programs take place in many locations and forms, including in organizational development programs, formal education programs, personal coaching, on-the-job training, and one-off workshops and seminars (Van Velsor et al., 2010). Unfortunately, leadership development programs are not always structured to help participants develop self-awareness. Colquitt, LePine, and Noe (2000) suggested that leadership development programs should prepare students to deal with challenges while helping them develop the confidence to achieve challenging goals.

In this study, the main research question was whether a leadership graduate program designed to improve students’ emotional intelligence could help improve students’ self-awareness. For this, we defined self-awareness to mean accurate self-assessment of emotional competencies, which is tied closely with effective leadership. The following section describes an example of a graduate program in leadership and organizational change that created the supportive environment (including specific tools, techniques, and practices) necessary for the development of self-awareness, especially accurate self-assessment.

ELOC program

The M.S. in Executive Leadership and Organizational Change program was designed to develop emotionally intelligent leaders. The program was based on an adult learning framework of ACT. The A is for action learning. The program emphasized the importance of experiential and active learning with a focus on public engagement. The C is for competency development. The student’s competencies are developed during the entire two-year program. Finally, T is for teamwork. ELOC incorporated teamwork and learning about teams into all facets of the program. Students worked in teams for a full year and then switched to new teams in year two.

Students in the program were professionals with significant leadership and decision-making experience who wanted to develop their ability further to lead their organizations. Cohort-based classes were held one weekend a month, a schedule that facilitated the attendance of the students who were employed full-time in leadership positions. Students came into the program prepared to learn, develop, and grow. Applicants were required to write several essays in their applications that help the admissions committee to determine if they were ready for the ELOC experience.

The core goal of the program was to help students develop their emotional and social competencies. Students developed their self-awareness, their self-management competency, their ability to identify the emotions of others, and the ability to use all of these competencies to develop effective relationships. Self-awareness is a vital competency for leaders, but it is also a vital skill for leadership development (Avolio & Hannah, 2008).

The program consisted of ten courses, including the topics of leadership assessment and development, teamwork, and conflict management, creating high-performing organizations, action research methods, first-year public engagement practicum, organizational strategy development, organizational consultation, managing organizational change, global leadership and sustainable change, and a graduating action research project. Students also participated in an international experience where they visited organizations and studied global leadership in Asia. Faculty challenged students to apply their learning immediately and in ways that impact their own organizations. Most classes included a team project conducted in a student’s organization so that the sponsoring organizations also benefited directly from the program experience.

The ELOC program was created with intention. The program design, choice of content, readings, activities, application, reflection, coaching, etc., all worked together to move the student through a transformative process that creates change, development, and growth. The program philosophy extended across all classes. Emotional and social competencies were the basis for leadership development in the program. Throughout the program, students worked to develop competencies in self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Students engaged in a developmental cycle where they were encouraged to experiment and practice new behaviors and then receive feedback to improve. Students provided feedback to each other regularly, and a monthly feedback session was scheduled by the program during and after each weekend session. Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, and McKee (2014) suggest providing multiple feedback opportunities because repeated feedback has greater potential to improve leader effectiveness. Students also reflected on their experiences regularly and were required to write a monthly paper reflecting on their learning after each weekend. The reflection paper was based on the ACT (Action, Competencies, and Teamwork) learning framework, incorporated Kolb’s experiential learning model and required students to discuss their competency use and development. (Kolb, 1984). The importance of learning over performing was emphasized. No experience in the program was considered a failure because there is learning that can be translated into more effective future behavior. Another competency that students developed is coaching and mentoring. Students practiced this competency in their teams and the cohort. Students created a developmental plan based on the results of their initial ESCI results and received feedback from their peers and their instructors about their competency use on a monthly basis. Both the peers and instructor provided feedback and support to help students learn from their experiences and make changes to become more effective moving forward. Nowack and Mashihi (2012) suggest that feedback from 360-degree feedback is most effective at ensuring successful behavioral change when the initial emotional reactions to feedback are managed and supported and hen the awareness of results is translated into goal implementation. Both of these conditions were met by the program.

Students learned from both the instructors and other students in their cohort. The admission process was designed to create cohorts that have diversity in age, industry, race, sex, ethnic background, functional expertise, years of experience, etc. to reflect the diversity of today’s workplaces. Students learned that they could teach and learn from every other person in their team. Because they worked in a team for an entire year, teams developed trust as they worked to develop a safe environment for learning and development (i.e. psychological safety, Edmundson, 2018). Team members who spent this much time together could bring to the surface and provide feedback on patterns of behavior exhibited by their peers and could support efforts at change. Students supported each other and received support and coaching from the faculty and program director throughout the two years. Over the course of the two years, students developed strong relationships with cohort members.

Next, we describe the data collection and analysis we undertook to understand the experience of students who have completed the program. Reading and analyzing their reflections about their time in the program allows us to share the transformation they experienced.

Methods

Sample

The study was conducted in a regional metropolitan state university with an enrollment of about 15,000 students, of which 90% are undergraduate students. The university caters to both traditional and non-traditional students, and most undergraduate students hold either a full-time or part-time job to finance their education. The university offers both undergraduate and graduate programs in business and is committed to learner-centered education. The sample came from the master's program in executive leadership and organizational change. The total sample size was 155 participants. The sample participants had an average age of 39.31 and an average of 12.6 years of work experience at the time of entry to the program. There were eighty-two females with an average age of 38.77 and an average of 12.18 years of experience and seventy-three males with an average age of 39.92 and an average of 13.07 years of work experience at the time of entry to the program. There was no statistical difference between males and females in terms of age and work experience.

Measures

The Emotional and Social Competency Inventory (Korn Ferry, n.d.) was administered twice - both at the time of entry to the graduate program and at the time of graduation-to measure students’ competencies in emotional and social intelligence. Korn Ferry’s ESCI is a 360-degree feedback survey designed to assess individual’s emotional and social intelligence competencies (Boyatzis, Guise, Hezlett, Kerr, & Lamms, 2017). The ESCI is highly correlated with students’ overall capability (Baja, 2013; Boyatzis, 1982; Boyatzis, Stubbs, & Taylor, 2002; Boyatzis, Good, & Massa, 2012; Goleman, 1998; Spencer & Spencer, 1993). Competencies can be defined as the underlying abilities that lead to outstanding performance; thus, the total combined score from the ESCI can be an effective indicator of one’s capabilities (Boyatzis, 1982). In this study, the total combined score on the ESCI for self and others is used as the total level of competence. In a review of self-other rating agreement in leadership, Fleenor, Smither, Atwater, Braddy, and Sturm (2010) recommend using simple feedback like self-other ratings compared to mean ratings across rater groups when providing feedback to leaders. Students who have improved emotional intelligence during the program should have higher total ESCI scores at the end of the program. In a review of 25 years of leader and leadership development, Day et al. (2014) called for additional research related to the use of 360-degree feedback instruments as measures of self -awareness. This issue is examined in the current study.

Accurate self-awareness is defined in the study as the comparison between a person’s self-perception of capabilities and others’ assessment of the person’s capabilities (Berson & Sosik, 2007; Fleenor et al., 2010; Kass et al., 2024). The accurate self-assessment score in the study was calculated as the difference between the total self-scores of all competencies and the total others’ scores of all competencies. In the study, the range of difference scores indicated the accuracy of participant’s perceptions. A smaller difference indicates a more accurate self-assessment of a person’s capabilities. A higher positive score indicated an overestimation of self-capabilities and an over-confident individual. A higher negative score indicated a low perception of oneself as compared to other’s perception, an underestimation of capabilities, and an under-confident individual.

The total scores were used to form three distinct groups – high, medium, and low (Atwater & Yammarino, 1992). The subjects were divided into quartiles, and the participants with the top 25% of scores were assigned to the high group, the participants with scores in the middle 50% were assigned to the medium group, and participants with scores in the bottom 25% were assigned to the low group. Participants in the “high” group scored themselves much higher on the assessment as compared to others. Participants in the “medium group” scored themselves similar to the others. Participants in the “low” group scored themselves lower on the competencies that others. The high, middle, and low groups showed no statistical difference in terms of age and years of work experience. All three groups were almost evenly split among gender: high group (Male = 17, Female = 21); middle group (Male = 35, Female = 41); low group (Male = 17, Female = 20).

Students were asked to assess personal changes at the end of the program by writing an additional self-reflective paper. The paper asked students to describe what they had learned and how they had changed during the program. These questions were intentionally posed as open-ended and did not focus on any specific areas of the program. Thematic analysis was conducted on the final student papers (Boyatzis, 1998; Corbin & Strauss, 2015; Nowell, Norris, White, & Moules, 2017) and two main themes emerged: “self-confidence” and “life-changing.” Each paper was reviewed by two coders who coded the appearance of those words. The total score for each participant was based on the number of times these terms were mentioned in their papers. When there was any discrepancy, the coders resolved their differences, but since this was manifest coding, not latent coding, any discrepancy was minimal and quickly resolved.

Results

The comparison between the ESCI scores upon entering the program and the scores upon completing the program showed that students improved on their total scores (capability) during the program for both self-assessment (M = 46.93, entering and M = 48.83, graduating) and others’ assessment (M = 48.85, entering, and M = 49.80, graduating). The paired sample t-tests showed the comparison to be statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Overall, for both entering and graduating results, the total scores for self (M = 46.93 for entering and M = 48.83 for graduating) were lower than the total scores for others (M = 48.50 for entering and M = 49.84 for graduating) and paired sample t-test showed them to be statistically significant for both (p < 0.01). So, students were more likely to be self-critical or perceive themselves as demonstrating less capability than others who assessed them (See Table 1).

Based on the recent literature that focused on the differences between men and women when it comes to their self-perception as well as the demonstration of self-confidence (Clement, 1987; Guimond, Chatard, Martinot, Crisp, & Redersdor, 2006; Zenger & Folkman, 2019), we examined the results for both men and women. For both men and women, the others’ scores for entering was higher than the self-assessment scores (Male Self, M = 46.10, Male Others, M = 48.30; Female Self, M = 47.666, Female Others, M = 49.43), and for graduating (Male Self, M = 47.92, Female Self, M = 49.58; Male Others, M = 49.02, Female Others, M = 49.58. Both were statistically significant according to pair-wise t-tests (p < 0.05). However, for both entering and graduating, men’s and women’s self or others’ scores were not significantly different from each other (See Table 2).

Accurate self-assessment scores

Accurate self-assessment scores were calculated by subtracting others’ scores from self-scores (Kass et al., 2024; Fleenor, 2010). The gap score indicates the accuracy gap since it is a perceptual difference between others’ perceptions of individual’s capability versus self-perceived capability. Paired sample t-tests were conducted to test for statistical significance. For entering accurate self-assessment scores, there was no statistical significance between men (M = −2.00) and women (M = −1.77). For graduating accurate self-assessment scores, there was also no statistical significance between men (M = −1.03) and women (M = −0.92) (See Table 3). Overall, all participants reduced the accuracy gap during the program. Entering accurate self-assessment score (M = −1.86) was significantly higher than graduating accurate self-assessment score (M = −0.94) at p < 0.05, which indicates lower self-awareness. In addition, the improvement (reduction in the gap) was shown for both men and women. Interestingly, when men and women’s scores were examined against each other, there was no statistically significant difference for both entering and graduating (see Table 3), but this finding could have been caused by a lack of statistical power.

An ANOVA for three levels of groups (high, medium, and low) showed that all groups were significantly different from each other (see Table 4). Even though the samples were not randomly assigned to each subgroup, the earlier manipulation check did not indicate any significant differences in terms of age, years of experience, and gender. Thus, this was considered a quasi-experimental condition for the use of ANOVA. In addition, the results from the ANOVA analysis also confirmed our manipulation of forming three different levels provided sufficient variability across the groups. The comparison between entering and graduating accurate self-assessment scores indicated something different for each group. For the high group (participants that showed a high level of self-perceived confidence), the entering score (M = 3.82) was higher than the graduating score (M = −0.13) and statistically significant (t = 5.74, p < 0.01). In other words, the discrepancy between self and others was higher at the time of entry than graduation. In fact, if the higher gap showed higher self-perceived confidence, the lower gap indicated accurate self-assessment or self-other congruence. The narrowing of the gap at the time of graduation came from a decrease in self-scores (M = 50.32 to M = 49.57) and an increase in others’ scores (M = 46.3 to M = 49.49, p < 0.05). However, only others’ scores showed statistical significance. The middle group also showed the narrowing of the gap between entering (M = −2.04) and graduating (M = −0.21) and statistical significance (t = −4.045, p < 0.01). The narrowing of the gap at the time of graduation came from both increases in self scores (M = 47.25 to M = 49.47) and increase in others’ scores (M = 49.35) to M = 49.73), but only the self-score change was statistically significant. The low group also showed the narrowing of the gap between entering (M = −7.32) and graduating (M = −3.25) and statistical significance (t = −6.049, p < 0.01). The narrowing of the gap at the time of graduation came from an increase in self scores from entering (M = 43.14) to graduating (M = 46.87) and a decrease in others’ scores from entering (M = 50.46) to graduating (M = 50.12). However, only changes in self-scores showed statistical significance.

Qualitative results

Students in the program were asked to reflect on their program experience toward the end of the program. Reflection has been shown to be an effective means of increasing students’ awareness and facilitating learning (Di Stefano, Gino, Pisano, & Staats, 2023; Kolb, 1984; Ryan, 2013; Schon, 1983). Students were asked questions such as “what have you learned and how have you changed” both personally and professionally. The assignments were collected, and thematic analysis was performed on the final reflection paper (Boyatzis, 1998; Corbin & Strauss, 2015; Nowell et al., 2017). Two main themes emerged from the content analysis: “self-confidence” and “life-changing experience” and student papers were coded for these two themes (Elo et al., 2014; Krippendorff, 1980; Prior, 2014). The manifest analysis of these themes (counting the times they were mentioned) formed the basis of our mixed-method analysis and study.

In their papers, the theme of life-changing was mentioned by thirty-nine out of 155 students. In contrast, self-confidence was mentioned by one hundred out of 155 students with many students mentioning it multiple times in their papers. Each incident of the coding of life-changing and self-confidence in the paper was counted, and each student received the total scores for life-changing and self-confidence themes by the number of times they were cited within each student’s paper (Pennebaker & Chung, 2014; Dicle & Dicle, 2018; Kolbe & Burnett, 1991). The reliability of the coding was confirmed by a second coder with a 100% confidence level. An independent-sample t-test was conducted to examine the difference between men and women. For life-changing experiences (M = 0.32 versus M = 0.52), the difference between men’s and women’s scores were non-significant. In other words, both groups similarly perceived the program to be life changing. However, the difference between men and women in mentioning self-confidence was significant – M = 1.77 (Male) and M = 3.39 (Female) at p < 0.005. In other words, women mentioned self-confidence twice as much as men.

The segments that were coded for self-confidence were further analyzed for themes within those segments. The dominant theme was how the program helped them increase their self-confidence (26.39% of all coded themes). Another theme that emerged was how the increase in self-confidence allowed them to try new things (taking more risks and taking more initiative – 16.94%). A similar theme of leveraging self-confidence to develop or demonstrate other competencies also emerged (15.56%). Finally, a theme that focuses on an increase in self-awareness (15.56%) rounded out the list of top four themes. Table 5 provides a sample of student quotations.

Discussion

How can formalized and structured academic programs contribute to leadership development? Our results indicate that students improved their emotional competencies during the program. Both self-assessment and others’ assessments attest to the increase. The accuracy of self-assessment also improved during the program. The gap between self and other assessments decreased. For both changes, there were no observed gender differences.

All three groups (H, M, L) narrowed the gap between self and others. Interestingly, the directionality of improvement depended on which group they belonged to at the program’s start. For the H group, students decreased the gap by lowering self-assessment and increasing others’ scores. For M and L groups, students improved their accurate self-assessment by increasing self-scores to become more consistent with others’ scores. The variation observed here seems to suggest that accurate self-assessment occurred based on increasing one’s self-awareness.

The program design helped students increase their self-awareness to act on the program’s learning experiences. The program changed them. By the end of the two years, graduates reported that they were reflecting on and learning from their experiences without prompting. They continued to give effective feedback and sought out feedback on their own behaviors. They continued to seek out opportunities for learning and development, and they coached others to develop as leaders.

The results support the argument that developing leaders entails deeper personal work alongside the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities (Lord & Hall, 2005; Mumford & Manley, 2003). The ELOC program design linked personal development and leadership effectiveness (Ibarra, Snook, & Guillen, 2010). The analysis supports the position that leadership development programs should focus less on knowledge (Portnow, Popp, Broderick, Drago-Severson, & Kegan, 1998) and more on personal reflection and sense-making through the development of emotional and social intelligence (Portnow et al., 1998).

The ELOC program helped students increase their individual developmental readiness (Avolio & Hannah, 2008), their leadership self-awareness, and their actual leadership capabilities through intentional program design. Experience in the ELOC program and all the components identified previously (feedback from peers, co-workers, instructors, reflection, etc.) helped students identify developmental areas that needed improvement and helped calibrate their actual capabilities. The data presented here describe the use and outcomes of self-reflection and may inform the development of future leader development programs.

One of the interesting findings from the study is that while the overall capabilities did not differentiate men or women in the program, the qualitative study clearly indicated that women focused on self-confidence in their reflections more than men and spoke more of their ability to demonstrate or practice their abilities as a result of building their self-confidence. For life-changing experiences, there was no gender difference, but for self-confidence, women perceived an increase in their self-confidence compared to men. Women perceived this even though the quantitative assessment data did not support this phenomenon. These results might explain the success of Kay and Shipman’s (2014) New York Times Best Seller The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance-What Women Should Know. Women’s self-confidence is still of great interest in the leadership development realm. Furthermore, this observation is consistent with quite a few gender-based studies on women’s leadership. A study by Guimond et al. (2006) found that despite achieving higher grades, women tended to underestimate their academic abilities compared to men. A report by LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Company (2018) found that women often underestimate their performance compared to men in the workplace, even when their performance is similar or superior. Clement (1987) found evidence that women have lower self-efficacy expectations than men with regard to traditionally male occupations. Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) found women were more likely than men to express low self-confidence in achievement situations, and McCarty (1986) found that women’s levels of self-confidence were never equal to those of men, even when provided with positive feedback. Zenger and Folkman (2019) also found that women scored higher than men in most leadership skills in their research, but often those women rated themselves lower than their male counterparts, especially in their earlier career stages.

There has been much discussion about women’s leadership development programs over the years (Debebe, 2011). The results reported in this study indicate that women can develop through a transformational leadership development program that is focused on psychological safety, emotional intelligence, teamwork, and action learning. Both men and women can develop, increase self-confidence, and complete the journey of becoming effective leaders in an environment designed for such a purpose.

Transformational experience

The ELOC program took students through a transformative learning experience. According to Mezirow (1991), the transformational learning process consists of encountering a dilemma, making meaning, and achieving a transformative insight that results in changes in behavior in real-life. Debebe (2011) developed a framework that expands the current conceptions of the transformational learning process in the context of a female leadership training program. The ELOC students experienced these same four processes as they learned and developed in the program (Table 6); they experienced disorienting dilemmas, they worked to make meaning of their experiences, they achieved insight when they saw how their work helped them develop and grow, and they translated that learning into practice both at work and outside of the work environment.

Students in the ELOC program encountered disorientating dilemmas from a variety of sources. For some, it was the experience of being back in graduate school after many years out of the classroom. Students encountered new concepts and took on challenging assignments. Students were forced to work in a team where all had the same level of authority and power. Many students were accustomed to leadership roles where they were able to rely on position power to accomplish goals. Students were challenged to reflect on and learn from their experiences while giving and receiving honest feedback from members of the team.

Students made meaning through monthly reflection papers where they reflected upon and tried to make sense of their experiences so they could put their learning into action in the future. Interaction with instructors in the classroom, during individual discussions, and through feedback helped students to understand and make meaning of their experiences and, in many cases, the strong emotions they experienced. Teams were a source of support and assistance to help students make meaning of their experiences both inside and outside of the class and in their work and personal lives. Students became support systems for each other in all aspects of life. Finally, the culture of the program encouraged a focus on learning over performing, so students got into the practice of reflecting on and making meaning from their experiences.

Students gained insight from their experiences, their reflection, the feedback they received, and their observations of others’ development. Students recognized the need to change to become more emotionally intelligent and to become more effective leaders. Students came to understand what and how they needed to change, and they followed through on the commitment they made when joining the program to develop as a leader.

Finally, students were able to take their learning and development and translate it into practice both at work and in their non-work lives. Students reported being able to immediately implement their learning at work, sometimes as soon as the day after a class meeting. During the program, students completed projects for their own organizations. Students applied their learning in their own ELOC teams as they learned how to effectively work together to complete projects, provide feedback, support each other, and engage in constructive conflict. Students shared how they were using their newly developed and improved emotional intelligence with family and friends in their non-work lives.

Limitations and future research

The study examined students in one program at one university so the generalizability of results is not clear; the results might not apply to other students in other types of programs. Second, we have no way to rule out other experiences students had during the two-year period. They may have been promoted or changed jobs during the program or they may have acquired new mentors who helped them become more self-aware. In addition, we chose a single approach to measuring accuracy of self-assessment, future research may compare the results from a variety of approaches to this measurement issue. Finally, we have not accounted for the specific faculty who created and taught in this program. There may have been some individual techniques or qualities of the faculty that impacted the student’s ability to accurately assess their own competencies. We can identify the specific techniques and interventions that we see as key to the program, but there could be other variables in the program that have not been addressed in this study.

Future research should examine these findings with other samples in different leadership development programs to better understand the generalizability of these results. Additionally, we should further investigate the sources of inaccurate self-assessment. Why do leaders rate themselves higher or lower than others? One study (Bergner, Davda, Culpin, & Rybnicek, 2016) found that personality (MBTI in this study) partly explains why leaders overrate or underrate their effectiveness when completing self-assessments. Another avenue to investigation is to examine the agreement between self and other by category of rater. In a meta-analysis of self-other agreement of leadership, Lee and Carpenter (2018) called for researched to examine whose assessment of leader behavior is relevant (superiors, subordinates, peers, etc.). Raters have different exposure to leader behaviors and thus may be more or less valuable to providing helpful feedback.

Conclusion

This study underscores the critical role of accurate self-assessment in increasing one’s self-awareness. We demonstrates how accurate self-assessment can be cultivated through a comprehensively designed leadership program, with a pre-test, post-test design, where leadership competencies were addressed over time as “leadership development in inherently… longitudinal” (Day, 2011; Day et al., 2014, p. 73). Accurate self-assessment serves as a pivotal means to enhance self-awareness, as it enables leaders to identify areas requiring development and to leverage their strengths. Without such accuracy, leaders may struggle to focus on necessary growth areas. While self-assessment might often lead to an overly positive view of oneself, the converse—underestimation of one's abilities—can also occur. This program offered its participants the chance to refine their self-perceptions, thereby improving the accuracy of their self-assessment. This is particularly beneficial for individuals, notably women leaders, who tend to undervalue their capabilities. Accurate self-assessment can bolster their self-confidence that can facilitate these participants engaging in new behaviors and initiatives that further enhance their leadership skills. This transformational journey aligns with the study findings that women participants have embraced opportunities to “spread their wings.”

This study contributes to research and practice by (1) Providing empirical evidence of the change in leadership competencies throughout the program, (2) Providing the specific tools, techniques, and approaches that led to the reported results, (3) Demonstrating improvement in accuracy of self-assessment, and (4) Explaining the mechanism by which improved accuracy in self-assessment occurred.

The results demonstrate clearly that students had higher levels of emotional intelligence as assessed by themselves and significant others from their workplaces. Our analysis shows how the assessment scores changed over time for men and women, and for self-versus other ratings.

The enhancement of self-awareness through accurate self-assessment is achievable with targeted and systematic interventions within a two-year leadership program (Rhee & Sigler, 2020). The following key interventions were instrumental in achieving this goal.

• (1)

  Assessments: The program incorporated a variety of assessments to enhance student self-awareness. The assessments were completed by the participants and others who were familiar with the participants. The 360-degree feedback was provided at the beginning of the program to identify strengths and areas of developmental needs and at the end of the program to measure progress. Repeated opportunities were present throughout the two-year program to track their developmental progress. Fleenor et al. (2010) notes that raters should observe behaviors of the leader being assessed to improve the accuracy of ratings. Students in the ELOC program worked together on projects and provided feedback for an entire year.

• (2)

  Feedback: The ability to give and receive feedback was an essential tool for developing accurate self-awareness. Participants had to recognize that they could improve, had to have the desire to improve and change, and had to trust others to provide accurate feedback. The ability to seek out and receive feedback provides information about their behaviors that need to change. Developing a network of trusted others – in the program, in the workplace, and in their lives – provided the source of feedback that individuals drew upon to make changes.

• (3)

  Continued Practice: Leadership programs offer new information, concepts, and techniques, but to become more effective, participants must practice applying their new skills and knowledge. They also must be open to feedback about how well they perform and possess the resilience to try again making changes based on that feedback. This skill-building process continues as participants acquire and apply new knowledge and skills (Rhee, 2003, 2008)

• (4)

  Reflection: The process of reflecting upon and learning from experience is another crucial element of this program. Participants followed Kolb’s experiential learning model (Kolb, 1984) to note concrete experiences, reflect on those experiences, abstract from their experience to be able to apply the learning to new contexts, and then actively experiment with applying their learning moving forward. This continuous cycle of learning and reflection can eventually become an unconscious competency distinguishing effective leaders.

• (5)

  Learning culture: A culture that values learning, and the development of the whole student provided an environment that supported personal change and development. An environment where people feel safe to experiment and explore is one where people will take risks, fail, get feedback, and try again (Rhee & Sigler, 2020). The instructors, the staff, and the students in the program worked diligently and explicitly to create an environment where learning was supported.

The results demonstrate how students improved in the accuracy of their self-assessment and show how the improvement differed depending on their initial accuracy group. Students who were overestimating their competencies became more accurate by lowering their self-assessment. Students who were underestimating their level of competency strength, were able to see themselves as better leaders, and score themselves higher on the competencies. While participating in the program clearly impacted the total competency score, our results indicate that participants also became more accurate at seeing themselves as others saw them.

We demonstrate how one leadership development program can help all students become more accurate in their self-assessments. We do not need different development programs to help one group of leaders gain confidence and another for leaders who are overly confident. An educational curriculum can foster transformational learning that enables ongoing leader development (Petriglieri et al., 2011). Academic programs can create experiences that help students develop and increase their self-awareness so that they are confident enough to put their learning into action. Like effective leadership development programs (Van Velsor et al., 2010), management education programs can incorporate assessment, feedback, and support so that students become the effective and outstanding leaders the world needs.

Table 1

ESCI scores for student and other ratings entering program and graduating two years later

	N	Entering score	Std. dev.	Graduating score	Std. dev.
Self	147	46.93	5.93	48.83	6.06
Others	150	48.85	5.32	49.80	5.43

Source(s): Table by authors

Table 2

ESCI scores for student and other ratings entering and graduating by sex

	Entering				Graduating
	Male	Std. dev.	Female	Std. dev.	Male	Std. dev.	Female	Std. dev.
Self	46.10 (n = 71)	5.30	47.66 (n = 82)	6.20	47.92 (n = 70)	5.87	49.58 (n = 79)	6.11
Others	48.30* (n = 71)	5.51	49.43** (n = 82)	5.05	49.02* (n = 72)	5.66	50.39* (n = 80)	5.36

Note(s): ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01

Source(s): Table by authors

Table 3

Difference between accurate self-assessment upon entering and graduating by sex

	Entering self-other	Std. dev.	Graduating self-other	Std. dev.
Total	−1.86*	4.50	−0.94*	4.33
Male	−2.00	4.53	−1.03	4.09
Female	−1.77	4.41	−0.92	4.55

Note(s): ^*p < 0.05

Source(s): Table by authors

Table 4

High, middle, and low groups accurate self-assessment scores upon entering and graduating

	High group	Medium group	Low group
Self-entering	50.32	47.25*	43.14*
Self-graduating	49.57	49.47*	46.87*
Other-entering	46.30*	49.35	50.46
Other-graduating	49.49*	49.73	50.12
Entering accurate self-assessment	3.82**	−2.11**	−7.24
Graduating accurate self-assessment	−0.13**	−0.21**	−3.25

Note(s): ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01

Source(s): Table by authors

Table 5

Qualitative analysis themes

Theme	Student quote
Program increasing self-confidence	“Professionally the ELOC program has provided me with the tools to feel more confident in myself than I had prior to entering the program. Now, because of this program, I am able to identify those emotional competencies needed to be successful wherever I am, whatever organization I am part of. I am aware that I am a work in progress and am a believer in continuous learning. I am consistently looking for areas of improvement (and believe me there are many), but because of this I am conscious of my shortcomings, and I look for learning opportunities to practice in my development and I am able to identify areas to incorporate them into my daily work life.”
Spread my wings	“ELOC has helped open my eyes to the possibilities and shown me glimpses of the leader I can become. It has given me the confidence to try different ways of reaching people and how different people really are from learning styles to emotional interaction preferences. It has helped teach me to seek out new ways rather than doing the same things over and over even if they worked once. It has taught me to reflect on what happened and was it just luck that it worked.”
Self-awareness	“Personally, ELOC made me take a really good, hard look at myself and to be honest, I wasn’t crazy about what I saw. Nothing that I saw surprised me; I knew who I was and how I acted. But the program made me think about where I was, where I am, and where I want to be (along with how to get there). The program also pushed me outside my comfort zone, which I had been in way too long. It felt good to be challenged and made to do things I really did not want to. ELOC has also given me the confidence to go and seek out other new opportunities. The fact that I not only have been able to complete the program, but to do so at a high level, has given me a huge boost to my self-worth. When you take each of these items and add them up, the value I have received from the ELOC program is immeasurable.”

Source(s): Table by authors

Table 6

ELOC stages of transformational learning

Encounter dilemma	Make meaning	Achieve insight	Translate to practice
• Being back in graduate school • New concepts • Being forced to work with peers • Challenging assignments • Reflection • Feedback	• Reflection • Interaction with instructors • Support from team • Culture of the program	• Recognize need for change • Commitment to change • Acquire the tools needed to lead change	• Implement at work • Projects for student organizations • Use in ELOC teams • Use with friends and family

Source(s): Table by authors