Participants Unite Through Small Groups

Program size can oftentimes be large, and a structure is needed to make the program smaller, not only for the usual “smaller class size” sake of learning but also for the social fabric the students experience in the program. Students wanted to develop real relationships with others, be a part of the larger program community, and also be a part of a smaller group. Students cited the forming of groups within the large program as very effective for their development in a variety of ways. Learning happened for students when programs structured the learning community in smaller ways that allowed the students to interact with each other.

Actions. Programs enable participants unite through small groups in three significant ways. First, programs make the large learning community enrollment smaller through a structure that places students within smaller groups in the program. Second, programs allow students to shape and share in a group identity and work together to develop the small group, cluster, or team to which they belong. Third, programs utilize the small group as a laboratory to learn about leadership where students teach each other, engage in activities, work on projects, overcome challenges, and bond through developing as a team.

Effects on students. There are two major outcomes that students gain from programs that have the attribute of participants unite through small groups. First, students learn how to have a positive relationship with individual group members and how to develop relationships within a group. Second, students learn to practice collaborative leadership by identifying their own skills, taking on team roles, and utilizing skills of different people for a common group purpose and achieving as a team.

Educators Model Leadership and Support

The students interviewed spoke often about just listening to or observing their teacher or program administrator and modeling from their leadership. The support that practitioners provided also mattered greatly for students’ leadership development and ability to be successful in the program and afterward.

Actions. Programs enact educators model leadership and support within their programs through three actions. First, educators reduce status differences, are open and accessible, empower students, demonstrate integrity, care, and model exemplary leadership practice through their interactions with students. Second, educators tell their stories, share real experiences, and ask thought-provoking questions. Third, educators mentor and support students outside of program meetings.

Effects on students. Educators model leadership and support had a notable effect on their students. Students develop holistically and gain courage to be more authentic and congruent leaders from practitioner modeling and support. This effect was significant for an individual’s development as a leader and as a person, and it is derived from the relationship with their practitioner.

Experienced and Committed Practitioners

Students and stakeholders spoke consistently about the importance of teachers, facilitators, administrators, and staff members for student leadership development. Educational practitioners who are committed and experienced in working with students and teaching leadership had a very positive impact on students and modeled leadership practice. Practitioners emerged in forms other than the traditional one teacher leading a class. Guest leaders from the community as well as team-facilitated programs from a group of facilitators all played instrumental roles in advancing student learning and development.

Actions. Programs enact the experienced and committed practitioners attribute within their programs through two actions. First, programs hire student-centered educational practitioners as teachers and administrators to facilitate students’ leadership development. Second, programs create opportunities for leadership practitioners from a variety of fields and careers to serve as guest leaders, sharing their experiences through panels, discussions, and conversations with students.

Effects on students. Experienced and committed practitioners had two primary and distinct effects on students. First, students clarify and broaden their leadership thinking including assumptions of who a leader is and how a leader leads from observing practitioners. Second, students acquire a realness of how leadership can be used, supplemented by motivation to formulate a future vision for themselves from the guest leader real world practitioners.

Diverse and Engaged Students

Students who participate in a program determine the quality of a leadership program. Indeed, students themselves bring to the “leadership learning table” their previous experience and background. Not only the quality of students but also how they differ from each other and their level of commitment play a great role in a successful leadership development program. This notion was repeatedly emphasized in interviews from both students and educational practitioners.

Actions. Stakeholders enlisted diverse and engaged students in the program through two primary means. First, programs utilize an application and selection procedure to select students who are invested in their own and others’ development and are committed to engaging fully in the program. Second, programs recruit from many sources and bring together a mix of students from a variety of backgrounds to create a diverse learning community.

Effects on students. There are two primary leadership development and learning outcomes which students experience from actions taken to enact the diverse and engaged students attribute. First, students learn to form collaborations and a network rich in social capital for their leadership endeavors. Second, students acquire new ideas and an enriched understanding through hearing personal experiences and perspectives offered by diverse students in the program.

Cluster One: Participants Engaged in Building and Sustaining a Learning Community

High quality leadership programs contribute positively to student leadership development as a result of the contributions and perspectives of a community of stakeholders whose participants collaborate to engage in building a learning community. This community fosters leadership development and learning for participants. The attributes of the participants engaged in building a learning community cluster include:

•    Diverse and engaged students
•    Experienced and committed practitioners
•    Educators model leadership and support
•    Participants unite through small groups
•    Participant foster a culture of challenge and support
•    Participants cultivate one-on-one relationships

This is Cluster One of Three. Each cluster contains 3-7 attributes of high quality leadership programs. Each attribute is described in terms of actions taken to enact it and the learning and leadership development outcome it relates to achieving in the learner. I will blog attribute by attribute over the upcoming weeks. Next up, “Diverse and engaged students.”

On this ProgramInnovation blog and on my Twitter page I will be trying something new. This will be a a new kind of learning experience or a new way to share research. I’ve  done a few articles, and am finishing a book on high quality leadership programs but thought I would try to use social media to share the key findings that could help people create, develop, and facilitate high quality leadership programs. In the grounded theory model of high quality leadership programs I created from my research, there are 3 clusters of best practices which contain a total of 16 attributes which are enacted by 40 actions and relate to impacting 34 outcomes. Over the course of the upcoming weeks I will blog about each attribute and it’s actions and outcomes and will also share the core information on twitter. So if you tune in you should be able to learn some tips for creating or enhancing your leadership program. Perhaps one of the attributes or actions will validate something you are doing or perhaps you will gain a new idea for something to integrate into your leadership program. For more information on the study that produced these findings see the Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies article:
Eich, D. (2008). A Grounded Theory of High-Quality Leadership Programs: Perspectives From Student Leadership Development Programs in Higher Education. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 15(2), 176-187.

I began by research interest focused on leadership programs, which is a large focus because there is so much to a leadership program and so many different kinds of things a person can learn from such a program. About four years ago I narrowed my focus within leadership programs to look at those kinds of things we can teach in programs that people can actually not only learn but also do within the program. The key thing I became interested in was innovation, specifically the thinking part of innovation, namely idea generation. I saw this as a critical leadership skill that should be learned and practiced. People can generate ideas within programs so I set out to discover different methods and activities that people could learn and do to innovate and brainstorm more systematically. I’ve done a number of webinars on this topic and in 2009 integrated it all together and did a 4 part webinar series on systematic idea generation and innovation. The webinar series turned out to exceed my expectations and we had a number of organizations from across the globe join us for the live course we did each week. Now the recordings, handouts, and accompanying materials from this webinar series are available online at InnovationTraining.org. This is more of an “online workshop” since the purpose is for the learners to do a series of activities for their own innovation project rather than passively just sitting back and watching. I would like to do more innovation workshops like this where we customize the projects to a specific challenge or organization.

The National Leadership Symposium is one of my favorite small conferences for leadership educators. Here is the key information for the July 9-12 2009 Conference at University of Richmond from the NCLP website:

Now in its 19th year, the National Leadership Symposium is a professional development experience designed for faculty members, student affairs professionals and other education practitioners involved with promoting college student leadership education.

The National Leadership Symposium is a joint program coordinated by the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) and the National Clearinghouse for Leadership Programs (NCLP). Given the intense learning environment of the Symposium (included required reading prior to attending) it is advised that participants have significant professional experience in leadership education. Registration is limited to 50 people.

This year’s symposium will explore the meaning of leadership in a global context. According to many practitioners and scholars global leadership is an emerging field that seeks to understand and explain the impact of globalization processes on leadership. Our scholar authors will provide theoretical frameworks and practical considerations for this exploration. They will also provide thoughtful discourse and perspectives on what it means to prepare students for a global society. Participants will engage in rich dialogue and examine the intentional development of programs that can support students’ understanding of the emerging language, style and practice of leadership, which fully values and takes into account an international viewpoint. The concept of cultures interrelatedness and interdependence will be discussed as these connections relate to the establishment of global priorities and mobilization toward purposeful action.

Learning objectives of the 2009 Symposium include:

    * Understand the qualities and attribute of global leaders.
    * Identify key competencies and concrete experiences that influence global leadership development.
    * Acknowledge the distinct differences of Western Cultural approaches to leadership within the global context.
    * Consider the intersection of Western Culture and the global perspective
    * Provide participants with a foundation to support students in making meaning of what leadership signifies in a global context.
    * Creation of a network of practitioners, educators and scholars that explores and informs a current understanding of leadership in a global context.

I did a short interview recently about developing leadership retreats. Here is the text from Magna Publications:

Student Affairs Leader recently interviewed Eich about the topic in preparation for the live event.

SAL: What advantages do retreats have over other leadership development experiences?

Eich: In traditional leadership program activities, students might meet on campus only once every couple of weeks, if that often. In contrast, a retreat is intensive. Instead of spending eight hours learning about leadership over eight sessions during a semester, they spend eight hours learning in one day. And because the retreat is nonstop, students must participate in the entire experience; in semester-long programs, they can skip sessions.

Because students are together in retreats for a longer continuous time block, they can warm up and extend their comfort zones to have better, deeper conversations. Also, retreats are often offsite, overnight, and feature different ways of learning, such as using problem-based learning, ropes courses, and other activities that are more creative than traditional lectures. Students learn leadership best by doing it and reflecting on it. A retreat also offers students a special place to step back and reflect on what they do and who they are.

SAL: Should retreats be “stand alone” experiences, or should they be part of a larger leadership development program?

Eich: Retreats can be stand alone or part of a larger program. If a leadership program is just starting, a great way to begin is by offering a retreat and growing from there. This gets a group of students involved and gives them an intensive learning experience as well as interest in being a part of or even co-creating other leadership program sessions. So you can grow a larger program from that first retreat.

Also, leadership learning and retreats can be offered by a wide variety of college departments—they don’t always need to be owned by the leadership program office. Residence life, student government, multicultural student organizations, religious organizations, Greek life, athletics, or even the English department can offer a retreat and help students learn about leadership and themselves. These departments can hold single retreats that then plug students into the larger leadership program on campus.

Any larger leadership program should have a retreat component. Most begin the year as well as end the year with a retreat. The retreats have become great campus traditions and catalysts for deeper involvement, learning, and development for students.

I have another article from my dissertation on high quality leadership programs published in the January 2009 issue of Student Affairs Leader. The title is: Accelerating Learning and Development with Student Leadership Retreats. A well-designed leadership retreat can be one of the most memorable, powerful parts of a student leader’s college experience. You can learn more about retreats and also access the article online at: http://www.magnapubs.com/issues/magnapubs_nocr/37_1/