An exploration of teaching methods used to develop leaders: Leadership educators’ perceptions

The purpose of this paper is to explore how educators can benefit from data on teaching methods or sources of learning used for the leader development of undergraduate students. To advance the field, the authors contend that programs for leader development need to clearly identify what area of development is being improved (e.g. conceptual understanding, personal growth, skill building, feedback), intentionally build connections toward those objectives for development, and incorporate experience within the structure of undergraduate education to facilitate better outcomes.

Ratings on the teaching methods used by participants with experience facilitating leader development activities for undergraduate students were solicited in an online survey. Each participant (n=66) responded to questions about 25 sources of learning for leader development. Questions asked the degree to which each source of learning provided the learning outcomes of conceptual understanding, feedback, skill building, and/or personal growth to undergraduate students.

Participants perceived small group discussion, and film/television clips to promote conceptual understanding, while internships and 360-degree feedback did so to a lesser degree. Sources of learning perceived to facilitate skill building were group projects, and giving presentations. Conversely, completing case studies and listening to lectures were rated as unlikely to foster personal growth.

The results can help educators make a more informed decision about the adoption of teaching methods for leader development. Hopefully, this practice will create standardization in undergraduate leader development that researchers have asked for and serve as a platform for recommending timetables and sources of learning that better define the what and how of leader development. Likewise, these findings benefit industry, because strong parallels to both the content and techniques used in industry and by universities exist.