The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development (2nd ed.)

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2005), "The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development (2nd ed.)", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 290-291. https://doi.org/10.1108/09544780510594252

A total of 22 authors, in addition to the editors, have contributed to this handbook. Both the editors are from the internationally recognized Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Cynthia McCauley is a senior fellow and has worked at the Center for over 20 years in various capacities. Ellen Van Velsor is an R&D group director and has expertise in the use and impact of 360‐degree feedback, etc. They have written numerous articles, book chapters and reports.

The handbook comprises an introduction and 15 chapters that are grouped into three sections. At the outset, in the preface, the editors warn that the handbook is not comprehensive and does not provide a comprehensive review of leadership theories, or present a definitive model of leadership, or cover all methods of leadership development.

In the introduction, written by the editors, they give an overview of leadership development: elements (assessment, challenge, and support) of an effective developmental experience and their role in motivation and as a resource. They emphasize that leadership development is an ongoing process grounded in never‐ending personal development, and includes the development of connection between collectives, culture and systems in which the individuals are embedded.

Part one, the longest part of the handbook, consists of eight chapters and its focus is on individual leader development. Each of the first six chapters respectively deal with feedback‐intensive leadership programs, 360‐degree feedback (that is, a method of systematically collecting opinions from a wide range of coworkers), developmental relationships in work settings, formal coaching delivered by external coaches, job assignments and their importance for leader development, and hardships. The shift in the leadership development process in recent years and the importance of linking different developmental experiences, the difficulties encountered in learning from experience, and the importance of embedding the process in the organizational context are covered in chapter 7. Chapter 8 presents CCL's approach and their review of the impact of various leader development initiatives.

Leader development in specific contexts is the theme of part two, which comprises five chapters. The different topics covered respectively are leadership development practices for developing women managers, “black” managers, transfer of US leader development practices to other cultures, developing leaders for global roles, and the role of leader development in personal life‐long development.

Chapters 14 and 15 form the final part. In former chapter, developing leadership from an organizational level rather than at the individual level is considered. The need to develop interconnections among organizational members and the organizational practices and systems are explored. The final chapter provides a framework for enabling leadership development at the community level and provides ideas for implementing the framework.

A CD‐ROM included with the book contains 11 relevant publications from the CCL library and four annotated bibliography on executive coaching, formal mentoring programs in organizations, management development through job experiences, and using 360‐degree feedback in organizations.