Developing a Culture of Leadership Development

Preamble

Leadership has been defined as “the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improve the organization” (Sewell, 2009, p. 93). Arguably, it is this type of effective leadership that is the requirement of every high functioning organization.

In order for an organization to achieve high levels of leadership success, an organization must foster and sustain the correct environment, provide the correct tools and supports, and ultimately ensure that culture supports the development of future leaders from within. It is the focus of this paper to provide an overview of the valuable elements and techniques supporting cultural development that will lead to effective leadership development for any high functioning organization.

The Leadership Environment

In developing a culture for leadership development, an organization must understand its inner workings, specifically the existing culture of the organization. “A culture can be defined as the norms, practices, history and values of an organization — in other words: ‘how things are done around here.’” (Osak, 2014, p. 1) These subtle nuances will help to share the thoughts, values and behaviours of organizations employees.

Values

“Values are what support the vision, shape the culture and reflect what the company values. They are the essence of the company’s identity – the principles, beliefs or philosophy of values.” (Fong, 2013, p. 1) Values can be classified into two categories; instrumental values and end values. End values are the goals or outcomes that an organization is trying to pursue, and instrumental values are the behaviours and beliefs that will compliment reaching those goals. (Daft, 2011, p. 109)

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