Developmental Leadership

There is one crucial difference between Developmental Leadership and Conven-tional Leadership. This has to do with how co-workers are motivated. A con-ventional leader tends to prefer the stick and carrot approach and refers more often to obligations and duties and laws and regulations than to shared values, objectives and interests. This often leads to co-workers carrying out their tasks but not feeling sufficiently motivated to exert themselves any further beyond that. The objective and fulfilment of that objective are the preserve of the leader. A developmental leader, on the other hand, encourages co-workers to pursue the same long-term goals as he or she has. The driving force for this work comes from the co-workers themselves.

Leadership that is working well and is characterised by requirements and reward, as well as control, enables you to achieve objectives agreed upon in the short term. In the long term, develop-mental leadership enables individuals to progress further.

Developmental Leadership

Developmental Leadership (DL) has been the Swedish Armed Forces new leadership model since 2003. Develop-mental Leadership has been practised within state and local government sec-tors as well as at privately-owned com-panies since 2004. The model is char-acterised by the leader acting as a role model and raising questions of morals and ethics whilst observing perceptible core values. A developmental leader also provides inspiration and motivation in order to promote participation and creativity, and shows personal consid-eration by providing support, but also opposition, if this is beneficial for the individual and organisation.

The Developmental Leadership concept includes:

An assessment tool (DLQ) for personal feedback

A theoretical model A method for personal leadership

development

The assessment tool can be viewed as an inventory of the leaders actual lead-ership behaviour. The model provides a direction for preferred development.

The model is based on the frequency of behaviour over time. A higher frequen-cy of Developmental Leadership leads to a favourable organisational outcome as well as more favourable personal development for everyone in the group.

At the end of the 1990s, the Swedish Armed Forces commissioned the Swed-ish National Defence College to pro-duce up-to-date scientific publications

on leadership. A review of scientific

leadership theories and models con-firmed that the model that garnered the

most comprehensive scientific support

was the American Transformational Leadership model.

This scientific support includes studies

demonstrating improved efficiency

within organisations where there was a high occurrence of Transformational Leadership. This type of scientific result

is relatively rare. Usually these studies look at what participants made of a leadership course and/or whether they

Developmental Leadership, scientific grounds

have started to behave differently. This can be significant in itself, but it is no

guarantee of any actual impact on the organisational outcome.

Continued studies, as well as interna-tional contact with researchers and practitioners, produced a separate model entitled Developmental Leader-ship, which is now the Swedish Armed Forces new leadership model.

As other organisations in Sweden came into contact with Developmental Leadership, interest grew in training in-structors outside of the Swedish Armed Forces. The first course ran in January

2004, providing training for both mili-tary and civilian instructors.

1. Stage one is a basic course in Developmental Leadership (2-3 days) run by the Swedish National Defence College (see www.fhs.se) or another course organiser + one follow-up day (approx. 2 months after the basic course).

2. This is followed by instructor training (5 days).

3. Finally, the prospective instructor takes an examination that involves putting on a course in Developmental Leadership together with another instructor. This course is attended by the examiner.

4. Once the instructor has completed and passed the examination, an agreement is signed with the Swedish National Defence College. The instructor is then presented with a certificate enabling him/her to

teach basic courses in Developmental Leadership.

Training and certification of instructors

Training in Developmental Leader-ship begins in the workplace with a 360-degree assessment of each course participants leadership behaviour. Your leadership is assessed by a superior, a peer and a subordinate, and you also complete a self-assessment. The Swed-ish National Defence College compiles these assessments, which provide the foundation for your continued work during training.

The basic course takes 2-3 days. After about two months, there is an in-depth follow-up day to stimulate further re-flection and provide the opportunity to exchange experiences with other leaders as a means of reviewing and possibly modifying your own development plan.

The overall aim of training in Developmental Leadership is:

For the course participant to be able to analyse, reflect on and consciously develop their day-to-day leadership.

This is done with support from the Developmental Leadership model and the self-insight that comes from interpreting the feedback tool DLQ (Developmental Leadership Questionnaire).

The aim is to promote development among co-workers in order to im-prove efficiency within the organisa-tion in the future.

Training in Developmental Leadership

Training combines theory with group dis-cussions and exercises. There is particular emphasis on you as a participant taking an active role on the course. During course days you will be exposed to various meth-ods for encouraging commitment and attendance, as well as for helping you find your focus. A large part of the training will be conducted in groups of three to increase self-reflection with support from the two other course participants.

Once training is complete, you will:

Have knowledge of the Leadership Model and Developmental Leader-ship

Have received personal feedback on your leadership with clarifica-tion of your development needs

Have increased your self-insight

Have created a personal develop-ment plan to further develop your leadership.

Ow

n De

velop

ment

Medarbetarnas

Increased Effeciency

Inspire!

Motivate!Be an

Examplary Model!

Show Individualised Consideration!

Development of Co-workers

Assessment tool DLQ (Developmental Leadership Questionnaire)

A few weeks before training in De-velopmental Leadership begins, there will be a 360-degree assessment of the leaders behaviour. Course participants will receive an e-mail from the Swedish National Defence College and com-plete a web-based self-assessment. A superior, peer and subordinate will also be asked for their assessments of the course participant. A hard copy version of the questionnaire is also available. The assessment tool is only used for developmental purposes and not as a selection or salary-setting tool.

The questionnaire looks at 66 behav-iours, of which 42 are included in the various leadership styles in the Leader-ship Model, from Let go to Develop mental Leadership.

Twenty behaviours are covered by the Leadership Models four required competences:

Professional competence

Managerial competence

Social competence

Stress management capability

The final four questions in the ques-tionnaire measure outcomes of leadership in the form of, among other things, cost awareness and job satisfaction.

Anonymity and data storage

The questionnaire is anonymous and arranged so that peers and subor-dinates cannot be identified in your personal profile summary. The profile summary will be passed on to you personally during a course. It is your decision whether or not you want to share this information.

All assessments are processed at the Swedish National Defence College and will not be passed on to employers. Recorded data includes your name (not personal identification number) and the (coded) assessments completed by you and your assessors. Data is de-identified about 2-3 months after the course.

RATER 66 item English

SWEDISH NATIONAL DEFENCE COLLEGE Department of leadership and management

Leaders name:

054-10 40 45 20102010 --0606 --0202

I am: Woman Man Age: 29 or younger 30 50 years 51 or older Education (indicate the highest)

Secondary school or equivalent High School/ 6th Form College College/University

I have known the person I am rating:

Less than 1 month 1 month 6 months 7 months 1 year More than 1 year

Which of the following alternatives describes you best? I am on a higher organisational level than the person I am rating I am on the same organisational level as the person I am rating I am on a lower organisational level than the person I am rating None of the above

Nationality Swedish Norwegian Danish Other __________________________ Rate to what extent each statement is applicable to the person you are rating. Use the scale below. Mark your answers by circling the appropriate nyumber. 1 = Never or ........9 = Very often Dont almost never or always know

1 Discusses what values are important before making decisions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 Displays an ethical and moral attitude 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 Expresses values that have a humanistic basis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 Acts in accordance with the opinions he or she expresses 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5 Represents the unit to external parties in an exemplary way 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 Admits to his or her own mistakes without trying to find excuses 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 Accepts responsibility for the operations even in hard times 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 Exercises his or her managerial responsibility in an exemplary way 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 Accepts responsibility for ensuring that started tasks are completed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 Shows insight into peoples needs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 Takes time to listen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 Gives me constructive feedback 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 13 Makes me feel significant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 14 Takes colleagues opinions into consideration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 15 Treats people appropriately who have not carried out tasks well 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 16 Tackles relationship problems 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 17 Can deal with troublesome colleagues 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 18 Creates enthusiasm for a task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 19 Even delegates prestigious tasks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 Contributes to my enjoyment of my job, which encourages me to work harder 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

21 Makes me feel I share responsibility for the units development 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 22 Creates a sense of participation in the future goals of my unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

23 Encourages me to develop my abilities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 24 Inspires me to think creatively 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 25 Inspire me to try new working methods 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

RATER 66 item English

SWEDISH NATIONAL DEFENCE COLLEGE Department of leadership and management

Leaders name:

054-10 40 45 20102010 --0606 --0202

I am: Woman Man Age: 29 or younger 30 50 years 51 or older Education (indicate the highest)

Secondary school or equivalent High School/ 6th Form College College/University

I have known the person I am rating:

Less than 1 month 1 month 6 months 7 months 1 year More than 1 year

Which of the following alternatives describes you best? I am on a higher organisational level than the person I am rating I am on the same organisational level as the person I am rating I am on a lower organisational level than the person I am rating None of the above

Nationality Swedish Norwegian Danish Other __________________________ Rate to what extent each statement is applicable to the person you are rating. Use the scale below. Mark your answers by circling the appropriate nyumber. 1 = Never or ........9 = Very often Dont almost never or always know

1 Discusses what values are important before making decisions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 Displays an ethical and moral attitude 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 3 Expresses values that have a humanistic basis 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 Acts in accordance with the opinions he or she expresses 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 5 Represents the unit to external parties in an exemplary way 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 6 Admits to his or her own mistakes without trying to find excuses 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 7 Accepts responsibility for the operations even in hard times 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 8 Exercises his or her managerial responsibility in an exemplary way 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 9 Accepts responsibility for ensuring that started tasks are completed 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 Shows insight into peoples needs 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 Takes time to listen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12 Gives me constructive feedback 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 13 Makes me feel significant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 14 Takes colleagues opinions into consideration 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 15 Treats people appropriately who have not carried out tasks well 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 16 Tackles relationship problems 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 17 Can deal with troublesome colleagues 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 18 Creates enthusiasm for a task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 19 Even delegates prestigious tasks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 Contributes to my enjoyment of my job, which encourages me to work harder 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

21 Makes me feel I share responsibility for the units development 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 22 Creates a sense of participation in the future goals of my unit 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

23 Encourages me to develop my abilities 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 24 Inspires me to think creatively 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 25 Inspire me to try new working methods 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Example of formula

Summary of assessments

A large part of training is devoted to interpreting summaries of assessments. The interpretation looks at everything from the overall results to minor details in order to understand which elements you can and want to develop. The interpretation of the summary ends with you as a course participant preparing an individual development plan, which includes, among other things, the following points:

What must I continue to do?

What must I begin doing?

What must I stop doing?

Example of summary

Self Others assess- assess- ment mentDevelopmental leadership Examplary Model 7,1 7,9Individualised Consideration 6,9 8,0Inspiration and Motivation 7,3 7,9

Self Others assess- assess- ment ment Examplary Model Value Base 8 8,0 I discuss what values are important before making decisions 1 7 8,0 I display an ethical and moral attitude 2 9 8,5 I express values that have a humanistic basis 3 Good example 7 8,2 I act in accordance with the opinions I express 4 6 8,2 I represent the unit to external parties in an exemplary way 5 8 7,8 Iadmittomyownmistakeswithouttryingtofindexcuses6 Responsibility 7 7,5 I accept responsibility for the operations even in hard times 7 0 7,8 I exercise my managerial responsibility in an exemplary way 8 5 7,2 I accept responsibility for ensuring that started tasks are completed 9

Ann Zander is an MSc. specialising in environmental psychology. She works as a tutor in the Department of Leader-ship and Management at the Swedish National Defence College, where she teaches leadership development. Ann is the colleges coordinator for Develop-mental Leadership.

Eva Johansson is a Ph.D. in Pedagogy and Head of the Department of Leader-ship and Management at the Swedish National Defence College in Karlstad. She researches, supervises and teaches within the fields of leadership, core

values, and recruitment.

Gerry Larsson is a psychology professor, specialising in stress psychology, and a qualified psychologist. He researches,

supervises and teaches within the fields

of leadership, stress, crisis management, personality and health.

Erna Danielsson is a Ph.D. in sociology, specialising in sociology of organisa-tion, and a researcher. She has worked as a tutor in the Department of Leader-ship and Management at the Swedish National Defence College, where she also carried out research and taught within the fields of organisation, leader-ship and collaboration.

Per-Olof Michel is a Ph.D. and a qualified doctor, specialising in psychiatry. He has worked as the psychiatric director for the Swedish Armed Forces at the Forces Medical Centre. He researches and teaches within the fields of psy-chotraumatology, crisis management, stress, and leadership.

Lars Andersson is a Ph.D. in pedagogy and a former officer. In his thesis, en-titled Military Leadership - When the stakes are high, he focused on Swedish military leadership in Bosnia.

From left:

Lars AnderssonErna DanielssonEva JohanssonPer-Olof MichelAnn ZanderGerry Larsson

The Developmental Leadership model has been developed by the Swedish Nation-al Defence College based on a broad scientific foundation provided by individu-als with a grounding in theory of organisation, pedagogy, psychology, psychiatry, social psychology, and sociology.

Swedish National Defence CollegeDepartment of Leadership and Management

Ann Zander, +46 (0)54 10 40 45Lena Nerman, +46 (0)54 10 40 32

ann.zander@fhs.se

Developmental Leadership