Chapter+12-+Leadership+Development

= ** Chapter 12-Leadership Development ** = = All leaders possess many unique [|characteristics]and have their own methods of successfully leading others. While no two leaders are identical, one thing all leaders most likely have in common is that they have developed their leadership skills over time. This chapter focuses on that very concept, [|leadership development]. Leadership development is an ongoing process where skills evolve and a leader becomes more effective in their abilities to lead. As noted earlier in our textbook, leaders are not born but rather developed through learning, experience, and mentoring. = = Three components that should be included in any leadership development process are reviewed in the opening parts of this chapter. The first component being leadership learning, which can be achieved through programs involving individual preparation, socializing company vision and values, and strategic leadership initiatives. The next component factors leadership experience into the process. Specific experiences that help in developing an individual’s leadership abilities include job transitions, job change, jobs with high level of responsibility, nonauthority relationships, and situations with obstacles. The third and final component involves developmental relationships. It is vital to establish connections and the chapter mentions two types in which mentors function, being career and psychosocial. = = The chapter then diverges into focusing on leadership as an internal process and discusses two methods which support this concept. The first being [|Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People]. Covey insists that leaders must display certain habits which can be viewed by their subordinates. The seven habits consist of being proactive, beginning with the end in mind, putting first things first, thinking win/win, seeking first to understand then to be understood, synergizing, and sharpening the saw. The second method is that of [|Kevin Cashman’s]who sees leadership being from the inside out. Cashman identifies seven pathways which ultimately allow a person to lead from the inside out. The seven pathways consists of personal mastery, purpose mastery, change mastery, interpersonal mastery, being mastery, balance mastery, and action mastery. As the chapter concludes, it briefly hits on the process of taking charge and its importance in gaining acceptance as leaders as well as having an impact on organizational performance. To ultimately accomplish this process a leader must engage in three types of work: cognitive, organizational, and interpersonal. = ====To explore information concerning Ethical Leadership and Followership see Chapter 11 . ==== ====Further information concerning Leadership and Diversity can be obtained in Chapter 10 .====