Identity Processes in Leader Development

Identity Processes in Leader Development Day, Harrison, and Halpin (2009) articulated five variables that frame individual differences in leader development (i.e., self-regulatory strength, goal orientation, self-efficacy, self-awareness, and implementation intentions). Referencing environmental factors, this prĂŠcis locates self-regulation processes and points up the potential contribution of each to leader development.

Olivier Serrat 19/04/2019

1 On Becoming a Leader: The Premise "A person does not gather learnings as possessions but rather becomes a new person with those learnings as a part of his or her new self. To learn is not to have; it is to be," said Akin (1987, p. 38) in a bon mot frequently attributed to Bennis (1989), who reproduced it. Akin's (1987) use of the word "become" was important: firstly, it asserted that one is not born a leader but—rather—develops into one; secondly, it implied that growing into a leader is—necessarily— subject to an ongoing process of engaging in experiences and forging identity. In agreement, Day, Harrison, and Halpin (2009) specified that "As individuals come to view themselves as leaders, they will likely seek out more experiences to develop requisite leadership skills and competencies, and engage in what [they] call 'practicing leadership.' Participation in these experiences also strengthens a leader identity" (p. 211). And so, in direct opposition to "Great Man" and trait theories, Day, Harrison, and Halpin (2009) asserted that leadership learning is an activity and—more often than not—the child of choice.

On Becoming a Leader: Factors of the Environment Which came first: the chicken or the egg; a leader's identity or the outcomes of his/her leadership experiences? Faced with an intractable conundrum, the best response may be that a circle has no beginning. Likewise, with a few provisos but in a fundamentally virtuous cycle, a leader's ability to learn from experience and integrate learnings into identity can add quality to later experiences that will in turn firm up the new identity. The provisos are that not all experiences have the same developmental potential, of course, but that assessment, challenge, and support can in a corporate setting play a key role (McCauley, Van Veslor, & Ruderman, 2010). Indeed, "Organizations that have strong and positive leader development climates provide leaders with more opportunities for development such as feedback, coaching, mentoring, training, stretch assignments, or action learning programs" (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009, p. 190).

On Becoming a Leader: Self-Regulation Processes Nonetheless, pace the rightful accent on the environment, more and more research suggests that the maturity of a leader's identity is a particularly formative process in his/her development, with long-term and future-oriented involvement in relationships (e.g., authority figures, peer relationships, and other organizational relationships) deemed a primary means of forming and reinforcing identity (Wilkinson, n.d). Moreover, learning demands that one should take responsibility for development: pell-mell, this involves looking out for growth opportunities, making out when new behaviors and ways of thinking are called for and engaging in activities that specifically provide the opportunity to test these, developing and using learning tactics to acquire knowledge and skills, reflecting on the process of learning, and striving for selfunderstanding (Van Veslor, Moxley, & Bunker, 2004).

Self-regulation processes and individual differences, it follows, do much to explain the direction and rhythm of the spiral of identity and leadership development (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009, p. 191). Self-regulation is a requirement because it is in the nature of goals that they will not be accomplished easily, a truism that demands adjustment; specifically, self-regulation plays a role in establishing a desired state, monitoring process, and normalizing thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009, pp. 191–193).

Framed initially by environmental factors, individual differences in self-regulation processes that will impact leader development (via skill acquisition, competency development, expertise, and

2 ultimately leader identity) have to do with self-regulatory strength, goal orientation, self-efficacy, self-awareness, and implementation intentions (Day, Harrison, & Halpin, 2009, p. 202). Much as muscular strength, the ability to build self-regulatory strength comes from repeated practice, for example to inhibit, override, or alter responses, with close attention to feedback to engender focus and perseverance (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1994). Goal orientation is the manifestation of motivational processes that trigger an individual's task choice, self-set goals, and effort mechanisms in learning and performance contexts (Dweck, 1996): to note, the setting of goals demonstrates an interest in challenge, to the effect that the individual then directs attention to the task in preference to himself or herself. Self-efficacy is the domain-specific belief—based on past performance or observation of the performance of others—that an individual has about his or her ability to operate at certain levels of performance toward goals that modulate impacts on his or her life; "Generalized self-efficacy refers to a global trait-like characteristic of one's estimate of ‌ overall ability to achieve required performance in a variety of situations" (Bandura, 1997). A byword for self-perceptual accuracy, self-awareness denotes the extent to which an individual is mindful of facets of his or her identity and the degree to which that self-perception is both integrated and compatible with perceptions of him or her (Hall, 2004). Lastly, implementation intentions mean to buttress goal-orientation by particularizing when, where, and how behavior will lead to goal attainment through near-automatic enaction (Gollwitzer, 1999).

On Becoming a Leader: Synergizing Self-Regulation Processes Day, Harrison, and Halpin's (2009) integrative theory of leader development spans the three domains of expertise and expert performance, identity and self-regulation processes, and adult development. Concerning the direction and rhythm of the spiral of identity and leadership development, Day, Harrison, and Halpin (2009) proposed to explain individual differences that: Self-regulatory strength accelerates the ongoing learning and development of leaders.

Learning goal orientations facilitate development of leader expertise through the use of self-regulation strategies.

A leader's generalized self-efficacy will positively relate to leader development and learning.

Self-awareness will facilitate the development of leader learning and expertise.

Forming implementation intentions regarding initiating leadership practice and persisting through distractions will facilitate leader development. (p. 174) It goes without saying that self-regulatory strength, goal orientation, self-efficacy, selfawareness, and implementation intentions can singly and in unison have a bearing on identity processes in leader development; and, each of the five variables can make unique contributions. Notwithstanding, while self-regulatory strength, goal orientation, self-efficacy, selfawareness, and implementation intentions all bear on skill acquisition, competency development, expertise, and leader identity in interaction with the factors of the environment, individuals will reveal different proclivities across the five self-regulatory processes; this is not a cause for worry, far from it: in the spirit of leader development, as it happens, the objective should be to maximize each and synergize the five with emphasis on "how" rather than on "what".

3 References Akin, G. (1987). Varieties of managerial learning. Organizational Dynamics, 16(1), 36–48.

Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W H Freeman/Times Books/Henry Holt & Co. Baumeister, R., Heatherton, T, & Tice, D. (1994). Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Bennis, W. (1989). On becoming a leader. Basic Books.

Day, D., Harrison, M., & Halpin, S. (2009). An integrative approach to leader development: Connecting adult development, identity, and expertise. New York, NY: Psychology Press.

Dweck, C. (1996). Implicit theories as organizers of goals and behavior. In P. Gollwitzer & J. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp.

69–90). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Gollwitzer, P. (1999). Implementation intentions: Strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493–503.

Hall, D. (2004). Self-awareness, identity, and leader development. In D. Day, S. Zaccaro, & S. Halpin (Eds.), Leader development for transforming organizations: Growing leaders for tomorrow (pp. 163–176). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

McCauley, C., Van Veslor, E., & Ruderman, M. (2010). Introduction: Our viewpoint of leadership development. In E. Van Veslor, C. McCauley, & M. Ruderman (Eds.), The Center for Creative Leadership handbook of leadership development (3rd ed.) (pp. 1–26). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.