research question examples leadership

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Educational Leadership - Ed.D. and Ph.D.

• Developing a Research Question

When you need to develop a research question, you want to ask yourself: what do you want to know about a topic? Additionally, you'll want to determine:

• WHO you are researching,
• WHAT you are researching,
• WHEN your research topic takes place,
• WHERE your research topic takes place, and
• WHY you are researching this topic.

Try these steps to formulate a research question:

Check out these links and the video below for more information:

• How to Write a Research Question
• Writing a Good Research Question

Have Questions? Browse all our FAQs  or ask a librarian by chat or email at  [email protected] !

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• 01 May 2024
• What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

James Heskett has been asking readers, “What do you think?” for 24 years on a wide variety of management topics. In this farewell column, Heskett reflects on the changing leadership landscape and thanks his readers for consistently weighing in over the years. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 26 Apr 2024

Deion Sanders' Prime Lessons for Leading a Team to Victory

The former star athlete known for flash uses unglamorous command-and-control methods to get results as a college football coach. Business leaders can learn 10 key lessons from the way 'Coach Prime' builds a culture of respect and discipline without micromanaging, says Hise Gibson.

• 26 Mar 2024
• Cold Call Podcast

How Do Great Leaders Overcome Adversity?

In the spring of 2021, Raymond Jefferson (MBA 2000) applied for a job in President Joseph Biden’s administration. Ten years earlier, false allegations were used to force him to resign from his prior US government position as assistant secretary of labor for veterans’ employment and training in the Department of Labor. Two employees had accused him of ethical violations in hiring and procurement decisions, including pressuring subordinates into extending contracts to his alleged personal associates. The Deputy Secretary of Labor gave Jefferson four hours to resign or be terminated. Jefferson filed a federal lawsuit against the US government to clear his name, which he pursued for eight years at the expense of his entire life savings. Why, after such a traumatic and debilitating experience, would Jefferson want to pursue a career in government again? Harvard Business School Senior Lecturer Anthony Mayo explores Jefferson’s personal and professional journey from upstate New York to West Point to the Obama administration, how he faced adversity at several junctures in his life, and how resilience and vulnerability shaped his leadership style in the case, "Raymond Jefferson: Trial by Fire."

• 24 Jan 2024

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

Aggressive cost cutting and rocky leadership changes have eroded the culture at Boeing, a company once admired for its engineering rigor, says Bill George. What will it take to repair the reputational damage wrought by years of crises involving its 737 MAX?

• 02 Jan 2024

Do Boomerang CEOs Get a Bad Rap?

Several companies have brought back formerly successful CEOs in hopes of breathing new life into their organizations—with mixed results. But are we even measuring the boomerang CEOs' performance properly? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

Employees may seek new approaches to balance, even as leaders consider whether to bring more teams back to offices or make hybrid work even more flexible. These are just a few trends that Harvard Business School faculty members will be following during a year when staffing, climate, and inclusion will likely remain top of mind.

• 12 Dec 2023

Can Sustainability Drive Innovation at Ferrari?

When Ferrari, the Italian luxury sports car manufacturer, committed to achieving carbon neutrality and to electrifying a large part of its car fleet, investors and employees applauded the new strategy. But among the company’s suppliers, the reaction was mixed. Many were nervous about how this shift would affect their bottom lines. Professor Raffaella Sadun and Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna discuss how Ferrari collaborated with suppliers to work toward achieving the company’s goal. They also explore how sustainability can be a catalyst for innovation in the case, “Ferrari: Shifting to Carbon Neutrality.” This episode was recorded live December 4, 2023 in front of a remote studio audience in the Live Online Classroom at Harvard Business School.

• 05 Dec 2023

Lessons in Decision-Making: Confident People Aren't Always Correct (Except When They Are)

A study of 70,000 decisions by Thomas Graeber and Benjamin Enke finds that self-assurance doesn't necessarily reflect skill. Shrewd decision-making often comes down to how well a person understands the limits of their knowledge. How can managers identify and elevate their best decision-makers?

• 21 Nov 2023

The Beauty Industry: Products for a Healthy Glow or a Compact for Harm?

Many cosmetics and skincare companies present an image of social consciousness and transformative potential, while profiting from insecurity and excluding broad swaths of people. Geoffrey Jones examines the unsightly reality of the beauty industry.

• 14 Nov 2023

Do We Underestimate the Importance of Generosity in Leadership?

Management experts applaud leaders who are, among other things, determined, humble, and frugal, but rarely consider whether they are generous. However, executives who share their time, talent, and ideas often give rise to legendary organizations. Does generosity merit further consideration? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 24 Oct 2023

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

What do Steve Jobs and Sarah Breedlove have in common? Through a series of case studies, Robert Simons explores the unique qualities of visionary leaders and what today's managers can learn from their journeys.

• 06 Oct 2023

Yes, You Can Radically Change Your Organization in One Week

Skip the committees and the multi-year roadmap. With the right conditions, leaders can confront even complex organizational problems in one week. Frances Frei and Anne Morriss explain how in their book Move Fast and Fix Things.

• 26 Sep 2023

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger: Competition vs. Cooperation

On June 9, 2022, the first LIV Golf event teed off outside of London. The new tour offered players larger prizes, more flexibility, and ambitions to attract new fans to the sport. Immediately following the official start of that tournament, the PGA Tour announced that all 17 PGA Tour players participating in the LIV Golf event were suspended and ineligible to compete in PGA Tour events. Tensions between the two golf entities continued to rise, as more players “defected” to LIV. Eventually LIV Golf filed an antitrust lawsuit accusing the PGA Tour of anticompetitive practices, and the Department of Justice launched an investigation. Then, in a dramatic turn of events, LIV Golf and the PGA Tour announced that they were merging. Harvard Business School assistant professor Alexander MacKay discusses the competitive, antitrust, and regulatory issues at stake and whether or not the PGA Tour took the right actions in response to LIV Golf’s entry in his case, “LIV Golf.”

• 01 Aug 2023

As Leaders, Why Do We Continue to Reward A, While Hoping for B?

Companies often encourage the bad behavior that executives publicly rebuke—usually in pursuit of short-term performance. What keeps leaders from truly aligning incentives and goals? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 05 Jul 2023

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

Executives who confront new challenges with old formulas often fail. The best leaders tailor their approach, recalibrating their "action orientation" to address the problem at hand, says Ryan Raffaelli. He details three action orientations and how leaders can harness them.

How Are Middle Managers Falling Down Most Often on Employee Inclusion?

Companies are struggling to retain employees from underrepresented groups, many of whom don't feel heard in the workplace. What do managers need to do to build truly inclusive teams? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 14 Jun 2023

Every Company Should Have These Leaders—or Develop Them if They Don't

Companies need T-shaped leaders, those who can share knowledge across the organization while focusing on their business units, but they should be a mix of visionaries and tacticians. Hise Gibson breaks down the nuances of each leader and how companies can cultivate this talent among their ranks.

Four Steps to Building the Psychological Safety That High-Performing Teams Need

Struggling to spark strategic risk-taking and creative thinking? In the post-pandemic workplace, teams need psychological safety more than ever, and a new analysis by Amy Edmondson highlights the best ways to nurture it.

• 31 May 2023

From Prison Cell to Nike’s C-Suite: The Journey of Larry Miller

VIDEO: Before leading one of the world’s largest brands, Nike executive Larry Miller served time in prison for murder. In this interview, Miller shares how education helped him escape a life of crime and why employers should give the formerly incarcerated a second chance. Inspired by a Harvard Business School case study.

• 23 May 2023

The Entrepreneurial Journey of China’s First Private Mental Health Hospital

The city of Wenzhou in southeastern China is home to the country’s largest privately owned mental health hospital group, the Wenzhou Kangning Hospital Co, Ltd. It’s an example of the extraordinary entrepreneurship happening in China’s healthcare space. But after its successful initial public offering (IPO), how will the hospital grow in the future? Harvard Professor of China Studies William C. Kirby highlights the challenges of China’s mental health sector and the means company founder Guan Weili employed to address them in his case, Wenzhou Kangning Hospital: Changing Mental Healthcare in China.

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How to Write a Research Question: Types and Examples 

The first step in any research project is framing the research question. It can be considered the core of any systematic investigation as the research outcomes are tied to asking the right questions. Thus, this primary interrogation point sets the pace for your research as it helps collect relevant and insightful information that ultimately influences your work.   

Typically, the research question guides the stages of inquiry, analysis, and reporting. Depending on the use of quantifiable or quantitative data, research questions are broadly categorized into quantitative or qualitative research questions. Both types of research questions can be used independently or together, considering the overall focus and objectives of your research.  

What is a research question?

A research question is a clear, focused, concise, and arguable question on which your research and writing are centered. 1 It states various aspects of the study, including the population and variables to be studied and the problem the study addresses. These questions also set the boundaries of the study, ensuring cohesion. 

Designing the research question is a dynamic process where the researcher can change or refine the research question as they review related literature and develop a framework for the study. Depending on the scale of your research, the study can include single or multiple research questions. 

A good research question has the following features: 

• It is relevant to the chosen field of study. 
• The question posed is arguable and open for debate, requiring synthesizing and analysis of ideas. 
• It is focused and concisely framed. 
• A feasible solution is possible within the given practical constraint and timeframe. 

A poorly formulated research question poses several risks. 1   

• Researchers can adopt an erroneous design. 
• It can create confusion and hinder the thought process, including developing a clear protocol.  
• It can jeopardize publication efforts.  
• It causes difficulty in determining the relevance of the study findings.  
• It causes difficulty in whether the study fulfils the inclusion criteria for systematic review and meta-analysis. This creates challenges in determining whether additional studies or data collection is needed to answer the question.  
• Readers may fail to understand the objective of the study. This reduces the likelihood of the study being cited by others. 

Now that you know “What is a research question?”, let’s look at the different types of research questions. 

Types of research questions

Depending on the type of research to be done, research questions can be classified broadly into quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods studies. Knowing the type of research helps determine the best type of research question that reflects the direction and epistemological underpinnings of your research. 

The structure and wording of quantitative 2 and qualitative research 3 questions differ significantly. The quantitative study looks at causal relationships, whereas the qualitative study aims at exploring a phenomenon. 

• Quantitative research questions:  
• Seeks to investigate social, familial, or educational experiences or processes in a particular context and/or location.  
• Answers ‘how,’ ‘what,’ or ‘why’ questions. 
• Investigates connections, relations, or comparisons between independent and dependent variables. 

Quantitative research questions can be further categorized into descriptive, comparative, and relationship, as explained in the Table below. 

• Qualitative research questions  

Qualitative research questions are adaptable, non-directional, and more flexible. It concerns broad areas of research or more specific areas of study to discover, explain, or explore a phenomenon. These are further classified as follows: 

• Mixed-methods studies  

Mixed-methods studies use both quantitative and qualitative research questions to answer your research question. Mixed methods provide a complete picture than standalone quantitative or qualitative research, as it integrates the benefits of both methods. Mixed methods research is often used in multidisciplinary settings and complex situational or societal research, especially in the behavioral, health, and social science fields. 

What makes a good research question

A good research question should be clear and focused to guide your research. It should synthesize multiple sources to present your unique argument, and should ideally be something that you are interested in. But avoid questions that can be answered in a few factual statements. The following are the main attributes of a good research question. 

• Specific: The research question should not be a fishing expedition performed in the hopes that some new information will be found that will benefit the researcher. The central research question should work with your research problem to keep your work focused. If using multiple questions, they should all tie back to the central aim. 
• Measurable: The research question must be answerable using quantitative and/or qualitative data or from scholarly sources to develop your research question. If such data is impossible to access, it is better to rethink your question. 
• Attainable: Ensure you have enough time and resources to do all research required to answer your question. If it seems you will not be able to gain access to the data you need, consider narrowing down your question to be more specific. 
• You have the expertise 
• You have the equipment and resources 
• Realistic: Developing your research question should be based on initial reading about your topic. It should focus on addressing a problem or gap in the existing knowledge in your field or discipline. 
• Based on some sort of rational physics 
• Can be done in a reasonable time frame 
• Timely: The research question should contribute to an existing and current debate in your field or in society at large. It should produce knowledge that future researchers or practitioners can later build on. 
• Novel 
• Based on current technologies. 
• Important to answer current problems or concerns. 
• Lead to new directions. 
• Important: Your question should have some aspect of originality. Incremental research is as important as exploring disruptive technologies. For example, you can focus on a specific location or explore a new angle. 
• Meaningful whether the answer is “Yes” or “No.” Closed-ended, yes/no questions are too simple to work as good research questions. Such questions do not provide enough scope for robust investigation and discussion. A good research question requires original data, synthesis of multiple sources, and original interpretation and argumentation before providing an answer. 

Steps for developing a good research question

The importance of research questions cannot be understated. When drafting a research question, use the following frameworks to guide the components of your question to ease the process. 4  

• Determine the requirements: Before constructing a good research question, set your research requirements. What is the purpose? Is it descriptive, comparative, or explorative research? Determining the research aim will help you choose the most appropriate topic and word your question appropriately. 
• Select a broad research topic: Identify a broader subject area of interest that requires investigation. Techniques such as brainstorming or concept mapping can help identify relevant connections and themes within a broad research topic. For example, how to learn and help students learn. 
• Perform preliminary investigation: Preliminary research is needed to obtain up-to-date and relevant knowledge on your topic. It also helps identify issues currently being discussed from which information gaps can be identified. 
• Narrow your focus: Narrow the scope and focus of your research to a specific niche. This involves focusing on gaps in existing knowledge or recent literature or extending or complementing the findings of existing literature. Another approach involves constructing strong research questions that challenge your views or knowledge of the area of study (Example: Is learning consistent with the existing learning theory and research). 
• Identify the research problem: Once the research question has been framed, one should evaluate it. This is to realize the importance of the research questions and if there is a need for more revising (Example: How do your beliefs on learning theory and research impact your instructional practices). 

How to write a research question

Those struggling to understand how to write a research question, these simple steps can help you simplify the process of writing a research question. 

Sample Research Questions

The following are some bad and good research question examples 

• Example 1 
• Example 2 

References:  

• Thabane, L., Thomas, T., Ye, C., & Paul, J. (2009). Posing the research question: not so simple.  Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal canadien d’anesthésie ,  56 (1), 71-79. 
• Rutberg, S., & Bouikidis, C. D. (2018). Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research.  Nephrology Nursing Journal ,  45 (2), 209-213. 
• Kyngäs, H. (2020). Qualitative research and content analysis.  The application of content analysis in nursing science research , 3-11. 
• Mattick, K., Johnston, J., & de la Croix, A. (2018). How to… write a good research question.  The clinical teacher ,  15 (2), 104-108. 
• Fandino, W. (2019). Formulating a good research question: Pearls and pitfalls.  Indian Journal of Anaesthesia ,  63 (8), 611. 
• Richardson, W. S., Wilson, M. C., Nishikawa, J., & Hayward, R. S. (1995). The well-built clinical question: a key to evidence-based decisions.  ACP journal club ,  123 (3), A12-A13 

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Transitive and Intransitive Verbs in the World of Research

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• Research article
• Open access
• Published: 28 May 2012

A qualitative study of leadership characteristics among women who catalyze positive community change

• Sara C Folta 1 ,
• Rebecca A Seguin 2 ,
• Jennifer Ackerman 3 &
• Miriam E Nelson 1  

BMC Public Health volume  12 , Article number:  383 ( 2012 ) Cite this article

41k Accesses

17 Citations

10 Altmetric

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Leadership is critical to making changes at multiple levels of the social ecological model, including the environmental and policy levels, and will therefore likely contribute to solutions to the obesity epidemic and other public health issues. The literature describing the relative leadership styles and strengths of women versus men is mixed and virtually all research comes from sectors outside of public health. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify specific leadership skills and characteristics in women who have successfully created change predominantly within the food and physical activity environments in their communities and beyond. The second purpose of this study is to understand best practices for training and nurturing women leaders, to maximize their effectiveness in creating social change.

Key informant interviews were conducted with 16 women leaders in the public health sector from November 2008 through February 2010. The sample represented a broad spectrum of leaders from across the United States, identified through web searches and through networks of academic and professional colleagues. Most were working on improving the food and physical activity environments within their communities. Questions were designed to determine leaders’ career path, motivation, characteristics, definition of success, and challenges. The initial coding framework was based on the questioning structure. Using a grounded theory approach, additional themes were added to the framework as they emerged. The NVivo program was used to help code the data.

Respondents possessed a vision, a strong drive to carry it out, and an ability to mobilize others around the vision. Their definitions of success most often included changing the lives of others in a sustainable way. Persistence and communications skills were important to their success. The mentoring they received was critical. Challenges included fundraising and drifting from their original mission.

Conclusions

These findings may be used to help develop or inform a model of women’s leadership in public health and to improve the training and nurturance of leaders who promote health in their communities and beyond.

Peer Review reports

Leadership and public health

Historically, obesity prevention efforts have focused on individual behavior change, yielding marginal results and limited sustainability [ 1 , 2 ]. To be effective, solutions will likely need to address the problem more broadly. From a social ecological perspective, it will be necessary to create change at multiple levels, including addressing environmental and policy factors that influence behavior [ 2 – 6 ]. Leadership is one of the major factors in creating change at these levels. For example, leadership has been a critical element in creating policy and shifting social norms around tobacco use and breastfeeding [ 7 ].

Leadership has been identified as a key component of community capacity building [ 8 – 16 ], which has emerged as an effective approach for achieving environmental and policy changes to improve health [ 10 , 11 , 17 – 19 ]. Within the public health realm, community capacity has been defined as the “characteristics of communities that affect their ability to identify, mobilize, and address social and public health problems” [ 20 ]. Notably, enhancing leadership has been a successful strategy for increasing community capacity in underserved populations, including ethnic minority and rural communities [ 13 , 15 – 17 ], implicating it as a promising approach for reducing health disparities.

In 1998, Goodman et al. [ 8 ] reviewed the evidence related to leadership characteristics of individuals that contribute to community capacity in the context of public health. This review suggested that successful leaders have a democratic decision-making style; help make it possible for all members of a community to participate; are responsive and accessible; and are well-connected to other leaders [ 8 ]. Three studies published subsequently were identified that specifically examine the leadership characteristics related to community capacity. A study of coalition factors that foster community capacity within the Fighting Back Initiative (which addressed substance abuse) used key informant interviews and surveys with project staff, advisory council members, project directors, and steering committee members to identify characteristics associated with greater organizational capacity among the study sites [ 18 ]. In this study, higher performing sites had leaders with a more collaborative style, compared to lower performing sites where leaders had a more autocratic style.

In a qualitative study, Goodman [ 16 ] explored the components of capacity most relevant to public health initiatives in communities that were predominantly inhabited by racial and ethnic minorities. Group interviews with the core members of each initiative were conducted using an open-ended guide. Cross-site qualitative analysis identified the characteristics of leaders in initiatives that realized successful outcomes, such as improved and expanded health and social services, compared to those in initiatives that failed to achieve goals. Leaders at successful sites were visionary, selfless, persuasive, fearless, and respected. Leaders at sites where initiative goals were not attained were overloaded, overwhelmed, unresponsive, self-interested, and passive. Participatory and team-oriented leadership styles were also found to be more successful than top-down approaches.

A study of the community initiatives to increase physical activity that were part of the Active Living by Design Program defined successful partnerships by positive outcomes such as changes in the community physical environment or in policies related to physical activity [ 19 ]. Synthesis of the lessons learned from the 25 communities that participated in the program indicated that leadership was important to success, and that local leaders in the most successful partnerships were visionary, flexible, willing to mentor others, and able to nurture effective partnerships.

Taken together, studies exploring community capacity paint a picture of effective community leaders as visionaries who have the skills to recruit others to a common goal, and to carry out a plan for realizing a vision using a collaborative and democratic leadership style. This is consistent with a transformational leadership model, described by Burns as a model in which leadership is not based on a charismatic personality or access to traditional sources of power, but rather occurs “when one or more persons engage with others in such a way that leaders and followers raise one another to higher levels of motivation and morality” [ 21 ]. This type of leadership contrasts both with transactional leadership, which encompasses traditional management practices (setting goals, providing feedback, and exchanging rewards for achievement), and laissez-faire leadership, which is characterized by a lack of involvement in managing [ 22 ].

Consistent with the studies described above, social and interorganizational networks have been identified as a dimension of community capacity [ 8 ]. Explorations of interorganizational work as part of the solution to the childhood obesity epidemic have begun [ 23 ]. A body of work has examined an integrative leadership framework in public health, which can be defined as “fostering collective action across boundaries to advance the common good” [ 24 ]. The focus is on leadership that cultivates collaboration among multiple levels of the social ecological model and multiple sectors within each level. Integrative leadership scholarship investigates the ways that leadership can foster collaborations that are most effective at creating synergy and change. Crosby and Bryson [ 25 ] suggest that eight capabilities are necessary for effectiveness, including an understanding of the social, political, and economic contexts; understanding and deploying personal assets on behalf of beneficial change; nurturing humane and effective organizations; and creating and communicating a shared vision.

Leadership and women

Although there has been much speculation on the relative leadership styles and strengths of women versus men, the literature is mixed [ 26 , 27 ]. In 2002, Eagly and Karau [ 28 ] proposed a role congruity theory, suggesting that there is a perceived incongruity between the female gender role, in which communal characteristics (nice and compassionate) are valued, and qualities traditionally associated with successful leadership (assertive and competitive). In a meta-analysis of literature comparing men and women leaders by Eagly et al. [ 29 ], mainly in the business and educational sectors and defined as supervising or directing the work of others, women were more likely to have a transformational leadership style. The authors suggest that women may favor this style of leadership because it is both effective and consistent with the female gender role, thus providing a way of overcoming role incongruity [ 29 ]. Though groundbreaking and highly informative, virtually all of this research comes from sectors outside of public health [ 29 ].

Women leaders in public health

There is a need for studies that examine female leadership specifically within the public health sector, especially with increasing recognition of the importance of changing environmental and policy factors to improve health and the role of leaders in creating these changes. The primary purpose of this study is to identify specific leadership behaviors and characteristics in women who have successfully created change focused predominantly on improving the food and physical activity environments within their communities. In this way, we will begin to elucidate a model of female leadership in public health and determine whether or not it differs from existing models in other sectors. The secondary purpose of this study is to understand best practices for training and nurturing women leaders, to maximize their effectiveness in creating social change.

Design and approach

This qualitative study used semi-structured key informant interviews with women in public health settings. This methodology was chosen because it allowed us to examine their self-described behaviors and practices, their experiences as leaders, and their perceptions of leadership. Our approach was to identify women who were enacting significant changes within their communities and beyond, with an understanding that creating change involves the ability to exert significant influence over others, which is central to leadership. We therefore identified participants based on their actions and impact, so that their leadership characteristics and behaviors would emerge from the data rather than being influenced by a definition of leadership that was based on these factors.

Recruitment

The research team on this project specializes in community-based research, partnering with organizations such as cooperative extension, state and local governments, and local non-profits to implement and evaluate programming related to physical activity, nutrition, and obesity prevention. To begin the recruitment process, the research team identified academic and professional colleagues across the U.S. who conduct similar community-based research and requested assistance in identifying women leaders age 21 or older, who had been successful in promoting health in their communities and possibly beyond. Two criteria were used as measures of successfully enacting change. The first was demonstration of impact on either the community environment or on policy related to health issues, as determined by the research team. We judged this by factors such as number of people reached, number of years the leader’s organization had been operating and its growth, dissemination of her successful strategies to other organizations, and policies passed by local, state, or national governments that were tied directly to her work. The second criterion for success was achieving recognition through an award for her organization or for her leadership, and/or garnering significant media coverage (in many cases national coverage) that highlighted the impact of her work. We indicated that the leader’s work could be related to any aspect of positive health behavior change. To expand the list of potential interviewees, we additionally conducted a web search using the terms “women” and “leadership”. Since the women initially identified through colleagues were engaging in entrepreneurial activities such as founding a non-profit organization, we added “social entrepreneur” to the web search terms, although we did not limit potential subjects to this category. Through both colleague contacts and the web search, we generated an initial list of approximately forty women. We then gathered information about each potential participant’s organization to ensure that its mission was related to public health. We also gathered additional information about the potential participant and her role within the organization. Through this process we excluded women whose organizations did not clearly have public health as their primary mission or who did not meet our criteria for successful leadership. Our final sample included twenty potential participants, who were sent a recruitment letter or email that described the nature and purpose of the research and requested their participation in the study. Two never responded to the initial invitation for unknown reasons. Seventeen women provided written informed consent, and sixteen completed the interviews. The leader who did not complete the interview had a conflict arise at the scheduled time and attempts to reschedule were unsuccessful. Of the sixteen women interviewed, nine were identified from professional networks and seven from the web search. Women were asked to complete a short questionnaire to obtain demographic information as well as additional background on their community work. All study materials and protocols were approved by the Tufts University Health Sciences Institutional Review Board.

Interview guide and procedures

One member of our research team (SCF) with expertise in qualitative research methods conducted individual interviews with the sixteen women over sixteen months (November 2008 to February 2010), four in person and 12 by telephone. Once they agreed to participate, leaders were sent an informed consent form and asked to review it, present the research team with any questions, and return it by mail or fax prior to the interview. At the start of the interview, we reviewed the purpose of the study and the confidentiality procedures, and participants were given another opportunity to ask questions.

We used a semi-structured interview guide (see Table 1 for major topics and questions). The entire research team, which included expertise in both community leadership and qualitative methods, provided input on the questioning route. The first question was designed to elicit narratives of the women’s paths that led them to the work they were doing. The purpose was to understand more fully how their current work fit into the context of their lives overall and how they perceived the factors that had shaped them as change agents. A secondary purpose was to establish that we were interested in in-depth responses that reflected their personal meanings and experiences. The rest of the interview guide included open-ended questions designed to explore the women’s thoughts and perceptions about the characteristics of a good leader, steps they had taken to improve their leadership skills, and the role of mentors. In addition, women were asked to describe their motivations, definitions of success, and strategies for overcoming challenges. Interviews lasted 45–60 minutes and were audio recorded. We concluded data collection after 16 interviews. We had achieved reasonable representation in terms of geographic location, age, and race/ethnicity, and preliminary analyses suggested that we had reached a saturation point with respect to key themes [ 30 ].

Research assistants transcribed recordings of the interviews verbatim. The investigator who had conducted the interviews reviewed the transcripts for accuracy and conducted the primary analysis by coding them. This investigator and two others who had reviewed the transcripts extensively conducted the final analysis by reviewing and discussing the key themes.

Since the first question was designed to elicit narrative, analysis involved examining the responses as a whole (structure, form, and self-representation) rather than breaking them down by coding [ 31 ]. Analysis focused on the transformative experiences within the path to the participants’ current work, since these offer information on how to nurture future leaders. The remaining questions were analyzed according to standard qualitative practices, based on grounded theory [ 30 ]. The initial coding framework reflected the questioning structure. As coding proceeded, several additional themes emerged and were added to the framework. Coding was therefore an iterative process, grounded in the data. The NVivo qualitative data analysis software (QSR International LTD, version 8.0 for Windows) was used to help code the data.

The sixteen women ranged in age from 32 to 67 years (Table 2 ). Twelve were white, three were African American, and one was Asian. Six resided in the northeast region of the United States, while three lived in the Midwest, three in the South, and four on the West Coast. Twelve had founded non-profit organizations. Of the other four, two had served as Executive Directors of their organizations, and the remaining two as directors of a program within a larger organization. Therefore, although we had originally intended to use a broader definition of community change agent, our sample consisted predominantly of women who created change through the establishment of a new non-profit organization.

To preserve confidentiality, we discuss their community activities in very general terms. Seven were working to promote physical activity; four were working on programming to help provide access to healthy, affordable food; and five were promoting health more broadly within specific populations (Table 3 ). Seven of the women have organizations with national reach; of these, five had started at the community level and expanded, and the other two have major community-level components. Four organizations have regional impact and five are at the community level. Their primary target sub-populations within the community ranged from young children, to families, to older adults. Their organizations range in size (number of official staff) from 1 to 38. All organizations also have a number of associated unofficial (volunteer) staff.

The path to leadership

The investigators analyzed the women’s stories for transformative events and experiences. Seven of the women spoke of experiencing a fairly sudden flash of insight, or “epiphany”, that led to their successful community leadership. For one woman, the epiphany involved a sudden sense of her own power and how that might be used in the world ( “Once I’d touched on that kind of strength and internal power, I had to do something with it.” )(Founder/Executive Director, South, age 48). Three realized immediately that this epiphany would lead them down a difficult path; the insight was therefore almost an unwelcomed addition to their lives ( “This was going to put me out there in a way that is really hard for me, and it still is hard, still is.” )(Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 58). For two, the epiphany took the form of a sudden clear vision of how things could change.

The discussion guide contained no questions about spirituality, yet in seven of the sixteen interviews this subject arose spontaneously. One woman discussed the concrete actions involved in growing her organization entirely within a story arc describing her steady spiritual evolution. Spiritual growth, in terms of a closer relationship with a higher power and greater self-realization and improvement, led to new aspects of her community work and vice versa . The work was also a vehicle to support the overall growth of others. Another woman also described her path in mainly spiritual terms, as an ability to listen to her intuition, even though this meant that she usually lacked a concrete plan. She realized this was not a traditional path, and that it may even seem unwise, but she credited it with her success in changing her own life and that of others.

" “I really felt like I was hurling myself off the Grand Canyon. But I chose to take the leap, which I think is a key pivotal point for most people and it really goes against human nature to sort of throw yourself off the Grand Canyon and freefall to possibly your death, into this vast unknown, and that’s where I think most people get stuck. To move forward, to move on to the next level of their spiritual path let’s say. But any way I did it .” (Founder/Executive Director, Midwest, age 47)"

For eight of the women, the change occurred more slowly, either through a series of experiences that raised their awareness and conviction, or through making a change in their own lives that essentially snowballed. For example, one woman’s path was catalyzed by observing her husband’s commitment to being physically active, becoming motivated to do likewise herself, obtaining work in the field, and then expanding her work to a community initiative.

Finally, for one woman, a transformative experience occurred with an invitation into a community that was not her own. The relationships that resulted provided her with motivation for taking action. In her story, she described the ways the community overcame hardship and endurance through the best of human traits: generosity, strength, and optimism. Had she not decided to put considerable energies toward creating an organization to help, she would have been denying these most noble human qualities within herself.

Leadership characteristics

The model of leadership that the women articulated was characterized by a strong vision along with a total commitment to that vision and an ability to inspire others to share it.

" “I guess I think of a visionary. Someone who is capable of motivating others. Someone who can put their own needs aside for the greater good. Someone who can teach and inspire others to also lead. Who can I guess bring people to action.” (Executive Director, West, age 67)"

The leadership qualities the women generally felt they possessed were related to their ability to carry out their vision. When the investigator asked women which characteristics of a good leader they believed they possessed, persistence and passion emerged as strong themes.

" “…When I first got there they said no fruits and vegetables. They said, ‘they won’t eat it.’ And I said, ‘Who says so? They’re going to eat it! You wait!’ It took me two to three years for them to start eating all those salads, but they did.” (Program Director, Northeast, age 54)"

" “But to me, one of the secrets of my success is not to let obstacles stop me. There are a lot of people who have a lot of good ideas and work very hard. But some obstacles seem insurmountable, and it’s easy to just say, ‘This is too much. It’s impossible. I’ve tried this and it’s impossible.’ That is something that I will not do, would not do…” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 62)"

Communications skills, compassion, humility, patience, and strength also emerged as key characteristics.

" “I’m very, very good, excellent at public speaking. Telling stories. That has been a gift…I’m so passionate about what I’m doing that I’ve never felt any fear about standing up in front of 10 people, or 1000, just to share the vision for what we’re trying to accomplish here.” (Founder/Executive Director, South, age 48)"

" “I would say the primary [characteristic] is being able to listen. I think that’s something that I’ve gotten better at over the years and I think I was a much worse leader when I was younger. Because I was so convinced that my view and my goals and my plans and vision was right. I would find ways to overcome any obstacles, but that sometimes meant not listening to people who had a different point of view. So I think I’ve learned to be a much better listener, and I think that is really good.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 67)"

" “Humility, I think is the biggest thing for me that comes to mind. I think strength, vision, coupled with humility and knowing that however much of a vision you think you have, knowing and understanding that you may not have it all and being open to criticism, being open to input, being open to other ideas.” (Executive Director, West, age 45)"

While many of the women identified these qualities as important to leadership, and particularly their own leadership, they did not necessarily consider themselves to be leaders. Several women noted that they lacked traditional leadership qualities. They were not particularly astute managers, nor were they especially charismatic.

" “Kind of funny, what comes to mind is not me. That can kind of be my fault, is that I don’t always look at myself as a leader.” (Founder/Executive Director, Midwest, age 38)"

" “Well, I am not charismatic and I’ve never been told that I am. I think that would be a good quality.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 62)"

None of the questions asked specifically about being a female leader, and only one woman brought up the topic spontaneously. This woman, whose organization addresses physical activity but who had worked on similar issues outside of the public health sector for many years, felt that she had been denied access to opportunities because of her gender. Ultimately, however, this had allowed her to take a less traditional approach which has benefited her.

" “I have felt in the past that opportunities passed me by because they were looking for men…And in some ways maybe that freed me up, so that I…have this unconventional approach…I really did things my own way…When people first think about leadership, they turn to men, and being a female leader has been a little different course.” (Executive Director, South, age 48)"

Fostering leadership

No clear themes emerged around the use of traditional methods for enhancing leadership, such as workshops and seminars. Many of the women had used these methods and found them to be helpful. Some said that they would like to improve their leadership in these ways, but had no time or money to do so. Others said they had no use for these traditional methods for enhancing leadership.

" “I have looked into seminars and courses, and usually those things cost money, and I haven’t really been willing to spend the organization’s money on those things.” (Executive Director, West, age 45)"

" “I find those things very boring and tedious. It’s embarrassing to say that I don’t have any interest in that…I feel that it’s something you do and you learn about it by doing it.” (Executive Director, West, age 67)"

The women used books as tools more consistently. Although many of the women had read books specifically about leadership, several said that other types of books had been as useful to them including biographies, books on activism, and self-help books.

" “What helps me is I tend to read a lot of autobiographies. And I feel like really taking people that I admire, and know but don’t know in some way, and catching an honest glimpse of their lives and the mistakes they’ve made or the other things they might regret or the things they excelled in, tends to help me.” (Founder/Executive Director, Midwest, age 47)"

" “I don’t know if any of the books have leadership in the title, but books that touch upon leadership or running or managing – not really managing but activism. Books that encompass leadership but aren’t necessarily about how to be a leader.” (Founder/Executive Director, South, age 34)"

Four of the women had used a leadership coach and found that to be helpful.

" “But I have an executive coach; I have had one for the past couple years, through one of our funders, and he has been fantastic for me.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 32)"

Nearly all of the women indicated that mentoring was critical to their success and their growth as a leader. Although this topic was specifically addressed in the interview guide, it often arose spontaneously very early in the interviews. Several major themes emerged in terms of the role that mentors played. One of the major roles was to inspire the women by what they were doing or had done themselves; these mentors included family members, leaders of other organizations, and historical figures.

" “Quite truthfully, my mother, but not from the sense of her being my mother but the challenges that she has dealt with…Just because her hearing is really limited, yet she taught English for, I don’t even know, 20 years. And then continued to move up to administration, and when she retired she was the principal of a school. And so from witnessing that you just keep on going and you don’t take ‘no’ for an answer and you don’t let something that could easily hinder you or give you a reason to change course – you just focus on your course and make it happen.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 37)"

" “I think just generally speaking, it sounds awfully cliché, I think a lot of the leadership that was provided during the Civil Rights Movement, particularly from Bobby Kennedy and certainly Martin Luther King. I think their consciousness around the work of movement building is something that I admire…But I would say more from an abstract or conceptual perspective than a sort of attempt to mirror directly in my own behavior.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 32)"

Mentors also demonstrated a strong belief in the women leaders, and helped push them to realize their fullest potential, as well as offering specific advice. These mentors often included older women and/or business entrepreneurs, with whom the women had a relatively close relationship.

" “She has seen consistently in me attributes that I haven’t even seen in myself sometimes. I can count on her to push me to do things that I [thought I] couldn’t do. That I couldn’t see. And discover, I can do this.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 58)"

" “So he’s been able to really give me a lot of great advice as far as marketing myself, marketing my organization, kind of overcoming that humbleness, which as I said can be a fault at times…So he’s really helped me come out of my shell a lot more.” (Founder/Executive Director, Midwest, age 38)"

Motivations and definitions of success

The women defined success primarily as the ability to change the lives of others. This is also what kept them motivated to do their work, especially as they faced numerous challenges. The women were not particularly motivated by money or the size of their organizations. Although they appreciated being recognized for their work, prestige did not drive them.

" “So for me, impact is changed lives. Healed bodies, minds, spirits. Especially women who begin to glimpse who they are and go forth. That really matters to me.” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 58)"

" “It’s hideous to have to try and raise a million dollars every year, six million dollars to build a building you need and if that’s not where your gifts are, it is the tough part. But the offsetting pleasure of seeing people enjoy themselves and benefit from what they are doing…People who were sedentary and now they can get up and take a walk and they make new friends, and now they are hiking, and now they are skiing. It’s a thrilling business and I just love that. To see people blossom in all kinds of ways.” (Executive Director, West, age 67)"

" “But I would say that more concretely is when I actually see a change in the individuals that we work with. So to our youth training program, to actually see the penny drop, to see people shift in terms of how they view food as a social justice issue, in terms of how they suddenly see their own role in the world, in terms of not just having to be receivers of whatever is handed out to them, but being an agent of change. I think that’s what keeps me motivated.” (Executive Director, West, age 45)"

The women’s other measures of success included having changed policy and supporting a healthy, thriving, sustainable organization.

" “An then just little successes like we work on things that are related to policy change or environmental change that changes the conditions in which people live, to make the healthy choice the default option, the easier choice, the thing that just happens. So when I get those little successes, that really makes me feel like, wow, if I hadn’t done that then that wouldn’t have happened. That’s pretty cool!” (Program Director, Midwest, age 53)"

" “The big, hairy idea of success is that, you know, we’ll build a movement, and we’ll do a national direct service program, and then on the shoulders of that, a training program that serves even more kids, and then on the shoulders of that, an advocacy and policy sort of approach that creates a system where the expectation is that kids have access to healthy, safe play.” (Founder/Executive Director, West, age 44)"

" “I would say there would be some measure of success when I am able to leave and other young people from the neighborhood are running the work, which is what we’re planning, that process and that transition now. When that happens, then I’ll feel like yes, I did something right.” (Executive Director, West, age 45)"

The women identified the support of others, particularly family members, as an important factor in achieving success as they defined it.

" “I would say my family. The support of my husband and my own children. I think that’s what keeps me going. They remind me of – when I’m feeling maybe a personal failure, or worried, or whatever about anything with [program], they’re the ones that remind me to keep going and that great things are happening.” (Founder/Executive Director, Midwest, age 38)"

The women faced a common set of challenges. Not surprisingly, obtaining adequate funding was one of these.

" “It’s not easy, especially at the beginning, especially in the first 3 or 4 years to go and say, ‘Please give me a lot of money, and this is my idea, I’m going to make it work.’” (Founder/Executive Director, Northeast, age 62)"

A shared strategy for overcoming this challenge was conducting thorough research. This allowed the women to demonstrate their mastery of the issue, and it also allowed them to find the best ways to position their cause so that it would resonate with potential funders.

" “I know how to approach people and do my elevator speech. I understand what I’m doing. I’ve done a lot of research…” (Founder/Executive Director, West, age 63)"

The women identified organizational growth as another common challenge. Success brought with it difficulty in staying true to an original mission, as well as a changing culture, as the programs and organizations grew from a few highly dedicated people to a more organized (and sometimes hierarchical) structure.

" “It was not easy. So there were some times where I was afraid we were getting a little too far from our mission. Lots of sleepless nights. Oh my gosh. Trying to figure out how to bring it back.” (Founder/Executive Director, South, age 48)"

Women noted that overcoming challenges often involved being able to recognize their own limitations and bringing in personnel to complement their skills. This meant letting go of some control. While initially this may have been a painful process, ultimately it fit with the women’s own definitions of leadership, which included the empowerment of others.

" “I would say that would be the defining characteristic of the way most obstacles around here get solved, is that I get out of the way (laughs)… I had to come to terms with the fact that I’m a great leader, but I’m not a particularly astute manager. I had to really recognize that if we were going to achieve scale, that we needed to bring in folks who really focused on managing others. That was hard… So, yeah, I think stepping out of the way and letting other people really play to their strengths.” (Founder/Executive Director, West, age 44)"

In the past decade, there has been increasing recognition that improvement in public health, and in the food and physical activity environments specifically, can and will occur through community-level change, and that leadership plays a key role in bringing about this change [ 7 ]. When leaders are an integral part of their communities, they bring a deep understanding of what is most needed and feasible within their own specific contexts. This study helps elucidate that these successful women leaders share the transformational model of leadership and suggests ways to train and nurture other women leaders so that they will be maximally effective in creating change.

Women leaders in public health: Comparison with existing literature

The model of leadership that emerges from this work is consistent with previous work [ 8 , 16 , 18 ] and with the transformational leadership model. The latter consists of four components [ 32 ]. The first is Idealized Influence, which has two aspects: characteristics such as high levels of integrity that garner the respect, trust, and admiration of followers, and behaviors such as communicating a collective mission and purpose. This aligns with the leaders’ descriptions of themselves as visionaries with the ability to communicate their vision. The second component of the model is Inspirational Motivation, which involves motivating followers by expressing enthusiasm and optimism for a potentially improved future state. This is reflected in the strong theme that emerged around inspiring others around a vision. The third component is Intellectual Stimulation, which involves stimulating creativity and finding new ways to address old problems. Each of our leaders had developed a unique approach to addressing a community issue, and most had founded a non-profit organization to implement their new approach. However, an aspect of this component is the ability to stimulate creativity in others, which was not evident in our results. The final component of the transformational leadership model is Individualized Consideration. Leaders foster follower’s growth by attending to individual needs and serving as a coach or mentor. Although the responses of leaders in our study provide no direct evidence for this component, they did emphasize communications and listening, and defined success in part by whether they had changed the lives of the people they worked with in addition to those served by their organization.

Most of the leaders’ non-profit organizations worked across sectors, involving government and/or business to make environmental and policy changes. Although research on integrative leaders is relatively new, there is a growing consensus on the qualities and behaviors possessed by these leaders, some of which emerged in this study. Consistent with the transformational leadership model, these qualities include creating and communicating a shared vision [ 25 , 33 – 35 ], being innovative, taking risks, and expressing dissatisfaction with the status quo [ 33 , 36 ]. Effective integrative leaders also appear to have highly developed relational skills, with an ability to establish shared meanings, listen actively, build trust, and manage conflict [ 33 , 37 ], characteristics that did not emerge as strong themes in this study. Some evidence suggests that leaders may exhibit more relational skills when leading within collaborations and networks than when leading solely within their own organizations [ 37 ]. Given the questioning structure in this study, it is likely that participants’ responses reflected their organizational rather than their collaborative leadership. Future studies may specifically investigate the role of women leaders in cross-sector work related to improving the food and physical activity environments, as well as the leadership characteristics and behaviors related to this work.

The results of this study have implications for the role of gender in leadership style in a sector outside of business or education. These women, who were largely able to define their own organizational role, gravitated toward a leadership style (transformational) that does not conflict with gender roles. This is consistent with research that suggests that certain gender-role specific traits remain despite organizational role [ 38 ]. However, it is also possible that these leaders were reflecting general trends toward a more transformational style, considered to be more effective in the current culture [ 32 ]. Further research in this area will help elucidate the relative importance of organizational versus gender roles in leadership style in the public health sector.

Several of the self-described characteristics that emerged in this study, such as compassion, humility, and patience, are consistent with a communal style that is more stereotypically female. However, the leaders also described themselves as being persistent and passionate, qualities related to confidence and ambition, which are more stereotypically male as well as more consistent with cultural stereotypes of leadership [ 39 ]. Similar themes emerged in a qualitative study with high achieving African American and white women across ten fields [ 40 ]. Although these women described themselves as possessing several stereotypically male traits, such as persistence, they did not appear to deny or downplay their more stereotypically feminine qualities in order to succeed.

Training and nurturing future leaders

Our results suggest ways to train and nurture women leaders in public health. It is important to first understand the best ways reach these leaders. It would be important to differentiate any offered workshops and to emphasize in promotional materials that the investment of time and money would translate to increased effectiveness in changing lives. Our results also suggest that a book may be an attractive leadership tool, and that it might be most compelling if it emphasized purpose – to provide both inspiration and practical support in effectively carrying out a vision for creating change – rather than on traditional leadership.

Community change leadership tools could also include information and ideas for overcoming the most common challenges in this arena: fundraising and organizational growth. With respect to fundraising, several of the women described the benefits of doing detailed research on their topic and having the evidence at hand. Skill-building around database searches and literature reviews (areas that academics are particularly well-suited to assist with) would streamline this process. The tool might also include information on the stages of organizational growth, the anticipated challenges at each stage, and lessons learned from other leaders on how to best address those challenges.

Our results also suggest ways to best nurture women leaders in public health. Receiving mentoring was critical to the women leaders in our study. A leadership tool could provide information on identifying appropriate mentors to fulfill several key roles. The tool could also provide support for self-care, which might include putting a robust personal support network in place, encouraging spiritual growth (if appropriate), and making the most of motivating factors – by, for instance, deliberately collecting stories of the lives that had been changed through their work.

Limitations and implications

As with any type of qualitative research, the generalizability of these findings may be limited. However, we were able to achieve diversity in terms of ethnicity, geographic location, and types of community health issues addressed. We believe that the results generalize reasonably well to women leaders who are creating change within their communities to improve public health.

This study was conducted by female researchers on female leaders. We attempted to minimize any potential effects of our own biases by adhering to the questioning route as strictly as was reasonable in a qualitative study. We also conducted the analysis using software as a tool so that the data could be examined more objectively, and we worked as a team so that interpretation did not rely on a single person. However, results may still reflect our own biases. It is also possible that the leaders responded to us differently than they would have to male researchers.

In this qualitative study, leadership characteristics are measured by self-report. The study might have been strengthened by obtaining feedback from staff and volunteers as well. Finally, this study is limited by the lack of a comparison group, which would be comprised of similar community leaders who had not met our definition of success. Because of this, we are not able to conclude that the characteristics that emerged are specifically associated with success. However, we report the characteristics that emerged strongly and consistently among a diverse sample of successful women leaders. Furthermore, these characteristics are consistent with those observed in other studies of successful community leaders.

This research was designed to elucidate women’s leadership characteristics, but not to compare and contrast them with men’s. With these results serving as a base, future studies may include this type of analysis, for example comparing results of men and women in similar public health leadership positions on the validated Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, which is designed to distinguish between transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership styles [ 41 ]. Further studies may also involve creating and evaluating a leadership tool designed to train women leaders in public health.

This research confirms the important role that community leaders play in improving public health. The sixteen women interviewed have made important contributions, from the development of physical activity programs for children to the creation of coalitions that have ultimately affected national policy on active transportation. Collectively, they have helped to improve the health of thousands of people. With the increased use of social ecological approaches to address the obesity epidemic as well as other major public health issues, leadership is likely to be a key factor, and including a leadership component may greatly enhance future interventions. This research helps elucidate a model of public health leadership for women, as well as suggesting ways to best train and nurture leaders so that they may be maximally effective at creating change within their communities and beyond.

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This research was funded through a grant from the Pierre and Pamela Omidyar Fund. The funder played no role in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data, writing of the manuscript, nor in the decision to submit for publication. The authors wish to thank Adee Viskin, Zhanglin Kong, and Eleanor Heidkamp-Young for their assistance with identifying leaders and with transcription.

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Folta, S.C., Seguin, R.A., Ackerman, J. et al. A qualitative study of leadership characteristics among women who catalyze positive community change. BMC Public Health 12 , 383 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-383

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Leadership Research Paper

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I. Introduction

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II. Leadership Defined

III. The Trait Approach to Leadership

IV. What Do Leaders Do? The Behavioral Approach

V. Situational Approaches to Leadership

VI. Contingency Theories of Leadership

VII. Leader-Member Exchange Theory

VIII. Charismatic and Transformational Leadership

IX. Leader Emergence and Transition

X. Leadership Development

XI. Summary

XII. Bibliography

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Introduction

There are few things more important to human activity than leadership. Most people, regardless of their occupation, education, political or religious beliefs, or cultural orientation, recognize that leadership is a real and vastly consequential phenomenon. Political candidates proclaim it, pundits discuss it, companies value it, and military organizations depend on it. The French diplomat Talleyrand once said, “I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep.” Effective leadership guides nations in times of peril, promotes effective team and group performance, makes organizations successful, and, in the form of parenting, nurtures the next generation. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, was able to galvanize the resolve of his embattled people with these words: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” When leadership is missing, the effects can be equally dramatic; organizations move too slowly, stagnate, and often lose their way. The League of Nations, created after the World War I, failed to meet the challenges of the times in large part because of a failure to secure effective leadership. With regard to bad leaders, Kellerman (2004) makes an important distinction between incompetent leaders and corrupt leaders. To this we might also add leaders who are “toxic.” Bad leadership can perpetuate misery on those who are subject to its domain. Consider the case of Jim Jones, the leader of the Peoples Temple, who in 1978 ordered the mass suicide of his 900 followers in what has been called the Jonestown Massacre, or the corrupt leadership of Enron and Arthur Anderson that impoverished thousands of workers and led to the dissolution of a major organization. These examples remind us that there are many ways in which leadership can fail.

Leadership Defined

When you think of leadership, the ideas of power, authority, and influence may come to mind. You may think of the actions of effective leaders in accomplishing important goals. You may think of actual people who have been recognized for their leadership capabilities. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, defined leadership as “the ability to decide what is to be done, and then to get others to want to do it.” Leadership can be defined as the ability of an individual to influence the thoughts, attitudes, and behavior of others. It is the process by which others are motivated to contribute to the success of the groups of which they are members. Leaders set a direction for their followers and help them to focus their energies on achieving their goals. Theorists have developed many different theories about leadership, and although none of the theories completely explains everything about leadership, each has received some scientific support. Some of the theories are based on the idea that there are “born leaders” with particular traits that contribute to their ability to lead. Other theories suggest that leadership consists of specific skills and behaviors. Some theories take a contingency approach that suggests that a leader’s effectiveness depends on the situation requiring leadership. Still other theories examine the relationship between the leader and his or her followers as the key to understanding leadership. In this research paper, we examine these various theories and describe the process of leadership development.

The Trait Approach to Leadership

Aristotle suggested that “men are marked out from the moment of birth to rule or be ruled,” an idea that evolved into the Great Person Theory. Great leaders of the past do seem different from ordinary human beings. When we consider the lives of Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., it is easy to think of their influence as a function of unique personal attributes. This trait approach was one of the first perspectives applied to the study of leadership and for many years dominated leadership research. The list of traits associated with effective leadership is extensive and includes personality characteristics such as being outgoing, assertive, and conscientious. Other traits that have been identified are confidence, integrity, discipline, courage, self-sufficiency, humor, and mystery. Charles de Gaulle described this last trait best when he noted that “A true leader always keeps an element of surprise up his sleeve, which others cannot grasp but which keeps his public excited and breathless.”

Another trait often attributed to effective leaders is intelligence. However, intelligence is a two-edged sword. Although highly intelligent people may be effective leaders, their followers may feel that large differences in intellectual abilities mean large differences in attitudes, values, and interests. Thus, Gibb (1969) has pointed out that many groups prefer to be “ill-governed by people [they] can understand” (p. 218). One important aspect of intelligence that does predict leader effectiveness is emotional intelligence, which includes not only social skills but strong self-monitoring skills, which provide the leader with feedback as to how followers feel about the leader’s actions.

Finally, personal characteristics such as attractiveness, height, and poise are associated with effective leadership. After decades of research, in which the list of traits grew dramatically, researchers realized that the same person could be effective in one context (Winston Churchill as war leader) but ineffective in another context (Winston Churchill, who was removed from office immediately after the war was over). The failure of this approach to recognize the importance of the situation in providing clear distinctions between leaders and followers with regard to their traits caused many scientists to turn their attention elsewhere. However, theorists using more sophisticated methodological and conceptual approaches have revived this approach. Zaccaro (2007) suggests that the revival of the trait approach reflects a shift away from the idea that traits are inherited, as suggested in Galton’s 1869 book Hereditary Genius, and focuses on personal characteristics that reflect a range of acquired individual differences. This approach has three components. First, researchers do not consider traits as separate and distinct contributors to leadership effectiveness but rather as a constellation of characteristics that, taken together, make a good leader.

The second component broadens the concept of trait to refer not only to personality characteristics but also to motives, values, social and problem-solving skills, cognitive abilities, and expertise. For example, in a series of classic studies, McClelland and his colleagues (see McClelland & Boyatzis, 1982) identified three motives that contribute to leadership. They are the need for achievement, the need for power, and the need for affiliation. In their work, leader traits are not attributes of the person but the basis for the leader’s behavior. The need for achievement is manifested in the desire to solve problems and accomplish tasks. In the words of Donald McGannon, “Leadership is action, not position.” The need for power is evident in the desire to influence others without using coercion. As Hubert H. Humphrey once said, “Leadership in today’s world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.” The final motive, need for affiliation, can be a detriment to effective leadership if the leader becomes too concerned with being liked. However, it can provide positive results from the satisfaction a leader derives in helping others succeed. Lao Tse once wrote, “A good leader is a catalyst, and though things would not get done well if he weren’t there, when they succeed he takes no credit. And because he takes no credit, credit never leaves him.”

The third component of this new approach focuses on attributes that both are enduring and occur across a variety of situations. For example, there is strong empirical support for the trait approach when traits are organized according to the five-factor model of personality. Both extraversion and conscientiousness are highly correlated with leader success and, to a lesser extent, so are openness to experience and the lack of neuroticism.

What Do Leaders Do? The Behavioral Approach

Three major schools of thought—the Ohio State Studies, Theory X/Y (McGregor, 1960), and the Managerial Grid (Blake & Mouton, 1984)—have all suggested that differences in leader effectiveness are directly related to the degree to which the leader is task oriented versus person oriented. Task-oriented leaders focus on the group’s work and its goals. They define and structure the roles of their subordinates in order to best obtain organizational goals. Task-oriented leaders set standards and objectives, define responsibilities, evaluate employees, and monitor compliance with their directives. In the Ohio State studies this was referred to as initiating structure, whereas McGregor (1960) refers to it as Theory X, and the Managerial Grid calls it task-centered. Harry S. Truman, 33rd president of the United States, once wrote, “A leader is a man who can persuade people to do what they don’t want to do, or do what they’re too lazy to do, and like it.” Task-oriented leaders often see their followers as undisciplined, lazy, extrinsically motivated, and irresponsible. For these leaders, leadership consists of giving direction, setting goals, and making unilateral decisions. When under pressure, task-oriented leaders become anxious, defensive, and domineering.

In contrast, person-oriented leaders tend to act in a warm and supportive manner, showing concern for the well-being of their followers. Person-oriented leaders boost morale, take steps to reduce conflict, establish rapport with group members, and provide encouragement for obtaining the group’s goals. The Ohio State studies referred to this as consideration, the Managerial Grid calls this country club leadership, and McGregor uses the term Theory Y. Person-oriented leaders see their followers as responsible, self-controlled, and intrinsically motivated. As a result, they are more likely to consult with others before making decisions, praise the accomplishment of their followers, and be less directive in their supervision. Under pressure, person-oriented leaders tend to withdraw socially.

Leadership effectiveness can be gauged in several ways: employee performance, turnover, and dissatisfaction. As you can see in Table 68.1, the most effective leaders are those who are both task and person oriented, whereas the least effective leaders are those who are neither task nor person oriented. A recent meta-analysis found that person-oriented leadership consistently improves group morale, motivation, and job satisfaction, whereas task-oriented leadership only sometimes improves group performance, depending on the types of groups and situations.

In thinking about what leaders do, it is important to distinguish between leadership and management. Warren Bennis (1989) stated, “To survive in the twenty-first century, we are going to need a new generation of leaders— leaders, not managers.” He points out that managers focus on “doing things right” whereas leaders focus on “doing the right things.” Table 68.2 provides a comparison of the characteristics that distinguish a leader from a manager. As you look at the list, it is clear that a person can be a leader without being a manager and be a manager without being a leader.

Situational Approaches to Leadership

The Great Person theory of leadership, represented by such theorists as Sigmund Freud, Thomas Carlyle, and Max Weber, suggests that from time to time, highly capable, talented, charismatic figures emerge, captivate a host of followers, and change history. In contrast to this, Hegel, Marx, and Durkheim suggest that there is a tide running in human affairs, defined by history or the economy, and that leaders are those who ride the tide. The idea of the tide leads us to the role of situational factors in leadership. For example, Perrow (1970) suggests that leadership effectiveness is dependent upon structural aspects of the organization. Longitudinal studies of organizational effectiveness provide support for this idea. For example, Pfeffer (1997) indicated that “If one cannot observe differences when leaders change, then what does it matter who occupies the positions or how they behave?” (p. 108). Vroom and Jago (2007) have identified three distinct roles that situational factors play in leadership effectiveness. First, organizational effectiveness is not strictly a result of good leadership practices. Situational factors beyond the control of the leader often affect the outcomes of any group effort. Whereas leaders, be they navy admirals or football coaches, receive credit or blame for the activities of their followers, success or failure is often the result of external forces: the actions of others, changing technologies, or environmental conditions. Second, situations shape how leaders act. Although much of the literature on leadership has focused on individual differences, social psychologists such as Phil Zimbardo, in his classic Stanford Prison Experiment, and Stanley Milgram, in his studies of obedience, have demonstrated how important the situation is in determining behavior. Third, situations influence the consequences of leader behavior. Although many popular books on leadership provide a checklist of activities in which the leader should engage, most of these lists disregard the impact of the situation. Vroom and Jago (2007) suggest that the importance of the situation is based on three factors: the limited power of many leaders, the fact that applicants for leadership positions go through a uniform screening process that reduces the extent to which they differ from one another, and whatever differences between them still exist will be overwhelmed by situational demands. If all of these factors are present, it is probably true that the individual differences between leaders will not significantly contribute to their effectiveness. Nevertheless, in most of the situations in which leaders find themselves, they are not that powerless and their effectiveness is mostly a result of matching their skills with the demands of the situation, which brings us to a discussion of contingency theories.

Contingency Theories of Leadership

One of the first psychologists to develop a contingency approach to leadership effectiveness was Fred Fiedler (1964, 1967), who believed that a leader’s style is a result of lifelong experiences that are not easy to change. With this in mind, he suggested that leaders need to understand what their style is and to manipulate the situation so that the two match. Like previous researchers, Fiedler’s idea of leadership style included task orientation and person orientation, although his approach for determining a leader’s orientation was unique. Fiedler developed the least-preferred coworker (LPC) scale. On this scale, individuals rate the person with whom they would least want to work on a variety of characteristics. Individuals who rate their LPC as uniformly negative are considered task oriented, whereas those who differentiate among the characteristics are person oriented. The second part of his contingency theory is the favorableness of the situation. Situational favorability is determined by three factors: the extent to which the task facing the group is structured, the legitimate power of the leader, and the relations between the leader and his subordinates. The relation between LPC scores and group performance is complex, as can be seen in Table 68.3. A meta-analysis conducted by Strube and Garcia (1981) found that task-oriented leaders function best in situations that are either favorable (clear task structure, solid position power, and good leader/member relations) or unfavorable (unclear task structure, weak position power, and poor leader/member relations). In contrast, person-oriented leaders function best in situations that are only moderately favorable, which is often based on the quality of leader-member relations.

Another theory that addresses the relation between leadership style and the situation is path-goal theory (House, 1971). In this theory, path refers to the leader’s behaviors that are most likely to help the group attain a desired outcome or goal. Thus, leaders must exhibit different behaviors to reach different goals, depending on the situation. Four different styles of behavior are described:

• Directive leadership. The leader sets standards of performance and provides guidelines and expectations to subordinates on how to achieve those standards.
• Supportive leadership. The leader expresses concern for the subordinates’ well-being and is supportive of them as individuals, not just as workers.
• Participative leadership. The leader solicits ideas and suggestions from subordinates and invites them to participate in decisions that directly affect them.
• Achievement-oriented leadership. The leader sets challenging goals and encourages subordinates to attain those goals.

According to path-goal theory, effective leaders need all four of these styles because each one produces different results. Which style to use depends on two types of situational factors: subordinate characteristics, including ability, locus of control, and authoritarianism; and environmental characteristics, including the nature of the task, work group, and authority system. According to House and Mitchell (1974), when style and situation are properly matched, there is greater job satisfaction and acceptance of the leader, as well as more effort toward obtaining desired goals. A meta-analysis by Indvik (1986) is generally supportive of the theory. Studies of seven organizations found that task-oriented approaches are effective in situations with low task structure, because they help subordinates cope with an ambiguous situation, and ineffective in situations with high task structure, because they appear to be micromanagement. Additional studies have found that supportive leadership is most effective when subordinates are working on stressful, frustrating, or dissatisfying tasks. Researchers found participative leadership to be most effective when subordinates were engaged in nonrepetitive, ego-involving tasks. Finally, achievement-oriented leadership was most effective when subordinates were engaged in ambiguous, nonrepetitive tasks. A clear implication of the theory is that leaders must diagnose the situation before adopting a particular leadership style.

A third contingency approach is the normative and descriptive model of leadership and decision making developed by Vroom and his colleagues (see Vroom & Jago, 2007). This approach examines the extent to which leaders should involve their subordinates in decision-making processes. To answer this question, the researchers developed a matrix that outlines the five decision processes that range from highly autocratic through consultative to highly participative (see Table 68.4). Which of these approaches is the best? The answer is none of them is uniformly preferred, and each process has different costs and benefits. For example, participative approaches are more likely to gain support and acceptance among subordinates for the leader’s ideas, whereas autocratic approaches are quick and efficient, but may cause resentment. The theory suggests that the best approach may be selected by answering several basic questions about the situation that relate to the quality and acceptance of a decision. Some examples of the type of questions that should be asked are “Do I have enough information to make a decision? How structured is the task? Must subordinates accept the decision to make it work?” By answering such questions and applying the specific rules shown in Table 68.5, a leader is able to eliminate approaches that are likely to fail and to choose the approach that seems most feasible from those remaining.

Leader-Member Exchange Theory

A growing number of researchers have found that subordinates may affect leaders as much as leaders affect subordinates. Yukl (1998) pointed out that when subordinates perform poorly, leaders tend to be more task oriented, but when subordinates perform well, leaders are more person oriented. Similarly, Miller, Butler, and Cosentino (2004) found that the effectiveness of followers conformed to the same rules as those Fiedler applied to leaders. It may be that the productivity of a group can have a greater impact on leadership style than leadership style does on the productivity of the group. This reciprocal relation has been formally recognized in the vertical dyad linkage approach (Dansereau, Graen, & Haga, 1975), now commonly referred to as leader-member exchange (LMX) theory (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995). This theory describes how leaders maintain their influence by treating individual followers differently. Over time, leaders develop a special relationship with an inner circle of trusted lieutenants, assistants and advisors—the in-group. The members of the in-group are given high levels of responsibility, influence over decision making, and access to resources. Members of the in-group typically are those who are highly committed to the organization, work harder, show loyalty to the leader, and share more administrative duties. Their reward is greater access to the leader’s resources, including information, concern, and confidence. To maintain the exchange, leaders must be careful to nurture the relationship with the in-group, giving them sufficient power to satisfy their needs but not so much power that they become independent. The leader-member relationship generally follows three stages. The first stage is role taking. During this stage the leader assesses the members’ abilities and talents and offers them opportunities to demonstrate their capabilities and commitment. In this stage, both the leader and member discover how the other wants to be respected. The second stage is role making. In this stage, the leader and member take part in unstructured and informal negotiations in order to create a role for the member with a tacit promise of benefits and power in return for dedication and loyalty. In this stage, trust building is very important, and betrayal in any form can result in the member’s being relegated to the out-group. In this stage the leader and member explore relationship factors as well as work-related factors. At this stage, it is clear that perceived similarities between the leader and follower become important. For this reason, a leader may favor a member who is similar in sex, race, or outlook with assignment to the in-group, although research by Murphy and Ensher (1999) indicated that the perception of similarity is more important than actual demographic similarities. The final stage is routinization. In this phase the pattern established by the leader and member becomes established.

The quality of the leader-member relationship is dependent on several factors. It tends to be better when the challenge of the job is either extremely high or extremely low. Other factors that affect the quality of the relationship are the size of the group, availability of resources, and overall workload.

Charismatic and Transformational Leadership

In a speech given at the University of Maryland, Warren Bennis said, “[A] leader has to be able to change an organization that is dreamless, soulless and visionless…someone’s got to make a wake-up call. The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization.…Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.” Effective leaders are able to project a vision, explaining to their subordinates the purpose, meaning, and significance of their efforts. As Napoleon once said, “Leaders are dealers in hope.” Although the idea of charismatic leadership goes back as far as biblical times (“Where there is no vision, the people perish”—Proverbs 29:18), its modern development can be attributed to the work of Robert House. House (1977) analyzed political and religious leaders and noted that charismatic leaders are those high in self-confidence and confidence in their subordinates, with high expectations, a clear vision of what can be accomplished, and a willingness to use personal examples. Their followers often identify with the leader and his or her mission, show unswerving loyalty toward and confidence in the leader, and derive a sense of self-esteem from their association with the leader. Charismatic leaders are usually quite articulate, with superior debating and persuasive skills. They also possess the technical expertise to understand what their followers must do. Charismatic leaders usually have high self-confidence, impression-management skills, social sensitivity, and empathy. Finally, they have the skills to promote attitudinal, behavioral, and emotional change in their followers. Those who follow charismatic leaders are often surprised at how much they are able to accomplish that extends beyond their own expectations. Research on charismatic leadership indicates that the impact of such leaders is greatest when the followers engage in high self-monitoring (observing their effect on others) and exhibit high levels of self-awareness. Charismatic leadership enhances followers’ cooperation and motivation.

It is important to recognize that charismatic leadership can have a dark side. We began this research paper with the example of Jim Jones, the charismatic religious leader who led his people to commit mass suicide. Howell and Avolio (1992) describe the difference between ethical and unethical charismatic leaders. According to their analysis, ethical leaders use their power to serve others, not for personal gain. They also promote a vision that aligns with their follower’s needs and aspirations rather than with their own personal vision. Ethical leaders stimulate followers to think independently and to question the leader’s views. They engage in open, two-way communication and are sensitive to their followers’ needs. Finally, ethical leaders rely on internal moral standards to satisfy organizational and societal interests, not their own self-interests.

In helping followers achieve their aspirations, Bernard Bass (1997) has noted that charismatic leadership is a component of a broader-based concept, that of transformational leadership. Bass believed that most leaders are transactional rather than transformational in that they approach their relationships with followers as a transaction, one in which they define expectations and offer rewards that will be forthcoming when those expectations are met. Transactional leaders use a contingent reward system, manage by exception, watch followers to catch them doing something wrong, and intervene only when standards are not met. Finally, transactional leaders tend to adopt a laissez-faire approach by avoiding the need to make hard decisions.

In contrast, transformational leadership goes beyond mutually satisfactory agreements about rewards and punishments to heighten followers’ motivation, confidence, and satisfaction by uniting them in the pursuit of shared, challenging goals. In the process of doing that, they change their followers’ beliefs, values, and needs. Bass and Avolio (1994) identified four components of transformational leadership. The first component is idealized influence (charisma). Leaders provide vision, a sense of mission, and their trust in their followers. Leaders take stands on difficult issues and urge their followers to follow suit. They emphasize the importance of purpose, commitment, and ethical decision making. The second component is inspirational motivation. Leaders communicate high expectations, express important purposes in easy-to-understand ways, talk optimistically and enthusiastically about the tasks facing the organization, and provide encouragement and meaning for what has to be done. They often use symbols to focus the efforts of their followers. The third component is intellectual stimulation. Leaders promote thoughtful, rational, and careful decision making. They stimulate others to discard outmoded assumptions and beliefs and to explore new perspectives and ways of doing things. The fourth component is individualized consideration. Leaders give their followers personal attention and treat each person individually. They listen attentively and consider the individual needs, abilities, and goals of their followers in their decisions. In order to enhance the development of their followers they advise, teach, and coach, as needed. Yukl (2002) offers the following guidelines for transformational leadership:

• Develop a clear and appealing vision.
• Create a strategy for attaining the vision.
• Articulate and promote the vision.
• Act confident and optimistic.
• Express confidence in followers.
• Use early success in achievable tasks to build confidence.
• Celebrate your followers’ successes.
• Use dramatic, symbolic actions to emphasize key values.
• Model the behaviors you want followers to adopt.
• Create or modify cultural forms as symbols, slogans, or ceremonies.

Perhaps Walter Lippman provided the best summary of transformational leadership. He wrote, “The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on…” The genius of good leaders is to leave behind them a situation that common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

Leader Emergence and Transition

Who becomes the leader? The process by which someone becomes formally or informally, perceptually or behaviorally, and implicitly or explicitly recognized as a leader is leadership emergence. Scholars have debated this question for centuries and in this research paper, so far, we have offered several possible answers. The Great Person Theory suggests that some people are marked for greatness and dominate the times in which they live. Tolstoy’s zeitgeist theory suggests that leaders come to prominence because of the spirit of the times. Trait theories suggest leaders are selected based on their personal characteristics, whereas interactional approaches examine the joint effects of the situation and the leader’s behavior. Research suggests that leadership emergence is an orderly process that reflects a rational group process whereby the individual with the most skill or experience or intelligence or capabilities takes charge. Implicit leadership theories (Lord & Maher, 1991) provide a cognitive explanation for leadership emergence. According to these theories, each member of a group comes to the group with a set of expectations and beliefs about leaders and leadership. These cognitive structures are called implicit leadership theories or leader prototypes. Typically these prototypes include both task and relationship skills as well as an expectation that the leader will epitomize the core values of the group. Members use their implicit theories to sort people into either leaders or followers based on the extent to which others conform to their implicit theory of what a leader should be. These implicit theories also guide members in their evaluations of the leader’s effectiveness. Because these theories are implicit, they are rarely subjected to critical scrutiny. As a result, it is not uncommon for followers to demonstrate a bias toward those who fit the mold of a traditional leader: White, male, tall, and vocal, regardless of the qualifications of that individual to be the leader.

Transition, rotation, succession, change of command; all are words used to describe a central facet of organizational leadership—that leaders follow one another. Despite the frequent occurrence of leader successions in nearly all groups, especially in large stable organizations, relatively little research has addressed this phenomenon. An early review by Gibb (1969) reported on studies of leader emergence and succession mode. In particular, Gibb noted the importance of establishing leadership/followership through early, shared, significant experiences; he also stressed that an important aspect of the organizational climate for the new leader derives from the policies of the former leader, the consequence of which shape followers’ expectations, morale, and interpersonal relations. In general, studies have demonstrated that leadership succession causes turbulence and instability resulting in performance decrements in most organizations and thus constitutes a major challenge to organizations. Thus, the process of becoming the new leader is often an arduous, albeit rewarding, journey of learning and self-development. The trials involved in this rite of passage have serious consequences for both the individual and the organization. As organizations have become leaner and more dynamic, new leaders have described a transition that gets more difficult all the time. To make the transition less difficult, leaders might attend to the following suggestions adapted from the works of Betty Price, a management consultant. Some of these suggestions are particularly important for newly appointed leaders in establishing an effective leadership style early in their tenure as leader.

• New leaders should show passion for their group, its purpose, and its people in order to reassure followers that the new leader is there to make the group better, not to further his or her personal ambitions.
• New leaders should think more strategically than tactically. Look for the big picture and don’t become bogged down in implementation processes.
• New leaders should first learn to listen, and then provide leadership. Leaders should be compelling in their ability to help others embrace the values that drive the group’s success. To do this the new leader must listen intently and provide feedback that demonstrates that he or she has truly heard what others have said.
• New leaders should operate in a learning mode. As the new person on the block, the new leader may be unsure about the reputation of the preceding leader. He or she should honor the insights and knowledge of others, believing that one can learn from everyone. The new leader should engage people purposefully at all levels, knowing that the distance between the front line and senior leadership is often so great that one small piece of information may have tremendous impact.
• New leaders should take particular care in doing what’s right and telling the truth, even if it is painful. One of the first tasks of a new leader is building trust. In the face of uncertainties, being honest, direct, and truthful enables people to move forward with faith. It gives them hope.
• New leaders should encourage their people to take risks in order to achieve their goals, and be prepared to pick up the pieces if they fail. The leader’s role is to cushion the risk by providing support and encouragement, and knowing and drawing from his or her people’s best capabilities.

Leadership Development

Not everyone is born with “the right stuff” or finds himself or herself in just the right situation to demonstrate his or her capacity as a leader. However, anyone can improve his or her leadership skills. The process of training people to function effectively in a leadership role is known as leadership development and it is a multimillion-dollar business. Leadership development programs tend to be of two types: internal programs within an organization, designed to strengthen the organization, and external programs that take the form of seminars, workshops, conferences, and retreats.

Typical of external leadership development programs are the seminars offered by the American Management Association. Their training seminars are held annually in cities across the country and address both general leadership skills as well as strategic leadership. Among the seminars offered in the area of general leadership are critical thinking, storytelling, and team development in a variety of areas such as instructional technology or government. Seminars on strategic leadership address such topics as communication strategies, situational leadership, innovation, emotional intelligence, and coaching.

A second approach to leadership development is a technique known as grid training. The first step in grid training is a grid seminar during which members of an organization’s management team help others in their organization identify their management style as one of four management styles: impoverished management, task management, country-club management, and team management. The second step is training, which varies depending on the leader’s management style. The goal of the training is greater productivity, better decision making, increased morale, and focused culture change in the leader’s unique organizational environment. Grid training is directed toward six key areas: leadership development, team building, conflict resolution, customer service, mergers, and selling solutions.

Internal leadership development programs tend to focus on three major areas: the development of social interaction networks both between people within a given organization and between organizations that work with one another, the development of trusting relationships between leaders and followers, and the development of common values and a shared vision among leaders and followers. There are several techniques that promote these goals. One such technique is 360-degree feedback. This is a process whereby leaders may learn what peers, subordinates, and superiors think of their performance. This kind of feedback can be useful in identifying areas in need of improvement. The strength of the technique is that it provides differing perspectives across a variety of situations that help the leader to understand the perceptions of his or her actions. This practice has become very popular and is currently used by virtually all Fortune 500 companies. Like all forms of assessment, 360-degree feedback is only useful if the leader is willing and able to change his or her behavior as a result of the feedback. To ensure that leaders don’t summarily dismiss feedback that doesn’t suit them, many companies have arranged for face-to-face meetings between the leaders and those who have provided the feedback.

Another form of internal leadership development is networking. As a leadership development tool, networking is designed to reduce the isolation of leaders and help them better understand the organization in which they work. Networking is specifically designed to connect leaders with key personnel who can help them accomplish their everyday tasks. Networking promotes peer relationships and allows individuals with similar concerns and responsibilities to learn from one another ways to better do their job. Research indicates that these peer relationships tend to be long-lasting.

Executive coaching is a method for developing leaders that involves custom-tailored, one-on-one interactions. This method generally follows four steps. It begins with an agreement between the coach and the leader as to the nature of the coaching relationship, to include what is to be done and how it will be done. The second step is an expert’s assessment of the leader’s strengths and weaknesses. The third step provides a comprehensive plan for improvement that is usually shared with the leader’s immediate supervisor. The fourth and final step is the implementation of the plan. Coaching is sometimes a onetime event aimed at addressing a particular concern or it can be an ongoing, continuous process.

Another form of internal leadership development is mentoring. The term mentor can mean many things: a trusted counselor or guide, tutor, coach, master, experienced colleague, or role model. A mentor is usually someone older and more experienced who provides advice and support to a younger, less experienced person (protégé). In general, mentors guide, watch over, and encourage the progress of their protégés. Mentors often pave the way for their protégé’s success by providing opportunities for achievement, nominating them for promotion, and arranging for their recognition. As a form of leadership development, there are several advantages to mentoring. A meta-analysis by Allen, Eby, Poteet, Lima, and Lentz (2004) indicated that individuals who were mentored showed greater organizational commitment, lower turnover, higher career satisfaction, enhanced leadership skills, and a better understanding of their organization.

In the future, leadership is likely to become more group centered as organizations become more decentralized. Other changes will come about as a result of new and emerging technologies. Avolio and his colleagues (2003) refer to this as “e-leadership.” Leadership effectiveness will depend on the leader’s ability to integrate the new technologies into the norms and culture of their organization.

Another change is that the future will most likely see more women break through the “glass ceiling” and take leadership positions. Men are considerably more likely to enact leadership behaviors than are women in studies of leaderless groups, and as a result are more likely to emerge as leaders (Eagly, 1987). Even though women do sometimes emerge as leaders, historically they have been excluded from the highest levels of leadership in both politics and business. This exclusion has been called the glass ceiling. Studies of leadership in organizational settings have found that men and women do not differ significantly in their basic approach to leadership, with equal numbers of task- versus person-oriented leaders. However, women are much more likely to adopt a participative or transformational leadership style whereas men are more likely to be autocratic, laissez-faire, or transactional (Eagly & Johnson, 1990). Women’s leadership styles are more closely associated with group performance as well as subordinate satisfaction, and in time our implicit theories about leadership may very well favor those who adopt such approaches.

Diversity and working in a global economy will provide additional challenges to tomorrow’s leaders. Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) is an extensive international project involving 170 researchers who have gathered data from 18,000 managers in 62 countries (House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorman, & Gupta, 2004). A major goal of the project was to develop societal and organizational measures of culture and leader attributes that were appropriate to use across all cultures. There have been several important findings. In some cultures, leadership is denigrated and regarded with suspicion. People in these cultures often fear that leaders will acquire and abuse power and as a result substantial restraints are placed on the exercise of leadership. Twenty-two leadership traits (e.g., foresight and decisiveness) were identified as being desirable across all cultures. Eight leadership traits (e.g., ruthlessness and irritability) were identified as being universally undesirable. Some leadership traits were dependent upon the culture, including ambition and elitism. Six leadership styles common to many cultures were identified. They are charismatic, self-protective, humane, team oriented, participative, and autonomous. Although the charismatic style is familiar to us, some of the others are not. The self-protective style involves following agreed-upon procedures, being cognizant of the status hierarchy, and saving face. The humane style includes modesty and helping others. The team-oriented style includes collaboration, team building, and diplomacy. The participative style encourages getting the opinions and help of others. The autonomous style involves being independent and making one’s own decisions. Cultures differ in their preferences for these styles. For example, leaders from northern European countries are more participative and less self-protective whereas leaders from southern Asia are more humane and less participative.

Although most of us would agree that leadership is extraordinarily important, research in this field has yet to arrive at a generally accepted definition of what leadership is, create a widely accepted paradigm for studying leadership, or find the best strategies for developing and practicing leadership. Hackman and Wageman (2007) attempted to address this problem by reframing the questions we have been asking about leadership effectiveness, with the hope that these questions will be more informative than many of those asked previously.

• Question 1. Ask NOT “Do leaders make a difference?” but “Under what conditions does leadership matter?” The task here is to examine conceptually and empirically the circumstances under which leadership makes a difference and to distinguish those from the circumstances for which leadership is inconsequential.
• Question 2. Ask NOT “What are the traits that define an effective leader?” but “How do leaders’ personal attributes interact with situational properties to shape outcomes?” This approach will require that we reduce our reliance on both fixed traits and complex contingencies. To do this, we should embrace the idea that there are many different ways to achieve the same outcome.
• Question 3. Ask NOT “Are there common dimensions on which all leaders can be arrayed?” but “Are good and poor leadership qualitatively different phenomena?” Recent research has found that ineffective leaders were not ones who scored low on those dimensions for which good leaders scored high, but rather they exhibited entirely different patterns of behavior than those exhibited by good leaders.
• Question 4. Ask NOT “How do leaders and followers differ from one another?” but “How can leadership models be reframed so they treat all members of a group as leaders and followers?” Although it is clear that to be a leader requires that you have followers, it is equally true that most leaders are at times followers and most followers are at times leaders.
• Question 5. Ask NOT “What should be taught in leadership courses?” but “How can leaders be helped to learn?” Research is needed to understand how leaders learn from their experiences, especially when they are coping with crises (see Avolio, 2007).

In the 21st century, the study of leadership will be increasingly collaborative as researchers from multiple disciplines tackle the questions outlined above. Some of the disciplines that must contribute to the study of leadership include media and communications. In today’s world more and more of the relationships between leaders and followers are not face-to-face but mediated through electronic means.

John Kenneth Galbraith, in his book The Age of Uncertainty, wrote that “All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.” In the special issue of the American Psychologist devoted to leadership, Warren Bennis (2007) suggests that the four most important threats facing our world today are these: (a) a nuclear or biological catastrophe; (b) a worldwide pandemic; (c) tribalism and its cruel offspring, assimilation; and (d) leadership of our human institutions. He points out that solving the first three problems will not be possible without exemplary leadership and that an understanding of how to develop such leadership will have serious consequences for the quality of our health and our lives.

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Leadership Survey Questions: Top 20 Questions, Definition, Survey Design and Tips

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Leadership Survey Questions: Definition

Top 20 leadership survey question for your survey, 7 steps to design a good leadership survey, tips to writing great leadership survey questions.

Leadership survey questions are defined as a set of survey questions that help employees assess leadership in an organization which is a direct reflection of the abilities of an individual to oversee the growth and progress of an organization.

For any business to succeed and flourish it is essential to recognize the best person for the job. It doesn’t necessarily mean that someone who has been in the organization for a period of time or has the longest resume is a great fit for the position. Leadership is a skill that develops over a period of time and today, most organizations focus on investing their time and effort in systems for employee training  to inculcate the habits and attitude to become a leader.

LEARN ABOUT:   Leadership Assessment Tools

There are many people who will invariably argue this statement and would say, leaders, are born and not made. But again, it is as debatable as, “which came first, the hen or the egg”? Therefore, let us not leave any scope for argument and stick to facts and absolute basics.

In the following section, you will learn about the top 20 leadership survey questions that will help you evaluate and assess the leadership qualities of an individual.

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Learn more: Leadership Assessment Survey Questions + Sample Questionnaire Template

An answer is based on the question one must ask. Survey questions play a vital role in collecting quality feedback that helps in making informed decisions. Here is a list of top 20 leadership survey questions you must have in your survey:

Leadership Survey Questions for Self Assessment

This set of survey questions are asked to help an individual assess his/her abilities to understand and learn their strengths and weaknesses to become a leader. These set of questions essentially help an individual identify their potential to lead the side. A good leader always helps to understand the industry he/she is associated with and contribute to its evolution. Here are a set of leadership survey questions for self-assessment:

1.  On a scale from 0-10, how would you rate yourself as a leader?

2. Do you like setting up goals and targets?

3. What is your response to someone who questions your decision-making abilities?

4. In your opinion do you respond fairly to the issues in the team?

5. Are you open to suggestions from employees and co-workers?

6. Are you willing to take responsibility when a team member fails to deliver against expectations?

7. Do you feel employees should only take orders without asking any questions?

8. Do you personally think that a leader should be reasonable?

9. A leader must not hold any grudges or biases against anyone in the team. Do you agree with the statement?

10. Do you feel being correct is more important than being right?

11. Do you feel providing guidance without any pressure is a trait of a good leader?

12. Where do you see yourself in the next five years?

13. Is there anything that you would like to add?

Leadership Survey Questions for Demographic Assessment

Demographic questions allow a better understanding of an individual and his/her background. The more an organization knows about its potential leader(s), the higher are the chances that their messaging will resonate better with their employees. Typically demographic questions cover factors such as age, ethnicity, gender questions , educational qualification, employment details, years of experience etc. Here are a set of leadership survey questions for demographic assessment:

14. What is your current designation?

15. What is the department you are currently working in?

16. Please select your gender.

17. Please select your ethnicity.

18. Please select your educational qualification.

19. How long have you been associated with the organization?

20. What are the three things you would like to improve in this organization?

1. Know what you want to cover in your survey: Even before you finalize the great survey design , it is important to identify what is the purpose of your survey and why would you want to deploy it in the first place? The best way to design the survey is to split your core objectives into multiple unique points. What is the objective you want to achieve once you have deployed the survey to your employees?

2. Have questions that are absolutely necessary: The leadership survey must consist of leadership survey questions that are absolutely essential. Stuffing unnecessary questions in your survey will lead to survey fatigue . This will, in turn, result in survey dropout . If required responses are not obtained that may result in diluted results.

3. Ask one question at a time: Branching questions or asking one or more questions at a time can lead to confusion and there are fair chances that the respondent might end up choosing an incorrect option. Therefore it is advisable to ask one question at a time and get the most appropriate responses.

4. No jargons! For respondents to promptly respond to the survey it is important they understand the survey. Avoid using too many technical terms or jargons. It is in the best interest of the survey creator to keep the language as simple as possible. Simpler the survey, better will be the responses.

5. Spend time to design your survey: It is essential that your survey resonates with your organization’s brand. Spend some time to design your survey, make it user-friendly, short and simple and also easy to respond. Once you have designed your survey, you must check it for any errors. Deploying a survey with errors or spelling mistakes will talk poorly about the organization’s reputation.

6. Analyze the responses: One of the most important things to do after you have sent out your survey is to collect the responses. Carefully analyze your survey and categorize the data. This will help you make well-informed decisions.

7. Put a summary together: Once all the responses are in place download the report. This report will help you understand the plan of action that you would want to take with respect to aligning what leadership qualities are an organization looking at. This entire process, if followed in a systematic manner, will yield the best results.

1. Avoid leading questions: Your leadership survey must not consists of leading questions that force the responded to choose an answer option, this way your survey responses will be biased and the purpose of you collecting the information will not be fulfilled. Choose your 360 leadership assessment survey questions carefully to avoid diluted results.

2. Avoid misplaced questions: A good survey has an intended flow.  It is important for a survey designer to place the question in a well-organized manner, to take away any fatigue that can be caused to the respondent due to misplaced questions in a survey.

3. Keep consistent answer options: Respondents need a clear way of providing honest and clean feedback, otherwise, the credibility of their response is at stake. Therefore, the answer choices you include can be a potential source of bias.

4. Keep your questions optional: Don’t be in the rush to make all your questions compulsory to answer. Respondents may not be happy answering all your questions and they may not even be comfortable answering all of them.

You’d probably get annoyed! Isn’t it?

You can address this by asking different question types and also spacing out similar sounding questions.

5. Take your survey for a spin: Once you have added all the questions, deploy it to a set of people in your organization first, to evaluate and understand if they are comfortable with every question in the survey. Also as a survey creator, there is no worse feeling than finding mistakes in your survey. To avoid such situations share it with your friends, colleagues in advance. A fresh pair of eyes can give your survey a different perspective.

If you want to learn more about human resources survey and know more such interesting tips, we’d love to connect .

If you want to get started immediately and create your first leadership survey, ask us how. Book a demo now!

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