ECO-LEADERSHIP AMONG COUNTY 4-H ORGANIZATIONS: Relationship to Programmatic Success and Best Practices for Eco-Leaders

Abstract

Our understanding of leaders and the role they play in organizations and society is changing, which has important implications for leadership education. At the turn of the century, society began to move from a mechanistic understanding of leadership to a more ecological one. The latter, ecological approach to leadership is characterized by collective decision-making, collaboration, shared leadership, and grassroots organization.While leadership educators have acknowledged this shift, more case examples are needed to illuminate practical implications for leadership. This study of county 4-H associations uses an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to explore the relationship between three factors: (a) subjects' levels of hierarchical and systemic thinking; (b) how their associations engage in leadership and organizational learning; and (c) programmatic success. While no direct relationship emerged between programmatic success and subjects' levels of hierarchical and systemic thinking, mixed methods results revealed several distinctions between high and low scoring programs' approaches to leadership. These distinctions support an ecological approach to leadership, which in turn impacts modern approaches to leadership education.

Relationships between Eco-Leadership and Problem-Solving Styles of Gifted and Talented Youth

“…Interestingly, mean scores reported from the VGSA students in this study are not all that different than the mean scores of college students reported by Fisher et al (2015) in hierarchical thinking, but were slightly lower in systemic thinking. While some authors have found women to present lower levels of hierarchical thinking (Cletzer, 2016), this study could not support a relationship.…”

“…There has been little published using the LABS-III, and more research is needed to identify how it relates to other key inventories used in the study of leadership. While there is no evidence of benchmark scores, there is evidence to support those proponents of Eco-Leadership suggest it is better to have higher levels of systemic thinking and lower levels of hierarchical thinking among those providing leadership to organizations in the modern, knowledge driven economy (Cletzer, 2016). Interestingly, mean scores reported from the VGSA students in this study are not all that different than the mean scores of college students reported by Fisher et al (2015) in hierarchical thinking, but were slightly lower in systemic thinking.…”

Expanding 4-H Alumni Life Perspectives: An Experiential and Programmatic Evaluation

“…4-H alumni reported that their involvement had a positive influence on their personal and community development (Anderson et al, 2010;Merten et al, 2014). Moreover, 4-H participation allowed individuals to build relationships (Seevers et al, 2011;Bird & Subramaniam, 2018), develop leadership and life skills (Moran et al, 2019;Worker et al, 2019Cletzer & Kaufman, 2020Kelsey & Fuhrman, 2020) and develop a positive self-concept (Leff et al, 2015;Bird & Subramaniam, 2018;Worker et al, 2019;Kelsey, 2020;).…”