Incorporating social networks into leadership development: A conceptual model and evaluation of research and practice

Abstract

Multilevel and relational views of leadership are expanding the focus of leadership development beyond individuals' knowledge, skills, and abilities to include the networked patterns of social relationships linking members of dyads and larger collectives. In this review, we present a conceptual model explaining how three distinct approaches for network-enhancing leadership development can improve the leadership capacity of individuals and collectives. We then present a review of the leadership development literature and the results of a survey of 282 practitioners to assess the extent to which these approaches have been examined in research and implemented in practice. Our review revealed that leadership research and leadership development practice are outpacing leadership development research in terms of incorporating networks. We aim to spur future research by clarifying the targets, objectives, and underlying mechanisms of each network enhancing leadership development approach in our conceptual model. Further, we identify additional literature, not traditionally considered within the realm of leadership development that may help advance empirical examinations of these approaches.

Empirical analysis of shared leadership promotion and team creativity: An adaptive leadership perspective

“…We address these concerns in the current study by identifying a predictor of shared leadership and under what conditions it relates to creative performance in teams. With regard to its prediction, shared leadership often coincides with formal hierarchical leadership (Cullen-Lester, Maupin, & Carter, 2017;Pearce et al, 2008), and formal leadership is in fact believed to facilitate and legitimate the emergence of shared leadership in teams (Hoch & Kozlowski, 2014). If so, then this begs the question of "What type of formal hierarchical leadership contributes to shared leadership?"…”

Pedagogy, Leadership, and Leadership Development

“…Despite the significant amount of time and money that is being directed toward leadership development efforts in today's organizations, some remain skeptical as to leadership development's return on investment to the organization as well as to the communities in which these organizations serve and operate. Cullen‐Lester, Maupin, and Carter () supported this view by stating: “There is growing concern that developmental efforts are not sufficiently building the leadership capacity required by today's complex and interdependent organization” (p. 130). Others claim that leadership development programs should be able to show positive economic returns (Peters, Baum, & Stephens, ).…”

TEACHING NETWORK LEADERSHIP: Using Collaborative Structure and the Remote Associates Test

“…Although the need to focus on more collaborative, relational, and multilevel approaches to leadership is becoming prominent, recent findings show fewer than 35% of leadership development practitioners are incorporating social network analytic techniques in their development initiatives (Cullen-Lester, Maupin, & Carter, 2017). We have also found a dearth of network exercises in publications that demonstrate the benefits and limitations of working in networks.…”