Leadership Identity Development through an Interdisciplinary Leadership Minor.

Leadership development among postsecondary students can occur through a variety of experiences; one such experience is a leadership minor. The purpose of this descriptive interpretive study was to analyze students' experiences while enrolled in a leadership minor with a focus on exploring evidence of leadership identity development. By exploring the leadership identity development of students enrolled in a leadership minor, we sought to provide valuable information for professionals within postsecondary leadership education offering, or planning to offer a leadership minor. Our analysis revealed changes in the leadership identity and skill development of students involved in the leadership minor. Implications and recommendations for leadership development programs, specifically leadership minors, are discussed.  Theoretical Framework Although leadership development is a broad term, it typically involves behaviors in which individuals change their perceived identity as a leader (Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, Osteen, 2005; Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, Osteen, 2006;  2005) Therefore, effective leadership development programs could be identified as programs that encourage the development of leadership identity among participants. This study sought to examine a leadership development experience at the college level, a leadership minor, by evaluating the development of participants' leadership identity. In 2005 and 2006, a team led by Susan Komives set out to further understand leadership development by examining changes in leadership identity over time. This work yielded a leadership identity model (Komives et al. 2005; Komives et al. 2006) The leadership identity model expanded the previous understanding of leadership development to include a specific process in which leaders develop. The leadership identity model proposed by Komives et al. Journal of Leadership Education  (2005, 2006) was developed using the leadership development reflections of students at the postsecondary level. Komives et al. (2005, 2006) selected this population because students in college had enough life experience to reflect on while still being actively engaged in the development of their own leadership identity. The leadership identity model proposed by Komives et al. (2005, 2006) outlined six stages of identity development: awareness, exploration/engagement, leader identified, leadership differentiated, generativity, and integration/synthesis  Figure 1. Six stages of leadership identity development (Komives et al. 2005, 2006) The first stage, awareness, involves students becoming aware that leadership happens in the world. Typically, students in this stage view leaders as historic figures. Furthermore, students in this stage feel completely reliant on the leadership of others. For many students, identifying aspects of their own leadership identity is not realized until it is brought to their attention (Komives et al. 2005) Therefore, education programs that discuss aspects of leadership identity aid in the transition to the second stage. The transition out of the awareness stage begins when an individual starts to realize their potential to be a leader in the future. In stage two, exploration and engagement, students begin to form peer groups and seek opportunities to explore their interests. Opportunities for students to take on new responsibilities, including leadership, occur during this exploration based stage. Students' view of leadership in stage two includes recognizing leaders within their daily life, like teachers, ministers, and siblings. The transition out of stage two is typically marked by the recognition of the student's leadership potential by someone else (Komives et al. 2006) Stage three, leader identified, is the stage in which the majority of students begin their college career. In the leader identified stage, students recognize positional leadership and begin moving in and out of leadership roles, exploring what it takes to be a positional leader. As students move through this stage, they start to reduce their involvement in groups, focusing on those groups with greater personal meaning. During stage three, leaders pursue more complex Leadership Identity 1. Awareness 6. Integration/Synthesis 2. Exploration/Engagement 3. Leader Identified 4. Leadership Differentiated 5. Generativity Journal of Leadership Education  roles and recognize quality leadership requires all group members to participate in the process of leadership. Reflection and learning are essential as students continue to transition out of stage three. This time of reflection and learning leads the student to consciously practice new ways of being a leader (Komives et al. 2006) Entering stage four, leadership differentiated, students begin to view leadership as more than a title. During this stage, students view themselves as community builders within their groups. This new view of leadership forces many students to seek guidance from adults to process their leadership experiences in search of a deeper understanding of leadership. Students also turn to their peers as role models for effective leadership practices. Students begin to connect their leadership to a larger purpose as they transition into stage five, generativity. As students move through stage five of leadership identity development, their philosophies of leadership begin to take shape, and a stronger commitment to their group develops (Komives et al. 2006) During this phase, students develop a commitment to ideals and purposes that are larger than themselves, and a concern for the welfare and future of their organization, ideals, and purposes develops. As students transition into the final stage of leadership identity development, integration/synthesis, they begin to align their leadership skills to their future goals. Stage six is characterized by students identifying they have the leadership skills to be effective in a variety of contexts. In addition, stage six is marked with a commitment to life long development and a confidence to try new leadership experiences. Students integrating leadership into their personal identity is a hallmark of this stage (Komives et al. 2006) The leadership identity model served as the theoretical framework for our research. It is important to note, student progression through the six stages of the leadership identity model is rarely linear; in fact, research by Komives and her team (2005, 2006) suggested a "helix model" in which students continuously return to previous stages as they progress. In this study we analyzed the reflections of students to identify evidence of progression through the stages of leadership identity development while enrolled in a leadership minor. A leadership minor is designed as a place within the academic curriculum for students to engage in leadership development (Johnson White, 2006) Leadership minors offer students an opportunity to explore leadership theories, develop leadership skills, and further their leadership development through a variety of in class and out of class experiences. In this study, we sought to identify if involvement in a leadership minor could elicit evidence of leadership identity development.  As part of a larger qualitative study, this particular study sought to analyze and describe students' experiences in a leadership minor with the intent to identify and describe changes in leadership identity. To that end, our research question was: How does leadership identity change as a result of students' experiences in the leadership minor? This research project is intended to address Area I, Priority I of the National Leadership Education Research Agenda to "explore Curriculum Development Frameworks to Enhance the Leadership Education Transfer of Learning" (Andenoro et al. 2013, p. 5) Journal of Leadership Education  In this qualitative study, we utilized a descriptive and interpretive research design, which included "description, interpretation, and understanding in the form of recurrent patterns, themes, or categories" (Merriam, 1998, p. 34) According to Creswell (2008) "The focus of qualitative research is on the participants' perceptions and experiences, and the way they make sense of their lives" (p. 195) Participants in this study shared their experiences and perceptions of the leadership minor through elicitation of written reflections, a student portfolio, a focus group interview, and a questionnaire.  The leadership minor at Oregon State University was developed with a goal to provide college students with a variety of learning opportunities and experiences for the purpose of leadership education and development. Based on recommendations by the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) the leadership minor was centered on leadership theory, trait/skill development, and application (Roberts, 1997) Curriculum and student experiences were based around these three areas with an added emphasis on team interactions and a capstone course to facilitate a team based learning environment. The participants for this study were purposefully selected undergraduate students enrolled in the final capstone class of the leadership minor during the Spring 2013 term. Participants were selected in order to obtain the most information about experiences and perceptions of the leadership minor. We purposefully selected outspoken, and seemingly influential students, but also less involved, more quiet students. Additionally, we sought to obtain a sample of students whose life experiences as well as leadership minor experiences varied. The participants represented the first cohort from Oregon State University