The Approach & Philosophy The approach and philosophy of the program was based on the work of Cooperidder and Whitney (1999), who explored positive individual and organizational change in their book, Appreciative Inquiry: Collaborating for Change. They promoted a strength-based approach to organizational and individual change as opposed to focusing on gaps and mitigating weaknesses. This strength-based philosophy was important to support program goals and was employed in the design and delivery of the cohort sessions in the LDI program. Also important to the design and implementation was Wenger’s principle that individuals learn best in groups known as “communities of practice” (Wenger 1998), in order to develop leadership by working together on real issues and problems (Cummings et al. 2008; Palus & Drath 1995; University of Exeter 2005, p. 5; Zenger et al. 2000). Wenger’s later work described how to cultivate and sustain communities of practice in an organization (Wenger, McDermott & Synder 2002). To support the vision and purpose statements, the program was then designed to develop relationships, foster dialogue, encourage personal reflection, and bridge organizational levels. Program Design Principles The LDI program was designed so leaders considered their individual learning needs based on their competencies, role, and level in the organization, and then selected courses from a variety of internal and external offerings. The Steering Committee determined that
including the feedback and input from leaders throughout the organization was paramount to the success of the program – both in terms of personal learning needs and that of the organization. With the assistance of two external consultants, the Steering Committee constructed an interactive 12-month phased program (see Figure 1). In December 2003, Phase I, “Dialogue about Leadership”, was launched with close to 100 leaders from all levels across the organization participating in in-depth discussions on the constructs and meaning of leadership. These two hour sessions ignited interest among participants as to the type of leadership they hoped to promote at the ACB. These sessions generated several common themes of leadership, which were synthesized into the Four Pillars of Leadership — clarity of vision and purpose, acts with integrity, inspires other to do their best, and fosters mutual understanding (see Box 2). Broader than competencies, the Four Pillars of Leadership included a variety of skills, knowledge, behaviors and attitudes that leaders could develop or enhance by participating in the LDI program. The Four Pillars of Leadership are consistent with other leadership principles found in the literature. Bennis and Nanus, in their original 1986 book entitled Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge, described four key principles every leader should know: attention through vision; meaning through communication; trust through positioning; and, the deployment of self (Bennis & Nanus 2003). Kouzes and Posner in their book, The Leadership Challenge (1987, 2002), described five practices of leadership: modeling the way; inspiring a shared vision; challenging the process; enabling others to act; and encouraging the heart (Kouzes & Posner 2002). Senge focused on the learning organization and systems thinking in his original work, The Fifth Discipline, (Senge 1990) and his subsequent work, The Dance of Change (Senge 1999). Following this, the Steering Committee piloted an approach that was initially based on individual leaders having a dialogue with their supervisor to consider their own needs for
people’s ideas and achievements, delegate authority and are team-oriented, sharing power. They do not micro-manage the work of others. Fosters Mutual Understanding Communicating well with all people in the organization is the hallmark of good leadership. In order to communicate well a leader must be a skilled active listener, able to hear the intended meaning, deeper rather than only the surface level of communication. They are able and willing to explain “why” when questioned. They encourage feedback without negative consequences, relate to individuals at all levels and are accessible. More than having an open door, they are ready and interested to listen. Effective communicators also have the objectivity to listen to complaints without taking blame. Figure 1: Leadership Development Initiative Emergence of a Learning Cohort Approach Based on this feedback, the Steering Committee revised the plan so that leaders at the same level throughout the provincial organization could meet, share, and reflect on leadership development together in peer-based groups. The learning cohort approach was developed, loosely based on Wenger’s theory of communities of practice (COP), which are “groups of people who share a common concern or passion for something they do and interact regularly to learn how to do it better” (Wenger 2001). LDI learning cohorts were groups of leaders with similar accountabilities who came together for about three workshops per year to learn about new processes, theories and approaches to leadership in order to deal with real issues in the organization. The learning cohort approach was thought to bridge organizational units/departments by bringing leaders together from all divisions in the organization to learn together and work collaboratively toward common goals. It was expected to increase dialogue and engagement among leaders and staff and enhance performance, improve peer and team