Mindset Not Skill Set

Abstract

The Problem.New ways of thinking about leadership as emergent, relational, and collective are becoming evident in leadership theory and practice. This is causing orientations to leadership development to shift from approaches that are predominantly concerned with building skills to those that are concerned with questions of mindset. That is, leadership development is less directly concerned with developing a set of discrete skills and is increasingly concerned with participants' underlying assumptions and how these shape possibilities for the future. Historically, evaluation of leadership development has tended to focus on technologies and methodologies that assess the former. This article seeks to explore evaluative practices that would be attuned to mindset in leadership development. The Solution.To do so we first outline the difference between skillset and mindset as orientations to leadership development. Relational and complexity theories are drawn on to construct our understanding of an approach to leadership development that is oriented to questions of mindset. We then turn to evaluation theory to address three primary perspectives on evaluation: evaluation for accountability, for development, and for knowledge. We argue that skillset acquisition has been predominantly associated with an evaluation for accountability perspective. In this article we foreground evaluation for development and evaluation for knowledge arguing that these perspectives at East Tennessee State University on June 12, 2015 adh.sagepub.com Downloaded from Kennedy et al. 11offer important alternatives for leadership development that is oriented to issues of mindset. We propose that working dynamically with the three perspectives offers new directions in evaluation that are suitable for mindset orientated interventions. The Stakeholders.This article will inform those researching and writing in the leadership development domain, those sponsoring or seeking more mindset orientated leadership development interventions, leadership development managers, champions, designers, facilitators, and associated professionals. Finally it will be of interest to practitioners looking for evaluative practices that address the multidimensional nature of change and development work in organizations.

Barriers to leadership development: Why is it so difficult to abandon the hero?

“…Critical research highlights the need for developing leadership mindsets that are attuned to a complex, indeterminate, and ambiguous world (Kennedy et al, 2013). However, developing such a leadership meaning is not easy, and the struggle individuals face in their attempt to do so is rarely explored (Alvesson and Jonsson, 2018).…”

“…Such dynamic and fluid interaction between leadership and followership inherently generates ambiguity, contradiction, and conflict (Tourish, 2014). To develop leadership practices that are attuned to a complex, indeterminate, and ambiguous world (Carroll et al, 2008), scholars call for a mindset development about what leadership means by questioning and revealing the underlying assumptions about the nature of the social world (Kennedy et al, 2013). Putting such a leadership meaning into practice, however, is not so easy, especially in the face of lingering idealized assumptions and related expectations created by dominant conceptions of leadership at the organisational level (Ford, 2010).…”

“…Critical leadership scholarship highlights the need for more leadership mindsets that respond to the complexities of contemporary circumstances (Kennedy et al, 2013). Such research has recently emphasized that leader-centred (heroic) leadership theories reproduce romanticism (Collinson et al, 2018) and calls for a processual perspective on leadership (Tourish, 2014).…”

“…Instead, all organisational actors find themselves in an ongoing process of co-/de-/reconstructing their social reality (Tourish, 2019). To develop leadership practices that are attuned to a complex, indeterminate, and ambiguous world (Carroll et al, 2008), scholars call for a mindset development about what leadership means by questioning and revealing the underlying assumptions about the nature of the social world (Kennedy et al, 2013).…”

Políticas de convivencia escolar en América Latina: Cuatro perspectivas de comprensión y acción

“…Las perspectivas de seguridad ciudadana, salud mental infanto-juvenil y managerialista proponen capacitación de profesionales y gestores de convivencia, apelando a que su acción sea beneficiosa para las comunidades escolares. Es conveniente tener en cuenta que las intervenciones basadas en la capacitación de unos pocos favorecen el desarrollo de una gestión centralizada en quienes mejor manejan las habilidades (Kennedy, Carroll & Francoeur, 2013). En cambio, la perspectiva de convivencia democrática, que da protagonismo a la acción de órganos que congregan a distintos actores educativos y al desarrollo de currículum para la paz y la ciudadanía.…”