Journal of Character and Leadership Development

Leadership as a Values-Driven System

2024-05-06T07:27:17-07:00

Leadership is fundamentally a social process. The tendency to view leadership from the unique and private worlds of a leader’s individualized experience is a hindrance to developing effective processes and healthy culture. Leaders in organizations must adapt in response to the changing internal and external ecology in which the organization is nested. The Leadership Systems Model (LSM) offers a paradigm encouraging leaders to embrace a systems perspective. The model utilizes a value-driven human centric approach that focuses on changing elements of organizational structures and processes to align outcomes with organizational values to meet intent. The model recognizes the complexity of organizations, and the multiple roles people play as leaders, followers, and teammates. With this approach, we suggest that leaders can enhance organizational performance and develop a healthy culture by applying their power to systems design, increasing engagement, and continuous improvement.

Developmental Conversations: Mentoring as a Pervasive Cultural Practice

2024-04-30T09:24:51-07:00

This article details Berry College’s efforts to enhance its mentoring culture through the Developmental Conversations initiative. By implementing a multilevel framework consisting of three core principles—Equip, Empower, and Encourage—the initiative advances the institution’s mentoring culture in alignment with Berry’s mission to develop leaders of integrity. We discuss our strategic approach to mentoring including the integration of competency models, perspectives on empowerment, and the central role of cultural encouragement in generating an environment where mentoring is embraced as a critical component of our educational strategy. Insights from implementation efforts highlight the successes and challenges of creating a pervasive mentoring culture that supports both personal and professional growth across the community. This initiative serves as a replicable example for other institutions seeking strategies to enhance their developmental ethos through mentoring.

What Makes Leadership Development Impactful? Exploring a Whole-Person Approach

2024-06-11T02:31:01-07:00

No abstract available.

Prioritizing Profits Over Purpose: Is Commercialized Academia Eroding the Essence of Leadership Education?

2024-06-11T02:34:49-07:00

No abstract available.

The Effect of Character on Stress Coping Responses Through Motivation to Lead

2024-05-09T18:50:27-07:00

There have been calls to elevate character alongside competencies and commitment in leadership research. Given the potential importance of character in leadership, it is surprising that the construct has not been more fully integrated into the nuanced nomological network of leadership processes. We built out the nomological network and, specifically, examined the relationship between character and stress coping responses in two field studies involving law enforcement officers. The results of our structural equation models revealed that character had both direct and indirect effects on coping responses through motivation to lead. Furthermore, our results indicated that character was discriminably different from related, empirically validated constructs of personality traits and psychological capital. The correlation between character and psychological capital was positive and significant, and they both predicted stress coping responses.

Cultivating Retention: Exploring Transformational Leadership Dynamics in Military Nursing through Qualitative Inquiry

2024-05-02T09:06:35-07:00

Background: The shortage of nurses heightened the need to retain nurses in the workforce, particularly within military treatment facilities (MTFs). Despite quantitative analyses on factors affecting nurse retention, qualitative aspects of nurses’ free-text responses in routine surveys remain unexplored.

Objective: This study explored the impact of leadership, using qualitative data from the 2016 and 2018 Military Nursing Practice Environment Surveys, through the lens of the transformational leadership theory on preventable nurse attrition within the military health system (MHS).

Methods: Free-text responses from 1372 nurses in MTFs were analyzed using thematic content analysis methodology.

Results: Leadership emerged as the most prevalent concern, with 647 comments referencing leadership’s impact on preventable loss. Analysis revealed 25 leadership subcodes, highlighting negative sentiments about manager and executive leader presence and engagement, lack of acknowledgment, and ineffective communication, constituting 61.3% of negative comments.

Conclusions: This study highlighted the importance of leadership in nurse retention within the MHS. The findings align with Bass’s transformational leadership theory, emphasizing the need for idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. Dissatisfaction with leadership trends resonates with the four pillars, suggesting that adopting a transformational leadership culture could positively impact MHS nurse retention. The recommendations include enhancing leadership visibility, improving communication channels, and fostering a supportive environment to address nurse dissatisfaction and prevent turnover.

Mindset about Talent Moderates the Effect of Grit on Academic Performance: Evidence from West Point Cadets

2024-02-02T11:04:21-08:00

Grit, defined as perseverance and passion for pursuing long-term goals, is an important predictor of academic achievement. Whether mindset about talent moderates the relationship between grit and academic achievement has not been tested. Institutional data collected prior to starting at West Point was analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression to assess the predictive power of grit, physical fitness test scores, entrance exam scores, mindset about talent, and the interaction between grit and mindset about talent on first semester and cumulative academic performance for 1140 cadets from the Class of 2019. Hierarchical regression results showed that grit, physical fitness, and entrance exam scores significantly predicted first semester grades, as did the grit by mindset about talent interaction. Regression results predicting cumulative academic performance showed grit and entrance exam scores to be significant predictors, along with the grit by mindset interaction. Although entrance exam scores were the best predictor of both outcomes, simple slope analyses showed that the strongest association between grit and academic performance was observed for cadets with fixed mindsets about talent. Having a fixed mindset about talent moderated the relationship between grit and academic performance at two points in time for West Point cadets.

Sleep and Leadership in a Military Context

2024-06-11T02:06:52-07:00

Sleep can have a profound impact on leadership and overall mission effectiveness. This narrative review summarizes literature related to sleep and leadership, and demonstrates the importance of both leader and subordinate sleep. Evidence is provided for the general lack of sleep among military members, further demonstrating the relevance of this topic. Practical tools are then provided that may aid leaders in improving the sleep and effectiveness of their respective organizations.

Exploring the Utility of Psychological Safety in the Armed Forces

2023-12-07T20:51:05-08:00

Psychological safety is a concept that has become extremely popular in the management and leadership literature over the past several years. Despite its rising prominence, the term can be misleading, and it is not clear if it holds promise for those leading in the armed forces. This article clarifies the concept of psychological safety and highlights its importance to teams and organizations that operate in contexts like the military. The authors also review antecedents to psychological safety – with a focus on how military leaders can facilitate psychological safety in the teams and organizations they lead. Finally, psychological safety is not a panacea. In fact, high psychological safety in a military context could produce unintended negative outcomes. Therefore, the authors offer suggestions for military leaders to consider when focusing on psychological safety in their formations and propose areas for future research involving psychological safety in the armed forces and other similar organizations.