Developing leaders from within

Abstract

With a projected 63 per cent retirement eligibility rate for its managers by 2017, the federal government is facing an urgent need for succession planning to prevent future leadership shortages (Mazur, 2014; Moyer & Winter, 2015). In spite of large expenditures on leadership development initiatives, federal agencies are not prepared to meet the challenge (Carman, Leland, & Wilson, 2010; Kelman, 2007; Kerrigan, 2012; Maltempo & Robinson, 2014; Rothwell, 2010). Although research shows that leadership development is influenced by social interactions, resources, and tasks situated in the context of the leadership practice (Bartol & Zhang, 2007; Paglis, 2010), little is known about how they influence leaders' individual developmental trajectories (Day & Sin, 2011; Day, Fleenor, Atwater, Sturm, & McKee, 2014). The purpose of this study was to partially fill this research gap by gaining insight into the essence of the experience of transitioning from an employee to an organizational leader at the dean and associate dean levels of nine deans and associate deans promoted from within the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, a federal government school in California. The following research question guided the study: How do DLIFLC deans and associate deans promoted from within describe their experience of becoming organizational leaders? The study utilized Moustakas' (1994) transcendental phenomenology method based on Husserl's (1967) philosophical approach to uncover the essence of the experience. Data from semi-structured interviews produced four themes: 1) interest in leadership, 2) leadership as a continuous learning process, 3) community influence, and 4) personal transformation. Findings illuminate factors and future directions in developing leaders from within an organization.