A New Paradigm for Leaders: Leadership in a Learning Organization

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to examine key elements of leadership in institutions engaged in the process of shifting to learning organizations.

METHODOLOGY
This study was descriptive, looking at the present state of leadership at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC) as it makes changes on its journey as a learning organization. Of the 200 campus leaders invited to participate, 43 (22% response rate) completed the Leadership Practices Inventory (and asked three others to complete the LPI-Observer) and WITC’s 2002 Staff Opinion Survey. There were 31 females and 12 males in the sample.

KEY FINDINGS
There was a high degree of consistency between LPI-Self and LPI-Observer scores. The four statements ranked at the top and at the bottom of the frequency distribution are the same for both groups. Enabling was the most frequently engaged in leadership behavior, followed by Modeling, Encouraging, Challenging and Inspiring.

The author recommends “that more individuals within the college examine their leadership strengths and how those strengths can be shared and that dialogue groups meet at each location to consider the implications of strengthening leadership skills for all employees and providing opportunities for distributed leadership to grow within the organization” (p. 42).