Walk into an office building and you’ll quickly take note of strategically placed art and well-intended symbols of abstraction. As a learning community, we often embrace hand-crafted work and welcome a unique sense of meaning forged through the visual arts.
A Lens on Leadership
Rooted within the lived experiences of the leader, art can provide an important perspective and even fuel the growth of leader development. Recent work by Thomas Garavan, Ann McGarry, Sandra Watson, Norma D’Annunzio, and Fergal O’ Brien embrace throwing aside an arguably archaic view of leader development for one that embraces the history and unique interpretation of the leader. Their research bravely picks up where many have feared to venture.
Thomas Garavan and his team held a two-day workshop that split up 164 corporate leaders from a large pharmaceutical multinational corporation, randomly assigning them into two distinct groups. Each group focused on learning several leadership topics. Once separated, one group (Group #1) would literally draw its interpretation of leadership; the other group (Group #2) would listen in a typical lecture style environment.
Workgroups
Group #1, known as the arts-based intervention group, was not provided with any information surrounding the content or structure of the sessions. However, this group was given information about conducting the three “components of the leadership theories” drawing exercise. The components were structured as:
Component #1: 10 Minutes
This portion focused on individual reflection. Each participant had to think of leaders in general and consider these questions:
- What characteristics do they have?
- What do they do or what do they not do?
Component #2: 30 Minutes
Group Discussions: Each group interviewed the participants and identified what that did not agree on and what they agreed on. They considered these questions:
- What are the factors that affect leader’s effectiveness?
- How are your views about leaders rooted in culture?
- What are the possible reasons for agreements/disagreements?
Drawing Exercise: In groups of 5, each group made a drawing of their “leader.”
Component #3: 5-10 Minutes
Each group of 5 presented their drawing and answered questions as a group. Collectively, the groups considered the following questions:
- What are the differences/similarities among the drawings?
- How effective would the leader be of one group in the context of another group?
What is the role of the followers in these drawings?
Group #2, known as the convention intervention group, also consisted of three components and conducted a discussion on leadership, covering a “typical spectrum of leadership topics such as leadership, leadership effectiveness, team leadership, and the skills of effective leadership.” The components were structured as:
Component #1
- Lecture; 60 minutes
- Small group discussion; 40 minutes
- Reflection in smaller groups; 40 minutes
Component #2
- Case study review; 80 minutes
- Whole group discussion; 40 minutes
Component #3
Small group discussion and the identification of practice guidelines for effective leadership in the workplace
The Research
Likely the first of its kind, this ground-breaking study examined four dimensions of the leader mindset. Each of the following dimensions were measured using previously validated surveys to assess any changes after the two-day workshop. With three of the four dimensions yielding statistically significant improvements, the results for practitioners are illuminating at the very least. The four dimensions examined were:
- emotional intelligence
- leader identity
- openness to experience
- feedback orientation.
Responses from 164 participants yielded some interesting results within the four dimensions studied. The arts-based leader intervention, when compared with the traditional two-day workshop “showed significantly greater improvement in emotional intelligence, leader identity and feedback orientation.”
Lessons Learned
- If expressing ourselves through art provides deeper insight into our identity, it may be advantageous for the organization to design leader training and development intended to move beyond the visible manifestations of leadership. By including art-based expression through learning-enabled activities, the leader just may help to redefine our collective idea of authentic leadership.
- In order to examine the influence that art-based leader development has on the organization, it would be wise to involve Human Resources from the very start of these activities. By embracing a few new ideas of what a leader may “look like” to the leader herself, the business may elicit and draw upon untapped potential from within its own leadership ranks.
- Art is about interpretation and passion. By embracing much more than that the traditional stoic and often emotionless behaviors of our leaders, organizations may begin to see the leaders as much more than just an individual performing a role. Their emotions and engagement might soon be considered art.
Garavan, T., McGarry, A., Watson, S., Dannunzio-Green, N., O’Brien, F. (2015). The Impact of Arts-Based Leadership Development on Leader Mind-Set: A Field Experiment, Advances in Developing Human Resources, Academy of Human Resource Development, 17(3), pp. 391-407.
