NCRVE MDS-814 - Characteristics of Experiences

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Characteristics of Experiences Considered
Most Helpful in Leader Development

CVAs were asked to provide detail about the 140 incidents and resultant experiences they reported. This included such information as whether the experience was job or non-job related, whether it occurred in a new position or within an existing position, whether the timing of the experience was important to their career development, what the developmental aspects of the experience were, and who initiated the experience.

Table 5
Types of Experiences by Gender

Item No.	Experience	Female	Male	Total	% of 185
	Job Experiences
	Varied Positions
8	Across educational inst./org.	1	2	3
9	Across educational functions	0	3	3
10	Work in business/industry	5	5	10
11	Work in government	1	0	1
12	Other	0	2	2
	*Subtotal*			19	10
	New Position
13	Change in context	2	3	5
14	New/increased responsibilities	10	9	19
15	Other	0	0	0
	*Subtotal*			24	13
	Within a Position
16	Internship	0	3	3
17	Spec. assignment: start-up	10	13	23
18	Spec. assignment: fix-its	1	6	7
19	Spec. assignment: other	4	3	7
20	Teaching/counseling	1	6	7
21	Personnel: hiring	2	0	2
22	Personnel: conflict/firing	10	7	17
23	Personnel: developing	3	5	8
24	Work on teams/committees	4	4	8
25	Mentors/counseling/advocate support	6	11	17
26	Work with supervisor	5	8	13
27	Other	2	5	7
	*Subtotal*			119	64
	Non-Job Activities
	Education-related
28	Professional association/union	0	3	3
29	Formal training	8	4	12
30	Simulation/case study	0	0	0
31	Shadow/observation	0	2	2
32	Networking	0	0	0
33	Other	0	0	0
	*Subtotal*			17	9
	Noneducation-related
34	Community service	1	3	4
35	Other	1	1	2
	*Subtotal*			6	3
	Total	77	108	185	100%*

*The percentages do not total 100% because of rounding.

Type of Experience
1. As can be seen in Table 5, 185 types of experiences were reported in the 140 incidents as most helpful to the respondents' development as leaders. Sixty-four percent occurred on-the-job as respondents worked within a position. The greatest number of these effective on-the-job experiences resulted from challenges inherent in special assignments to start-up new tasks/projects and from handling personnel problems. Receiving support and counseling from mentors and working with a supervisor were also considered important characteristics of effective on-the-job experiences.

"I recall that at that time I was only 29 years old. I don't know how many 29 year olds have had that kind of responsibility, but it makes you grow up pretty fast. I did a lot of homework at night."
* * * * *
"As an intern-administrator I had an opportunity to write a grant and develop a set of programs that were secondary programs for a postsecondary campus. It was one of the early shared time programs, where students came to the community college campus to get secondary vocational program."
* * * * *
"As a new supervisor, I had a confrontation with the instructors working under me regarding new procedures. This confrontation was a turning point for me in my career."
* * * * *
"Having the most profound effect on me in my leadership role, as a superintendent, was my mentoring with my prior superintendent."

Of the 185 types of experience, just 10% occurred as the result of respondents holding a variety of positions, mainly in business and industry.
Thirteen percent of the 185 types of experiences came from movement to a new position, principally as a result of new and increased responsibilities.
Only 9% of the 185 types of experiences took place in a non-job, education-related activity, like a formal training program, while 3% occurred in a variety of other noneducation-related situations.
There were few meaningful differences between men and women in the types of their experiences considered most helpful; women reported a somewhat greater proportion of experiences as a result of moving to a new position and education-related experiences.

Table 6
Timing of Incident by Gender

	Gender
	Female		Male		Total
Timing	#	%	#	%	#	%
Significant	27	31	15	28	42	30
Not significant	57	66	36	66	93	66
No relevant response	1	1	2	4	3	2
No response	1	1	1	2	2	1
Total	86	99%	54	100%	140	99%

Timing of the Incident
1. Timing, that is, when the incident came during their careers, was considered significant in 30% of the incidents reported by respondents. See Table 6.
2. There appeared to be no meaningful difference between male and female respondents on this factor.

Table 7
Developmental Aspects of the Experience

Item No.	Aspect	#	% of 385
	Motivating Aspects
36	Interest/enjoy	18	5
37	Risk of failure	22	6
38	New/complex	58	15
39	Overload/stress	10	3
40	Barriers	19	5
41	Other	0	0
	*Subtotal*	127	33%
	Facilitating Aspects
42	Negative experience/failure	16	4
43	Plan/reflect	21	5
44	Assessment of personal strengths/weaknesses	18	5
45	Learn new ideas/practices	59	15
46	Apply/practice knowledge	41	11
47	Confidence building	28	7
48	Positive role model	27	7
49	Negative role model	10	3
50	Freedom	16	4
51	Other cultures	13	3
52	Other	4	1
	*Subtotal*	253	66%
	No Response
53	No relevant response	5	1
	Total	385	100%

Developmental Aspects of the Experience (What makes them effective?)
1. As shown in Table 7, 385 developmental aspects of the 185 types of leadership development experiences were reported. Developmental aspects of the leadership development experiences were identified as being either motivational or facilitating. Motivational aspects were those factors that cause a person to act or perform in a certain way. Facilitating aspects were those factors in the experience that made it easier to perform the task or activity. Thirty-three percent of the developmental aspects were identified motivational, while 66% were identified as facilitating.

Table 8
Developmental Aspects of the Experience by Gender

Item No.	Aspect	Gender
		Female		Male		Total
		#	% of 54	#	% of 86	#	% of 140
	Motivating Aspects
36	Interest/enjoy	4	7	14	16	18	13
37	Risk of failure	6	11	16	19	22	16
38	New/complex	25	46	33	38	58	41
39	Overload/stress	7	13	3	3	10	7
40	Barriers	9	17	10	12	19	14
41	Other	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Facilitating Aspects
42	Negative experience/ failure	8	15	8	9	16	11
43	Plan/reflect	7	13	14	16	21	15
44	Assess personal	6	11	12	14	18	13
45	Learn new ideas/practices	22	41	37	43	59	42
46	Apply/prac. knowledge	17	31	24	28	41	29
47	Confidence building	13	24	15	17	28	20
48	Positive role model	12	22	15	17	27	19
49	Negative role model	3	6	7	8	10	7
50	Freedom	8	15	8	9	16	11
51	Other cultures	3	6	10	12	13	9
52	Other	1	2	3	3	4	3
	No Response
53	No relevant response	1	2	4	5	5	4

Of the 127 motivating aspects, the most frequently reported (63%) were the challenges associated with a new or complex task or problem and the risk of failure. Table 8 shows the differences in experiences reported by men and women. Men appeared motivated more by risk of failure than women, while women reported a higher proportion of challenging experiences with a new or complex task or problem. It is also noteworthy that a higher proportion of women than men reported job overload/stress and barriers as significant developmental aspects, while more men found the experiences to be interesting, enjoyable, and exciting.

"It was a challenge. There was a lot of money that we had to raise. We had to have this gorgeous facility to meet standards. We had to hire a physical therapist--who are high-dollar (professionals). Every place we went people said, "You can't do this. You can't find faculty, and you can't do this at a votech, and you can't, can't, can't . . .'"

Among the facilitating aspects, the most frequently reported developmental aspects (40%) were the opportunity to learn new ideas and practices and to apply and practice knowledge and skills. (See Table 7.) Exposure to positive role models and the encouragement and confidence gained from the experience were also frequently reported by both men and women (22%), although by a slightly higher proportion of women than men. (See Table 8.) These findings are consistent with the types of experience respondents considered most effective as reported earlier. A slightly higher proportion of women than men also reported that an experience that was negative or resulted in failure was also developmental.

"This was my first introduction to participative management and individualized, competency-based instruction. I was taught a certain way of management in college--a more traditional sort of management."
* * * * *
"Everything I was learning here was nontraditional--not rank and file, or top to bottom, but getting people involved and letting them participate in the decisions that affected them."
* * * * *
"It allowed me to put my human relations, human assessment, and human development skills to the ultimate test, and to literally hone them down through trial and error. I had good human relation skills. That was why I was I hired for the job, but when you hire that many people and you are developing such a diverse population--from a welder, to a nurse, to a chef, to a carpenter, to a plumber--it really stretches your abilities. I learned what works in training people and what doesn't work."
* * * * *
"It gave me more confidence to step out and I felt on a sounder footing because I had more depth of knowledge in the other disciplines that I did not have when I came here."
* * * * *
"She was really a good leader. She listened to people. She took time with people. She always ate in the lunch room with us, where some deans did not; they stay together. She had us (teachers) over to her house. She tried to maintain friendly contact over and above work. If there was a crisis, or something happened, she handled it very calmly. Then, later on, even if you made a mistake, she talked with you privately. . . . You knew that she thought that working at that school and vocational education was the best thing in the world; it was the best job you could have."

Table 9
Initiator of Incidents by Gender

Item No.	Initiator	Gender
		Female		Male		Total
		#	%	#	%	#	%
67	Self	13	24	39	45	52	37
68	Superior	24	44	18	21	42	30
69	Peer	1	2	2	2	3	2
70	Subordinate	2	4	4	5	6	4
71	Other	8	15	16	19	24	17
72	No relevant response	6	11	7	8	13	9
	Total	54	100%	86	100%	140	100%

Initiator of the Experience
Participants were asked to identify the person who initiated the experience being discussed--that is, self, superior, peer, subordinate, and other.
1. The most common initiators for the sample as a whole were self (37%) and superior (30%). (See Table 9.)
2. Men, however, depended most upon themselves (45%) to initiate the experience, while women depended most upon superiors (44%).

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Characteristics of Experiences ConsideredMost Helpful in Leader Development

Characteristics of Experiences Considered
Most Helpful in Leader Development