The Leadership Challenge Story

Created by James M. Kouzes and Barry Z. Posner in the early 1980s and first identified in their internationally best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® approaches leadership as a measurable, learnable, and teachable set of behaviors.

After conducting hundreds of interviews, reviewing thousands of cases studies, and analyzing more than one million survey questionnaires to understand those times when leaders performed at their personal best, there emerged five practices common to extraordinary leadership achievements.

Now, nearly 30 years later and with data from over three million leaders around the world, this eminently practical model of leadership development has stood the test of time, continuing to prove its effectiveness in cultivating and liberating the leadership potential in any person—at any level, in any organization—who chooses to accept the challenge to lead.

EVIDENCE-BASED TOOLS FOR DEVELOPING LEADERS

Self-discovery and self-awareness are critical to developing the capacity to lead. And personal reflection and analysis of one's own leadership behaviors are core components in that process. Equally as valuable is insight from those who know individual leaders well, who have experience of them in a leadership role, and who are committed to supporting the leader's personal development and willing to provide honest feedback. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) instrument, initially developed to validate the findings of our original Personal Best Leadership case studies, is an essential tool to help leaders gain perspective into how they see themselves as leaders, how others view them, and what actions they can take to improve their effectiveness.

The LPI-Self assessment, for example, offers individual leaders a way of independently measuring their own leadership behaviors, while the LPI-Observer gathers important 360-degree insight from bosses, co-workers, direct reports, and others who have direct experience of the individual in a leadership role. These 30-item instruments measure the frequency of specific leadership behaviors on a 10-point scale, with responses to six behavioral statements for each of The Five Practices. It does not evaluate IQ, leadership style, or management skill. Rather, leaders and observers indicate how frequently the leader engages in the important behaviors associated with The Five Practices that research has demonstrated, year after year, make for more effective leaders.

ACROSS BORDERS, CULTURES, AND GENERATIONS

Regardless of industry or geography, public sector or nonprofit, and despite possible individual differences of age, education, ethnicity, and gender, The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® have consistently been found by researchers to be related to positive employee and organizational outcomes, as measured and validated by the LPI. More than 1.3 million respondent surveys have been analyzed to determine the relationship between The Five Practices and a variety of measurable outcomes such as job satisfaction, employee commitment, and sales performance. Studies consistently confirm that the Five Practices model and assessment tools have both strong reliability and validity, demonstrating sound psychometric properties.

Today, ongoing empirical research continues to reaffirm that leaders who engage in The Five Practices are more effective and successful than those who do not, and are perceived by others as:

• Having a high degree of personal credibility
• Effective in meeting job-related demands
• Able to increase motivation levels
• Successful in representing the group or team to upper management
• Having a high-performance team
• Fostering loyalty and commitment
• Reducing absenteeism, turnover, and stress levels

In addition, those working with exemplary leaders are shown to feel more committed, powerful, and influential. Significantly more satisfied with their leader's practices and strategies, they also are more likely to:

• Be proud to tell others they're part of the organization
• Feel a strong sense of team spirit
• See their own personal values as consistent with those of the organization
• Feel attached and committed to the organization
• Have a sense of ownership of the organization

For the most current research, abstracts, and other important information about the Leadership Practices Inventory and The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership®, visit www.leadershipchallenge.com/go/research.