Effective Leaders Can Be Trained

Leadership Can Be Taught

The importance of effective leadership to organizational success is well documented, but the process by which people become leaders remains far less understood. For instance, Brandt (2002) asks, "Can those who wish to lead learn from others, or is the capacity for leadership -- or lack thereof -- hard-wired into our DNA at birth?" (p. 12). Despite the ongoing debate over nature vs. nurture continues, it is reasonable to suggest that people can be taught leadership and there is a growing body of evidence in support of this assertion (Olson, 2009).

Part of the problem in this debate is the fact that belief systems either way can turn into self-fulfilling prophecies. For instance, Brotherton (2013) reports that, "Believing people are 'born' leaders is likely to result in a focus more on selection (identify the right people) rather than on development (develop the people you get)" (p. 25). Conversely, believing that people can be taught leadership will likely result in an increased effort to ensure leadership candidates receive the training and experience they need in order to develop into effective leaders (Brotherton, 2013). In fact, far more practitioners believe that people can be taught leadership than believe they are born leaders (52% vs. 19%) (Brotherton, 2013).

Certainly, everyone has likely encountered charismatic individuals who excel at leadership and do in fact appear naturally born to the task, and there is some scientific basis for believing that specific traits help shape organizational leaders (Brotherton, 2013). These types of leaders appear to be "naturally born" to leadership and inspire their followers to greater levels of performance and achievement than even they thought possible. Nevertheless, it is equally clear that in many cases people can "rise to the occasion" when the situation calls for it by developing leadership qualities through training and experience (Brotherton, 2013).

This is not to say, of course, that people can become effective leaders overnight, but it is to say that a growing body of evidence confirms that people can learn how to become effective leaders if they are provided with the requisite training and experience. Indeed, leadership skills such as effective communication, critical thinking skills, and collaborative techniques are routinely taught to aspiring leaders (Olson, 2009), and providing them with real-world experiences gives them with the leadership background they need to put these skills to work (Segelken, 2006). Moreover, the leadership development process is cumulative, and the more aspiring leaders learn about leadership and have the opportunity to exercise their leadership knowledge, the more effective they become in the workplace (Segelken, 2006).