Examining leadership development at ABC Financial

Abstract

Through this thesis, an inquiry was conducted to answer the question of how ABC Financial could expand leadership development within its management group. With an appreciative stance, a multi-method research approach was utilized; a survey was open to all employees and interviews were conducted with members of the senior executive team to determine whether a common understanding of leadership existed within the organization and how managers at ABC were demonstrating leadership competencies. Throughout the inquiry, adherence to Royal Roads University's Research Ethics Policy was maintained to ensure the integrity of the process. The research findings indicated that developing a common definition of leadership could provide a context for the design of leadership programming. Furthermore, although leaders at ABC demonstrated many leadership strengths, an over-reliance on results orientation may limit the organization's leadership capacity and leadership development could be enhanced through flexible programming focused on building relationship-based competencies. Study recommendations included developing a shared vision of leadership and assessing ABC's leadership culture to assist in designing formal leadership development programming. Enhancing programming through communities of practice, other systems, and metrics were also recommended.