A dialogue map of leader and leadership development methods: A communication tool

Abstract

The dialogue map is a new pedagogical framework that provides an overview of leader and leadership development methods and is designed to facilitate dialogues about how to promote leadership development. The aim was to create and test a dialogue map. This was accomplished through an iterative process using the literature, experts on leadership development, 45 interviews, 16 questionnaire responses and 6 workshops in three large organizations with managers, professionals and human resources experts. The dialogue map is designed as a table with five categories: developmental relationships, developmental assignments, feedback-intensive processes, education and self-development activities. Each category consists of individual leader development methods and collective leadership development methods. Thirty three methods are presented. The pilot test showed that the dialogue map increased awareness about available methods and enabled more deliberate choices regarding development activities. The dialogue map contributes by providing a systematic overview of collective leadership development, not only individual leadership development. Leadership development becomes more democratized because it focuses on activities that can be done in daily work, inside and outside work, at both an individual and collective level.