Leadership Development - Nurturing a Growth Mindset

Scholars are deeply gratified when their ideas catch on. And they are even more gratified when their ideas make a difference (Carol Dweck, 2016). The growth mindset concept is spreading and being embraced in a number of sectors as part of their curriculum.

But popularity has a price and people begin to distort ideas, and therefore fail to reap their benefits (Carol Dweck, 2016). For instance, some believe a growth mindset is just about praising and rewarding effort. This isn’t true for students in schools, and it’s not true for employees in organizations. In both settings, outcomes matter.

Furthermore, some organizations espouse an ambitious "adopt a growth mindset, and good things will happen" philosophy. Such mission statements are wonderful things, aren't they? You can’t argue with lofty values like growth, empowerment, or innovation. But what do they mean to employees if the company doesn’t implement policies that make them real and attainable?

Organizations that embody a growth mindset encourage appropriate risk-taking, knowing that some risks won’t work out (Carol Dweck, 2016). They reward employees for important and useful lessons learned, even if a project does not meet its original goals.

However, the following infographic serves a purpose in that it emphasizes a relational dynamic between the individual and the growth mindset concept (Steve Wood, 2018). In that, no matter what stage of your career you are in, nurturing and preserving your own growth is absolutely essential, rather than devolve that responsibility to the organization you are part of. In that way, you are more likely to be an agent of change as a leader as well as be better invested as an active follower within your team.

Such are my thoughts on the matter, for now...

#Leadership #GrowthMindset #Development

Leaders...Born Of Nature or Practice?

Leaders, born or made? Scholar Richard Arvey found that among twins, leadership is 30 percent genetic/born and 70 percent learned/environmental. A pretty interesting thought to start with. We can also turn to the work of K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues which may get to the heart of developing leadership in yourself and others…

“People believe that because expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance the expert performer must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scientists from systematically examining expert performers and accounting for their performance in terms of the laws and principles of general psychology. We agree that expert performance is qualitatively different from normal performance and even that expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a few exceptions, most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we argue that the differences between expert performers and normal adults reflect a lifelong period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain” (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Romer, 1993, pp. 399-400).

One key seems to be intentionality and one problem is that many people are not deliberately “practicing” effective leadership. There is often no coach and it’s hard to get a real perspective on effectiveness, and even more difficult to get unfiltered perceptions of others. Feedback (personal, 360, coaching from supervisor or consultant) is one way to gauge progress. However, the interventions listed above are somewhat rare in organisational life. For instance, other than the annual performance review, what kind of ongoing coaching do you receive from your supervisor? Hopefully, a lot. Maybe not though.

Do some have a certain level of natural talent? Likely. Can others get better over time? Sure. Are you practicing the right stuff? Hopefully. 

Social Intelligence and Leadership

It has been observed that while some people may have strong intellectual abilities, they seem to struggle to master social skills which enable them to interact successfully with other people. This ability to 'get along' with others has been recognised amongst scholars as a form of competency or even a specific type of intelligence: social intelligence.

Social intelligence can be described as a combination of abilities: the first is a basic understanding of people (ie. a kind of strategic social awareness) and the second is the skills needed for interacting successfully with them. In other words, the ability to get along with other and to encourage them to cooperate with you.

Social intelligence can be thought of as encompassing five dimensions:

Presence – your external image or sense of self that is perceived by others, eg, confidence, self-respect or self-worth

Clarity – your ability to express yourself clearly, explain concepts clearly and using language effectively, while persuading with ideas

Awareness – your ability to understand social contexts that influence behaviour (ie. “read situations”) and to choose the behavioural strategies most likely to be successful.

Authenticity – the way of behaviour which gives a perception of honesty.

Empathy – your ability to create a sense of connection with others and to encourage them to cooperate with you, rather than work against you, as well as an appreciation for the emotions and experiences of others

The likes of Daniel Goleman argue that social intelligence alongside emotional intelligence are leadership competencies which are often overlooked, when considering how skilful a leader might be. So by embracing these dimensions of intelligence, and understanding the effect that leaders have on others, may influence how you approach future leadership interactions and as a consequence create overtly positive experiences for both parties. This is something that can be learned, although it can be hard to do so without appropriate self awareness or the help of others.

If you found reading this interesting, here are a further four suggestions: Are You Born Intelligent or Does It Develop Socially? and What is Emotional Intelligence? and Can Intelligence be Improved? and Learning Disabilities and Intelligence.

Spiritual Intelligence and Leadership

Danah Zohar and Ian Marshall, in their co-authored book Spiritual Intelligence - The Ultimate Intelligence [2001], suggests that empirical evidence is available for the existence of spiritual intelligence and for the existence of a "God spot" in the brain. This not about proving the existence of God but rather of a distinct type of intelligence within the human brain, alongside cognitive intelligence and emotional intelligence. 

Danah Zohar sees SQ as the intelligence that unifies experience, seeks meaning and drives us towards transcending and transforming our current reality. In other words, it is SQ that pushes us towards creativity. Therefore, according to Zohar, creativity is fundamentally a part of every human being. Much of her research incorporates reports gleaned from the reflections of acknowledged creators - artists, composers, sculptors, discoverers, scientists - who speak of the moment of creation as being akin to a spiritual experience.

Zohar distinguishes between the three types of intelligence thus:

IQ: cognitive intelligence is generally acknowledged by academia and education. It is essentially serial in nature, being logical and deductive; it is goal-oriented in nature, accurate, precise and reliable.

EQ: emotional intelligence, identified by Daniel Goleman [1996], and recognised as associative in nature. It makes links between emotions, between emotions and bodily feelings and enables us to recognise patterns like faces or smells, as well as to learn skills and to interact with others in social contexts. It is influenced by experience by virtue of being pattern-related. It becomes tacit learning, in that the experience, through practice, becomes part of the person.

SQ: according to Zohar spiritual intelligence is meaning-giving, contextualising and transformative. Understanding is essentially holistic and is linked to this unitive thinking. From here it is possible to rethink, to recontextualise and to create. Zohar sets out a number of dimensions:

1. Self-Awareness: you know who you really are and you know that you are connected to the whole universe.

2. Vision & Values Led: or Idealism. Children naturally want to serve, and so do we. Being vision and values led is definitive of our humanity.

3. The Capacity to Face and Use Adversity: owning our mistakes and adversity to learn

4. To be Holistic: seeing the connections between things. Being open to and interested in everything.

5. Diversity: thriving in and celebrating diversity. I look at you and see what is different in you and I say "Thank you for that!"

6. Field Independence: a term from psychology that means the courage not to bend to external forces but to remain independent.

7. The Tendency to Ask Why?: Questions are infinite. In Quantum Physics questions create reality.

8. The Ability to Re-Frame: putting things into a wider meaning.

9. Spontaneity: this is not about acting on a whim…it comes from the same Latin roots as response and responsibility. It is appropriately "responsive to" the world.

What does this add to our understanding of ourselves, our creativity and others? Just this: spiritual intelligence as the basis for all creativity - however great or small - means that the creative process is neither accidental nor trivial. Thus creativity is fundamental to the nature of human beings. It can be linked to our search for higher meaning. If high-level creativity is situated at the edge between order and chaos then perhaps we need a higher level of intelligence, that of spiritual intelligence, to help us navigate through the process.

Thus, far from being at the margins of our lives, creativity is central to who and what we are - and we need to be aware of this in our work, our play, our relationships and our development of self.

If all of this now seems a little too beyond the pale, it is worth remembering that Maslow's concept of self-actualisation suggests something very similar, though without the scientific framework offered by Zohar and Marshall. Jung's ideas of consciousness resonate with a similar idea to the concept of transformative thinking and transcendence.

The potential importance of this concept for the workplace lies in the emphasis that an organisation might place on values, principles and ethics.  At a leadership level, the implications are interesting. If a high IQ does not guarantee a good leader and high EQ has been correlated with success. What then if SQ is added to the melting pot. A practitioner may wish to consider taking a deeper approach to knowing themselves by accounting of their values and a sense of spirituality. However, the application of SQ in a leadership setting has yet to be fully tested and as such should is still very much open to debate and discussion.

The Art of Followership

Followership theory is an area that has seen minimal treatment in the academic literature and is an under-appreciated topic amongst leadership practitioners. Although it has received attention in the past (e.g. Chalef, 2003; Kelley, 1992), the study of followership is emerging once more as a critical notion for consideration with the advent of the information age and dramatic changes in organisational settings (Kellerman, 2008).

The idea that leadership is a relationship based on mutual exchange between leaders and followers is not new. Edwin Hollander (1958) suggested that leadership is a two-way influence and social exchange between leaders and followers. Building on these ideas, Robert Greenleaf (1977) went on to encapsulate the leader’s obligation to any followership with the idea that leaders should strive to be ‘servants’. In return, followers ideally provide leaders with a wide variety of positives including focus and self-direction, gratitude and loyalty, commitment and effort, as well as cooperation and sacrifice. 

Reflecting this reciprocal approach, Messick (2005) describes leadership as a mutually beneficial predicated exchange in which leaders ideally strive to provide their followers with an equally varied subset of paybacks, including vision and direction, protection and security, achievement and effectiveness, as well as inclusion and belongingness. In similar fashion, Hollander (2008) also promotes a process of active followership, emphasising follower needs and expectations, with the guiding principle of "doing things with people, not to people”. Of course, it is rare that all of these factors are either met or even required by both leaders and followers. Nevertheless, some particular subset of these ‘rewards’ would usually be apparent in any leader-follower relationship, with the exact combination varying according to some combination of both participant characteristics and the environmental/goal context

As long as there have been leaders, there have been followers, and leaders cannot accomplish what they do without followers (Kelley, 1992). Newell (2002) suggested that a growing trend in leadership is to inspire followership, and to this end, coaching and mentoring outdoor practitioners to transform participants into good followers should be considered an essential skill in today’s environment. Outdoor leaders must actively contribute to the forming of good leader-follower relationships (Vince, 2002) if they are to benefit from the leader-member exchange and promote the sharing of group goals personal beliefs and values consistent with the axioms that exist in the outdoors. Finally, Banutu-Gomez’s (2004) contention that leaders must teach their followers to be good followers requires the development of concepts consistent with leader-follower exchanges that place leadership in the hands of the followers.

Factors Affecting Expedition Dynamics

Whilst the traditional view of group dynamics and effectiveness is dependent on cognitive ability and technical skills (Brymer, 2006), contemporary research indicates a strong link between performance and individuals' ability to co-operate, resolve conflicts effectively and communicate openly (Forsythe, 2006). Further work has highlighted the importance of individual meaning, values and beliefs that are brought to the experience (Smith & Mackie, 2007). However, studies of these or other factors that may affect individual, group and leadership dynamics on expeditions are sparse. Obtaining insights into such elements could be of use to outdoor leadership practitioners, in the same way exploring the dynamics of sport teams has been useful in understanding organisational structures (Brymer, 2006).

In terms of appreciating the dynamics that exist in an emerging group setting, then overlapping similarities can be found between sports and expeditions (Brymer, 2006). In that, physically oriented activities are inherent in both, requiring successful leadership, either designated or emergent, to succeed in achieving specific goals (Ogilvie, 2005). However, there are a number of important differences. Expeditions often include an extended preparation period in order to achieve a goal that may take months to complete (e.g. Fuchs, 2007). Furthermore, the task is rarely associated with direct competition against another team and once the task is complete, the expedition usually disbands (Wright, 2005). Some organisational groups share these task similarities. However, expedition participants are together for twenty-four hours each day. Often expeditions involve journeys in hazardous environments where members' interact with cultures that are vastly different from their own (Beames, 2003). In addition, work-based teams generally gain support from an overarching body, whereas on expedition groups are invariably self-contained and remote from familiar surroundings.

A crucial factor affecting group dynamics and effectiveness, especially considering the extreme situations that are sometimes experienced on expeditions, is the extent to which leaders have an effect on the emotional and general wellbeing of others. Therefore, it seems likely that the way a leader perceives their role during an expedition will have a strong influence on group dynamics (Blanchard et al., 2007; Deegan, 2007; Wagstaff, Attarian & Drury, 2007). Higgs et al., (2005) note that a leader should ensure the best use of each team member. As such, the role of the leader is vital in ensuring that individuals develop the shared feelings required for optimum performance (Mitten & Clement, 2007; Wright, 2005; Yukelson, 2005).

Potentially the time spent away from home can give participants the opportunity for experimentation, observation and reflection leading to a deeper and broader understanding of their place in the intellectual, physical, social and emotional world (Bartunek, 2006; Priest & Gass, 2005; Pike & Beames, 2007). Still, the use of expeditions for personal development has been challenged (Allison, 1998; Garst et al., 2001). Furthermore, it has been argued that positive experiences depend on the individual's initial attributes, value attainment, beliefs and identity (Brymer, 2006). It is possible that an expedition could result in personal devastation. Only if this intense emotional conflict results in personal integration will growth take place. Conceivably, this is how expeditions enhance personal growth. If this is the case, then support and understanding from the leader are critical (Wagstaff et al., 2007).

Expeditions are clearly complex and unique matters where groups dynamics are interwoven with personal experiences. Mortlock (2001) suggest that an expedition can bring together everything that is central to outdoor learning. An expedition can represent the pinnacle of a participants existence, aligning elements of discovery through new perspectives (Bartunek, 2004). For indivdiual group members, expeditions can constitute changes in their experience of their world and their reactions to these situations reform their personal relationships with the world and ‘self’ in intellectual, physical, emotional and social dimensions (Beames, 2004; Fredrickson & Anderson, 1999; Stott and Hall, 2003). Certainly expeditions can be a suitable vehicle for learning (Ashby, 1999; Drury et al., 2005; Kennedy, 1992).

Despite the disparate nature of expeditions, existing research has indicated the importance of psychological and psychosocial considerations, in particular the role of group dynamics (Brymer, 2006; Potter, 1998; Woodvine, 1998). Any form of leadership within that context needs to demonstrate an adaptable and flexible approach. Expeditions can also be led more effectively if the factors and antecedents that may affect individual, team and leadership dynamics are recognised and understood.

A Dispositional Approach Towards Inclusive Adaptive Leadership - Suresh Paul and Mark Tozer

As a practitioner, can you lead inclusively? Do you lead inclusively? These are different questions, and your answer may well be "yes" to the first and "no" to the second. The first question asks about ability: if you are given a mixed ability group to lead, could you lead them inclusively? The second tacitly asks much more, it goes beyond ability and asks about inclination: Are you disposed to leading inclusively? Do you like to lead inclusively? Do you lead inclusively regularly? 

Leading inclusively is like higher order thinking in at least this respect: in both cases, ability alone is not enough to ensure ongoing performance. Paul (2010) suggests that the creation of inclusive meaningful opportunities in the outdoors requires the taming of a wicked problem that is embedded in a social mess. Furthermore, Paul (2010) proposes two models that provide a nexus for developing leadership dispositions through inspirational learning and the enhancement of a leader’s adaptive capacity. 

Developing the capacity for individuals to learn more effectively from their experiences is an important part of building the expertise, knowledge and skills for inclusive leadership. A likely outcome is the formation of dispositions of adaptive capacity or expertise.

Figure 1: The Fear Fear and Fear Model (Paul 2010) sets out the barriers that exist for practitioners who wish to learn how to be inclusive adaptive leaders. In order for adaptive capacity to flourish from the outset, individuals need to consider the importance of: (1) practicing different ways of learning, (2) ensuring variation in that practice (3) become proficient at making balanced judgements about how or if an experience might change their current perspective by reflecting on their learning experiences and (4) become adept at seeking out and taking different perspectives by applying principles of ‘good thinking’ (Figure 2).

Figure 1: The Fear Fear and Fear Model (Paul 2010) 

Good thinking (Perkins et al., 1993a) is characterised by seven dispositions 1) To be broad and adventurous 2) Toward sustained intellectual curiosity 3) To clarify and seek understanding 4) To plan and be strategic 5) To be intellectually careful 6) To seek and evaluate reasons 7) To be meta-cognitive. Each disposition (Figure 3) is a complex relationship between three elements: inclination (a person’s felt tendency towards a particular behaviour), sensitivity (a person’s alertness towards a particular occasion), and capability (the ability of a person to follow through with a behaviour). 

Figure 2: A Disposition And Its Elements (Tozer et al., 2007)

A ‘good leader’ may be disposed towards all of the thinking behaviours, and appropriately exhibit one or more of them depending on the situation. Perkins et al (1993a) contend that it raises provocative questions about existing models of thinking, casts new light on controversial issues in the field, connects in interesting ways to findings in other promising areas of cognitive research, and has important implications for the education of good thinking. Inclusive leadership is more than just a matter of skill. It involves attending to one's attitudes, values and of habits of mind. Adaptive leaders need to be good thinkers and develop appropriate dispositions in accordance with that (Tozer et al., 2007).

Typically, a leadership practitioner is an experienced and qualified individual who may act as a positive role model to those they lead. Loynes (2004) considers that the functions of leadership whilst in the outdoors are concerned with working with participants, ensuring maximised opportunities for all involved, resolving group issues and task problems along with achieving the desired goals. Loynes also states that leadership must focus upon managing a number of diverse and changing factors that arise within wilderness settings, something he regards as a complex and dynamic process. Figure 3: The Inclusive Adventure Model (Paul, 2010) provides a focal point for balancing these factors for practitioners as they think about being inclusive and adaptive as leaders. 

Figure 3: The Inclusive Adventure Model (Paul, 2010) 

The fear of change (Figure 1) can be eased when people anticipate and plan how to manage it. One effective plan for overcoming the theory-or-practice learning dilemma is to aim to combine theory and practice into one rhythm of effort. In practical terms, that means taking either a think-do-think approach to developing inclusive and adaptive dispositions as leaders, or a do-think-do approach. Both of these approaches involve cycles of reflection and practice. All these elements will be recognisable in any leadership approach that reflects understanding through flexible performances and the cognitive agility to adapt to their participants’ needs.

Applying ideas about adaptive capacity, learning and inclusion to a wide variety of outdoor skills, abilities and conditions that can occur within leadership practices is likely to develop a greater flexibility in dealing with new learning situations. Initially, the practice of leading in an adaptable way will require careful analysis and review of learning episodes and experiences. Eventually, the process will become automated. In the end, a good learner, and hence a good leader, will be able to learn, act and think more skilfully with only sporadic self-checking in novel and dynamically variable circumstances (Schwartz et al., 2005). 

Inclusive adaptive leadership will require innovative thinking; it entails practitioners taking positive and inspiring learning steps; and it necessitates them to be able to work openly with others. What is needed of a good leader is the ability to recognise and apply good adaptive practices in potentially novel and unstructured situations. To be accustomed to operating independently, make decisions in chaotic conditions and be cognitively agile (Tozer et al., 2007). 

Philosophiae Doctor Abstract

The Leadership Pathway:

An Epistemological Exploration of

Outdoor Leadership and

Expedition Dynamics

Using Theory Elaboration

The thesis focuses on theory elaboration and knowledge creation on the part of a practitioner-researcher examining leadership in the outdoors and on expedition. It aims to contribute to an epistemological shift in how individuals approach their development as leaders and intends to generate critical thinking in relation to the leader / participant relationship. Central to this thesis is the examination of emerging paradigms created by the enquiry process with the belief that research can inform practice, and reflection on that practice creates understanding that is applicable to future real world settings.

The research involved gathering data from key stakeholders, including the participants and leaders of outdoor education and expedition programmes, using both quantitative and qualitative techniques in order to achieve methodological diversity. Under investigation were three distinct and logically separable, yet mutually relevant perspectives. Firstly, how participants perceived leadership behaviour and what the associated effects were. Secondly, how practitioners perceived their own approach to leadership and whether an individual’s epistemological beliefs influence their worldviews. Thirdly, what relational dynamics existed between the process of leadership and the formation of a successful team as viewed in an expedition context.

A research cohort was generated by participants from schools in Wales attending 28-day overseas youth development expeditions as provided by Outlook Expeditions. Further data collection occurred by approaching established practitioners and expedition leaders in the field of outdoor education using on-line forums to give access to a UK wide sample to discuss issues emergent in contemporary leadership and expedition culture. Lastly, the investigation process adopted a phenomenographic approach with 12 participants engaging in a wilderness sea kayaking journey in Alaska to explore the dynamics that exist on expedition.

The findings highlight a number of important considerations for leadership practitioners. In order for leaders to be effective, they require a sophisticated understanding of which behaviours are most applicable as participants mature through the development process. Awareness is also needed of how epistemological beliefs affect the cognitive processes of those in a leadership role thus influencing the leader’s practices and behaviours. It is highly valuable that leaders have the capacity to be adaptive and they are motivated to act flexibly in any given situation. Participants have values, beliefs and identities that ascribe personal meaning, direction and motivation to an expedition setting. Therefore, good leadership in the outdoors depends on the integration of these personal values, beliefs and participants’ identity along with the possession of affective skills to complement them.

The thesis draws conclusions surrounding each of the studies, identifies a number of implications for leadership development and makes recommendations that centre on creating a leadership pathway framed by a competency grid. An alternate methodology for future research is also proposed.

Leadership Development - Conditional Outdoor Leadership Theory

Image Credit: Paddle Golden Gate

Simon Priest and Robert Chase (1989) took the notion of situational leadership and adapted it specifically for outdoor practitioners. The Conditional Outdoor Leadership Theory (COLT) postulates that leaders must go beyond the dimensions of relationship, task, and group readiness and look at all the levels of conditional favourability (Martin et al., 2006; Priest & Gass, 2005). The COLT model presents a continuum of leadership styles from autocratic, through democratic, to abdicratic (Lewin et al., 1938; Katz et al., 1950; Tannenbaum & Schmidt, 1973) depending on whether the power to make decisions rests with the leader, is shared between the leader and group, or is abdicated to the group (Priest, 1986; Priest & Gass, 2005; Ogilvie, 2005). 

Figure 1: COLT Model (Priest & Gass, 2005, p 248)

According to this model, with increasing concern for a task, or getting the job done, good leaders adopt an autocratic leadership style. With increasing concern for relationships, effective leaders employ an abdicratic style. When these concerns are equally important, the model predicts that good leaders will utilize a democratic style. These styles are spread across a typical orientation matrix of (X-axis by Y-axis) concern for task and concern for relationships (Stogdill & Coons, 1957; Blake &  Mouton, 1978; Hersey & Blanchard, 1982). 

UThe proportion of style expressed also 'flexes' in response to a spectrum of factors (Z-axis) encompassing the favourability of conditions (Fiedler, 1967; Ogilvie, 2005). 

Image Credits: Mark Tozer Collection 

The degree to which there is a high or low 'favourability' within each of these conditions - environmental dangers, leader proficiency, group cohesion, member competence, and decision consequences will create circumstances conducive that shift the style in one direction or another. 

Low favourability: Dangers are extreme; leadership is deficient; the individuals are incompetent; there is poor group cohesion; consequences of decisions are major. A more autocratic style might be necessary.

Medium favourability: Dangers are acceptable; the leader is proficient; individuals are reasonably responsible; the group gets along fairly well; the consequences of decisions are mostly recoverable. Style depends on the "pull" of concerns.

High favorability: Dangers minimal; the leader is highly proficient; the are very competent; the group gets along very well; the consequence of decisions are minor. A more abdicratic style may be favorable.

In other words, immediate danger can require autocratic leadership, though a united and competent group may well flourish under an abdicratic leader, even under adverse conditions (Martin et al., 2006; Priest & Gass, 2005; Ogilvie, 2005). 

The key point to pick up here is that no one style can be right all the time. The most effective style for ‘good leadership’ is one that is flexible within changing situations (Dixon & Priest, 1991, Tozer et al, 2007). 

Ogilvie (2005) makes the remark that the model is a sophisticated one and considerable effort is required to grasp the essential meaning sufficiently to be of any use in practice. 

However, the COLT model is considered to be more finely tuned to the needs of outdoor learning where levels of concern for the care and well being of the individual are likely to be higher than in the cut-and-thrust realms of industry and commerce from which most other models and theories about leadership have originated. 

Image Credits: Mark Tozer Collection

Reference List 

Blake, R. R. & Mouton, J. S. (1978) The New Managerial Grid. Houston TX: Gulf 

Dixon, T., & Priest, S. (1991) Confirmation of the Conditional Outdoor Leadership 

Theory. Journal Of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership 8 (1)

Fiedler, F. E. (1967) A Theory of Leadership Effectiveness. New York: Mcgraw-Hill

Hersey, P., & Blanchard, K. (1982) Management of Organisation Behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Katz et al., (1950) 

Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. K. (1938) An Experimental Approach to The 

Study of Autocracy and Behaviour. Sociometry 1: 292-300

Martin, B., Cashel, C., Wagstaff, M. & Breunig, M. (2006) Outdoor Leadership –

Theory and Practice. Champaign, Illinois. Human Kinetics

Ogilvie, K. (2005) Leading and Managing Groups in The Outdoors. Penrith: Institute 

for Outdoor Learning

Priest, S. (1988a) The Conditional Theory of Leadership: An Exercise in Flexibility. 

Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership 6 (2): 10-17

Priest, S., & Chase, R. (1989) The Conditional Theory of Outdoor Leadership Style. 

Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Leadership 6 (3) 10-17

Priest, S., & Gass, MA (2005) Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming. Human Kinetics. Stogdill and Coons, 1957 

Stogdill & Coons, 1957

Tannenbaum, R. & Schmidt, W. H (1973) How To Choose a Leadership Pattern. 

Harvard Business Review 51 (3): 162-275

Tozer, M., Fazey, I., & Fazey, J. (2007) Recognizing and Developing Adaptive 

Expertise Within Outdoor and Expedition Leaders. Journal of Adventure 

Education & Outdoor Learning 7:1: 55 – 75

Research

Initially, my interest in researching issues relating to outdoor practice came from my time as an undergraduate student at the University of Wales, Bangor where I studied sports science , health promotion and physical education (SHAPE). Subsequently, I returned to complete a PhD as a post-gradaute student within the School of Education.

My PhD research set out to examine adaptive expertise within leadership and how this might impact on the development cycle for participants and practitioners alike. A particular focus was that of overseas expedition leadership and the processes of recruitment, selection and continued training. This area received recognition from the Royal Geographical Society and the Expeditions Providers Association. The funding for this project was made possible as a result of sponsorship from the European Social Fund and Outlook Expeditions.

The final thesis was entitled The Leadership Pathway: An Epistemological Exploration of Outdoor Leadership and Expedition Dynamics Using Theory Elaboration.

At present, my research interests include examining the effect of epistemological beliefs on approaches to leadership in the outdoors, as well  continuing to investigate practitioner behaviours and how these impact on participants’ engagement and learning processes.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Tozer, M., Collins, D., & Hathaway, T. (2011) Learning Through Expeditions: The Need For Method As Well As Opportunity - A Response To Allison & Von Wald (2010) Journal of Pastoral Care in Education 29 (1): 51-56

Hathaway, T & Tozer, M. (2010) Opening the space of variation and learning during teaching: the importance of research to discipline-based expertise. Pedagogic Research in Maximising Education

Tozer, M., Fazey, I., & Fazey, J (2007) Recognising and Developing Adaptive Expertise Within Expedition Leaders. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning 7 (1), 55-75

Knowledge Transfer Publications

The Art and Science of Leadership. Ocean Paddler 26 (40-44).

Understanding Expedition Dynamics. Ocean Paddler 28 (36-38).

Leadership Essentials. Ocean Paddler 30 (50-53).

Efficient Forward Paddling. California Kayaker Magazine (Issue #9 - Summer 2012).

Book Reviews

Tozer, M & Hathaway, T. (2010) Understanding Educational Expeditions. Journal of Adventure Education & Outdoor Learning, 10 (2), 161

Conference Presentations

Equal Adventure Lecture, Royal Geographical Society London (2010) - A Dispositional Approach Towards Inclusive Adaptive Leadership (Suresh Paul and Mark Tozer)

The Wilderness Education Association's National Conference for Outdoor Leadership, Indiana February 2009 - Sustaining Expertise And Leadership in the Outdoors

The Outdoor Show, Friedrischafen, Germany June 2008 - Outdoor Leadership in a Sustainable World

RGS-IBG Postgraduate Forum Mid-Term Conference, Edinburgh February 2007 - Recognising and Developing Adaptive Expertise Within Expedition Leaders

UWB Postgraduate Forum Mid-Term Conference, Edinburgh January 2007 - Learning More Effectively From Experience For Good Leadership In The Outdoors

RGS-IBG Annual Conference, London August 2006 - Leading More Effectively From Experience On Overseas Expeditions

IOL UK Outdoor Learning Research Forum, Exmouth November 2005 - Towards A Dispositional Model of Leadership

Reports and Technical Papers

Expedition Leadership – Competency Grid : A technical paper for use in achieving a recruitment standards framework (Outlook Expeditions) March 2007

Building a Standards Framework for Recruitment and Training of Expedition Leaders - Evaluation Report November 2006

Knowledge Exploitation Fund Training and Development Programme For Entrepreneurship Champions - Evaluation Report June 2005

Invitation

Collaboration is often the key to understanding and mutual progression in learning. I would like to extend this invitation to anyone who wishes to engage in joint research or co-authored articles to get in touch. Let's all keep sharing what we know