Collective Leadership Learning (CLL) – Leader reflections on learning during higher‑level, experience-based leadership education

Background: It has been argued that leadership and management programs are biased in that they emphasise the individual anchored and analytical aspects of leadership rather than the collective, emotional, and behavioural aspects. We wanted to investigate what leaders (students) participating in an experienced-based master’s program emphasised as important when looking back on learning throughout their study period. Methods: We examined systematic reflections regarding leadership development, which were provided in master’s theses (n = 44) from 2011 to 2016. We used template analysis and sorted the descriptions into different areas of competencies (thinking – the analytical aspect; doing – the behavioural aspect; caring – the emotional aspect; and collaborating – the collective or relational aspect). We then further sorted into four social arenas of leadership (organisational, group, peer, and individual levels). Results: We found that the thinking (analytical) and doing (behavioural) aspects of leadership development were thoroughly described in the systematic reflections, and the caring (emotional) aspect was described to a far lesser degree. Another important finding was leaders’ significant appreciation for a platform that provides collaboration and knowledge sharing, which was made available through the design of the study program. Discussion and conclusion: This is (to our knowledge) the first study to investigate leaders’ descriptions of learning throughout an experience-based master’s program. The study moderates previous criticism of leadership development programs at universities. Nevertheless, further studies should investigate how to develop the emotional aspects of leadership within a university context. When designing study programs, one should also embrace the rich knowledge and experience that leaders bring into the classroom and the exchange of this knowledge and experience through Collective Leadership Learning (CLL).