Being and becoming beginning military leaders: Implications for leadership learning

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to describe junior military officers’ leadership development experiences and to draw implications for leadership learning in their professional development. The research uses a systematic grounded theory design. Through in-depth interviews of 19 military officers, the data were coded and analyzed with a paradigm model that was developed to describe the development of military officers’ experiences as leaders. The findings show that military leadership development is a process that is defined by the experiences of establishing oneself as a vocational leader, developing confidence in leadership skills, and leading with mission clarity and genuine concern for their “subordinates.” The results reinforce the notion that leadership development is a continuous learning process beyond formal program and other transient events. Results also imply that fundamental assumptions for formal leadership development programs must be conceptualized and conceived as a process of “being, becoming, and belonging.” This non-positivist empirical study answers the call for more qualitative and interpretive approaches in leadership development research and contribute to the body of knowledge of leadership learning in military leadership development.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership development
• development trajectory
• grounded theory
• beginning leaders
• leadership learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

This data set is not publicly available. Please contact the corresponding author.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ Names of respondents are pseudonyms.

² Interview questions adopted from Charmaz and Belgrave (2012) and Kempster (2006).