Military college alumni application of leadership competencies in the workplace

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to explore the leadership competencies that are effectively transferring into the workplaces of recent military college alumni from both their curricular and co-curricular experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

Through semi-structured interviews, this study explored 15 military college alumni’s perspectives on the leadership competencies they developed in college and currently apply in the workplace.

Findings

The findings indicated the 15 military college alumni participants developed and applied the following student leadership competencies at work: productive relationships, helping others, supervision, empathy, ethics, functioning independently, resiliency, positive attitude and scope of competence.

Originality/value

Limited research explores leadership learning at military colleges and service academies in the United States. Yet these collegiate military environments have a missional focus on leadership education and development. This article highlights the importance of the alumni lens in assessing leadership learning in collegiate military environments and provides recommendations to administrators of this institution type.

Citation

Egan, J.D., Clark, T.S. and Connolly, I.M. (2024), "Military college alumni application of leadership competencies in the workplace", Journal of Leadership Education, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JOLE-05-2024-0067

In our review of senior military college and service academy mission statements, we found almost all emphasized leadership development or leadership education or referenced developing leaders. Some mission statement phrases included: “graduate leaders of exemplary character” (U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 2022), “develops well-educated leaders” (Texas A & M Corps of Cadets, n.d.), “develop officer-ready leaders” (U.S. Coast Guard Academy, n.d.), “graduate leaders who are dedicated” (U.S. Naval Academy, n.d.), “develop our students to become principled leaders” (The Citadel, n.d.) and to educate “commissioned leaders of character” (U.S. Military Academy at West Point, n.d.). Leadership learning is occurring on these campuses; however, limited published research exists that provides evidence this learning is taking place.

More research can be found in the context of traditional college campuses, and the evidence mostly indicates positive leadership learning is occurring through co-curricular involvement, student leadership roles, mentoring, leadership coursework, leadership programs and community service (Burbank, Odom, & Sandlin, 2015; Bush, Pratt Lickley, & Meacham, 2023; Dugan & Komives, 2007, 2010; Kim, 2022). Further, some research has examined the application of alumni’s on-campus leadership learning in their post-graduation lives and careers (Beatty, Wiborg, Brewster, & LeBlanc, 2021; Egan, McBrayer, Tolman, & Wells, 2020; Rosch, Wilson, May, & Spencer, 2023). No recent studies could be found exploring the alumni transfer of leadership learning from collegiate military environments to the workplace.

Leadership learning includes the following aspects: knowledge about leadership, intrapersonal development as a leader, training on specific leadership competencies, learning through reflective experience or observation and awareness of how one learns leadership (Guthrie & Jenkins, 2018). Our study focused on the training aspect of leadership learning, with Seemiller’s (2014) student leadership competencies serving as a primary conceptual framework. The purpose of this study was to explore the leadership competencies that are effectively transferring into the workplaces of recent military college alumni from both their curricular and co-curricular experiences. To this end, we sought to address the following research question: What leadership competencies do military college alumni, who previously held positional roles, perceive they learned and apply in their post-graduate workplaces?

Literature review

Co-curricular campus engagement and leadership positions

Engagement in co-curricular activities such as Greek life, student organizations, clubs, athletics and other like experiences has been generally associated with positive leadership development gains for undergraduates (Dugan & Komives, 2007, 2010; Kim, 2022; Mak & Kim, 2017; Rosch, 2015). Dugan and Komives’ (2007) landmark research on this topic included over 50,000 students on 52 campuses. The study found that campus involvement had a moderate effect on scales associated with common purpose, collaboration and citizenship, while leadership positions had a positive influence on all Social Change Model (SCM) leadership value outcomes as well as leadership efficacy. A more recent study with over 700 undergraduate students found that those participating in clubs scored relatively higher in the individual, group and community SCM leadership values than non-participants (Kim, 2022).

Studies using different leadership outcome measures further affirm the importance of co-curricular involvement and holding student leadership positions (Mak & Kim, 2017; Rosch, 2015). A study using the transformational leadership scale with over 900 college students found that officers in student organizations scored significantly higher than non-officers in three of the measured leadership outcomes: management of feelings, management of meaning and management of risk (Mak & Kim, 2017). Rosch (2015) found that senior engineering students with higher levels of organizational involvement scored significantly higher in their social normative motivation to lead.

Qualitative studies further highlight the leadership development opportunities afforded to those students in leadership positions. Through interviews with 50 students in leadership positions from multiple campuses, Sessa, Morgan, Kalenderli, and Hammond (2014) found that two of their top five key leadership development events included: (1) students holding their first leadership position and (2) students adjusting to an expanded leadership position. Some of the top leadership lessons learned in order included self-identity, task skills (plan, organize, budget), leadership identity, adaptability and initiative. Another study explored the leadership development influences and further leadership development needs of 17 student organization presidents (Bush et al., 2023). Among other themes, participants discussed developing skills including collaboration, communication, problem solving, dependability and initiative.

A few studies cast some doubt on the impact leadership positions and organizational involvement have on leadership development (Cletzer, Mott, Simonsen, Tummons, & Peckman, 2023; Dugan, Turman, & Torrez, 2015). For instance, a study including over 29,000 college students who participated in intramural and club sports found that positional roles negatively influenced resilience and leadership capacity (Dugan et al., 2015). Though positional roles did positively predict leadership efficacy. The authors suggested the negative effect on leadership capacity may be due to students slipping into a command-and-control type of leadership when in positional roles. Cletzer et al.’s (2023) qualitative case study found that club officers described leadership in positional terms, and leading meant executing tasks for members with little consideration of collective capacities for leadership. Finally, much less research exists exploring the role of co-curricular involvement or leadership positions on student leadership development in a military college, service academy or other Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) environments.

Leadership development at military colleges

The military colleges and Federal Service Academies in the United States share the mission of educating and developing future military officers of character who are prepared to lead in service to their country. These institution types include six U.S. Senior Military Colleges (including Norwich University, Texas A&M University, The Citadel, University of North Georgia, Virginia Military Institute and Virginia Tech) and five U.S. Federal Service Academies (including the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Coast Guard Academy and U.S. Merchant Marine Academy). Leadership development in these military institutions is critical in preparing future military officers for the complex challenges they will face, and, as a result, all 11 institutions emphasize leadership and character development within their curricula and educational programs.

The leadership development programs provided by these institutions are designed to be comprehensive and well-rounded, presenting a combined curricular and co-curricular experience that emphasizes character development, academic achievement, military excellence and fitness training that results in developing the “whole person” (Husted & West, 2008, p. 35). For instance, Adamshick (2010) explained that the leadership development program at the U.S. Naval Academy is its primary distinguishing feature from other civilian institutions, emphasizing that military school graduates are employed almost immediately and placed in leadership positions that “challenge their values and test their character in today’s highly complex and dangerous battle space” (p. 51). Elaborating, he emphasized that “because having a strong foundation of honor and character is of utmost importance for becoming an exceptional leader, the character program [at the Naval Academy] strives to educate and motivate [students] into taking a serious step down the path of developing their own character” (Adamshick, 2010, p. 52). In short, character and leadership development have become a central aspect of collegiate military environments.

Though limited empirical work examines this leadership development, there is some evidence suggesting these programs are effective (Bartone, Snook, Forsythe, Lewis, & Bullis, 2007; Husted & West, 2008). In a longitudinal study designed to assess the psychosocial development and leader performance of military officer cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, Bartone et al. (2007) found significant positive developmental progression over four years for approximately half of the participants. Additionally, they found that this type of development predicted the performance of the cadet leaders during the last two years at the institution, when students typically assume their most senior cadet leadership roles (Bartone et al., 2007). Another study surveyed 53 alumni of a military college with senior-level executive experience in business and found participants ranked the cadet honor code as the number one experience that made them successful leaders above advanced degrees, military service and corporate leadership experience (Husted & West, 2008). The alumni perspective of leadership development from traditional college campuses has been more thoroughly explored.

Alumni perspectives on leadership development on traditional campuses

Recent studies have begun to examine alumni perspectives of prior on campus leadership learning in both curricular and co-curricular settings (Beatty et al., 2021; Egan et al., 2020; Rosch et al., 2023). Beatty et al. (2021) interviewed 20 undergraduate alumni who had completed an academic leadership certificate to explore the leadership learning they utilize in their post-college roles and careers. Alumni highlighted the importance of reflection within the program and how this impacts their current leadership practice. Further, they described an appreciation for building relationships and practicing collaboration and were able to describe times when they applied previous leadership learning in their current life.

From a co-curricular setting, Egan et al. (2020) interviewed eight undergraduate alumni who had participated in a multi-year, co-curricular leadership program. Participants reported applying leadership learning from the program in the workplace, including strengths awareness, emotional intelligence awareness, leadership confidence, communication, collaboration, conflict negotiation and diversity awareness. Another study interviewed 25 undergraduate alumni who were previously engaged in a variety of co-curricular organizations to explore how this participation contributed to their leadership development (Rosch et al., 2023). Findings indicated that through these co-curricular experiences, alumni learned leadership was an interdependent endeavor, necessitated abandoning self-centered behaviors and involved training others for future success. We were unable to identify any recent studies that explored the alumni perspective on leadership development garnered from previous military college or service academy experiences.

Conceptual frameworks

Student leadership competencies

Seemiller’s (2014) student leadership competencies served as a conceptual framework for this study. The 60 competencies were identified through analyzing learning outcomes from 475 academic programs among 49 accrediting agencies and competencies were also found in common models used for collegiate leadership development (Seemiller & Murray, 2013). In a follow-up study, Seemiller (2021) reaffirmed the competencies’ prevalence and frequency within academic programs. Each of the 60 competencies has been clustered across eight categories, including: learning and reasoning, self-awareness and development, interpersonal interaction, group dynamics, civic responsibility, communication, strategic planning and personal behavior. Using the student leadership competencies as a lens, our study seeks to capture military college alumni’s perceptions of previous on-campus leadership competency development and the present-day application of these competencies in their workplace.

Modified framework of leadership learning for student success

An additional modified framework helped solidify our understanding of the participants’ relation to the learning context, leadership competency gains and successful application of these gains in the workplace. Beatty et al. (2021) interviewed alumni of an undergraduate leadership certificate program, and they developed a conceptual framework that illustrated program alumni gained leadership learning outside of the curricular certificate program through other student engagement opportunities and campus climate. We modified Beatty et al.’s (2021) framework to recognize that alumni participants in our study experienced leadership competency gains outside of their leadership positions on campus through academic coursework, other student engagement and campus climate. We modified the framework because our study focused specifically on leadership competency development and workplace application. Figure 1 represents our modified conceptual framework. It clarified for us that alumni leadership competency gains were garnered from the entire campus experience. Yet, in our interviews, we intentionally prioritized the inner ring (leadership positions), moving outward to the final ring (campus climate).

Methodology

Research design overview

After obtaining IRB approval for this study, we used basic qualitative research methods (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) to explore the leadership competencies that effectively transferred into the workplaces of recent military college alumni. Basic qualitative research explores how people understand and make meaning from their experiences. The design included one-hour, semi-structured interviews with recent alumni of a state military college in the U.S. The data analysis spiral developed by Creswell and Poth (2018) provided the overarching framework for data analysis, and specific coding techniques suggested by Saldaña (2021) were used to develop themes to address the research questions.

Sampling and recruitment

We employed criterion sampling to identify alumni who graduated from the same military college within the past four years and held significant leadership positions as students, including: student company, battalion and regimental command; NCAA team captain and club president. This query resulted in a sub-population of 450 recent military college alumni, including 382 men and 68 women. Additional demographics included 300 White, 32 African American, 26 Hispanic and 10 Asian potential participants (according to the institution’s registrar demographic data). The diversity found in this sub-population is generally representative of the demographics for the complete population of cadets at the college. We sent this sub-population an initial recruitment email describing the purpose of the study, the incentive and the screening survey that would follow in a separate email. A concise screening survey helped to determine eligibility and interest before scheduling interviews. When selecting participants who completed the screening, we applied additional criteria focused on diversifying the sample, including gender, ethnicity and current profession. We offered a coffee mug from the leadership center on campus and a leadership field notebook as incentives.

Participants

The participants in the study were recent alumni of the same military college, graduating between 2018 and 2022, who, through open-ended screening questions, identified as eleven men and four women, ranging in age from 23 to 27 years old. In the findings section, we present pronouns based on this information provided on how participants identified through an open-ended question. Participants' self-description of their race or ethnicity included the following: two as African American, nine as White, two as Caucasian, one as Hispanic/Latino/White and one as White/Hispanic. All participants reported being employed and engaged in various professions, including five serving in the U.S. Military, five working in the corporate sector, four working for the U.S. Government and one attending graduate school. All the participants were highly engaged in campus life while attending the military college, and each held multiple leadership positions during their tenure as a student.

Military college experience

Each alumni participant held a position within a unique college environment that provided a military-style educational experience with the mission of educating and developing leaders. A key part of this culture is the sense of camaraderie that students develop through teamwork and service to others while operating in a military environment. Students live on campus in a regimented lifestyle guided by a formal leadership development program designed around a 24-hour training schedule, which includes early wake-ups, mandatory physical fitness training, daily formations, academics and an honor code. Approximately one-third of the college’s graduates typically accept an officer’s commission into a branch of the U.S. military, with the other two-thirds going on to serve in the public or private sectors or pursue advanced degrees in higher education.

Data collection

Prior to interviews, we prompted participants via email to reflect on how their experiences at the military college impacted their leadership learning, as Patton (1990) suggested it can be appropriate to stimulate recall before interviews. After receiving their informed consent, we conducted a one-hour semi-structured interview with all 15 participants, recording the conversation using Zoom or a recording device if the participant lived locally. The interview protocol served as the primary guide for the conversation, and the interviewer was permitted to freely add additional questions during the interview based on the interview dialogue.

Data analysis

Data analysis started with managing and organizing the recorded data and the interviewers’ field notes. We combined the field notes collected by each interviewer into a single document and organized them using a common template. The recorded audio files were transcribed by a transcription service, and pseudonyms were created to protect the identity of each participant. To ensure our data-coding approach aligned, we conducted co-training to practice the agreed-upon coding technique by using comments in a sample transcript in Microsoft Word. Transcripts were uploaded into MAXQDA qualitative assessment software for coding and analysis. We used two coding cycles that employed pre-selected coding techniques, as suggested by Saldaña (2021). The first cycle coding techniques included sub-coding, structural coding, initial (or open) coding and protocol (or a priori) coding. We created two structural codes—Learned (L) and Applied (A)—to align with the a priori codes. These structural codes indicated a participant’s description of gaining leadership learning (L) and having applied leadership learning in their workplace (A). We leveraged the student leadership competencies developed by Seemiller (2014) to create protocol (or a priori) codes. Throughout the first cycle, memos were included in MAXQDA during the coding process to capture new ideas, rationale for code choices and discussion points if a suitable code was not immediately apparent. Coding separate interviews, we periodically would meet to discuss code choices to ensure consistency. The second cycle focused on pattern coding, where codes were grouped into categories, creating meta-codes that emerged as themes in the data. The emergent themes were further analyzed, and findings were developed. To build trustworthiness and credibility, we employed member-checking to allow participants to provide feedback on the accuracy of themes (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). To further enhance trustworthiness, some reflexive thoughts were captured through post-interview fieldnotes after each interview, and a rich description of the data is provided in the findings.

Findings

The study was designed to address the following research question: What leadership competencies do military college alumni, who previously held positional roles, perceive they developed and apply in their post-graduate workplaces? Data analysis revealed most of the applied competencies that emerged across the data were connected to Seemiller’s (2014) categories of interpersonal interaction and personal behavior. A single competency, scope of competence, arose in the self-awareness and development category. In terms of applying competencies into the workplace, minimal data were connected to Seemiller’s (2014) other five categories.

Interpersonal interaction category

Through consistent, daily interaction with peers in a military college environment, alumni developed the capacity to engage with others effectively. Within the interpersonal interaction category, alumni perceived they transferred the following competencies into their workplace: productive relationships, helping others, supervision and empathy. Lucas best summarized this category, stating, “I will say one of the things that came in handy was, I think, the skill of interpersonal connections.”

Productive relationships: “know your people”

This competency is typified by “a leader who cultivates productive, mutually beneficial relationships with others [by creating] a trusting environment in which people care about each other” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 37). Lisa captured the essence of this competency while using the phrase “Know your people,” which was uttered by several participants. She described the importance of “…getting to know your people on a personal level, knowing who they are and what they actually have to do, like their schedule and stuff, that's really important. Yeah, and how you can work with them...” Mike highlighted the caring aspect of this competency as a primary component of his learning experience. “But the bottom line at the [Military College] was just people don’t care how much I know until they know how much I care… that was definitely the number one thing.”

Viv described how her development in this competency on campus is continually reinforced within her current military role. She stated, “And I'd say even as a [specific position], when I first came into the [specific military branch], and we talk about taking care of people and getting to know your soldiers.” In a civilian workplace, Nick described applying his gained relationship-building skills with clients:

One moment, I could be laughing and joking with clients who I have a relationship with… and five to 10 minutes later, I could be talking to somebody about how they lost a family member or a relative, and being able to switch and being able to understand the gravity of different conversations has been huge just from a relational perspective with my clients. Because you're always, especially in my job, you're either making a deposit or you're making a withdrawal from the trust account that you have with them.

Using the analogy of a bank account, Nick captures the importance of creating a trusting environment with his clients.

Interestingly, an unexpected finding emerged as some participants described observing the opposite of productive relationships and resolving to lead differently. Capturing the expressed experiences of several participants, Charlie stated:

I think probably the best knowledge and experiences I gained were from looking at examples of how not to lead… I saw a lot of bad leadership and how not to treat people… The biggest thing I learned is just like when you're leading people, if you don't show them respect and you don't respect them and show them that you actually care about them, they're not gonna care what you do.

Lisa echoed this sentiment. “Don't be a jerk to people… when you have people in charge of you that are acting like that, that just really shows you that you don't want to be like that. So, I think that was a good lesson.” Alumni further developed this competency through observing behaviors opposed to forming productive relationships.

Helping others: “take care of people”

Leaders who engage in this competency “care about people, they know how valuable it is to help others and foster an environment in which people help each other” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 42). Don described the college’s emphasis on the importance of this competency:

I really feel like the biggest thing at [Military College] is just helping those people around you… So, I truly felt like what the entire [Military College] premise was is just helping those around you and trying to teach them everything that you have learned from your experience and learning from them.

Don surmised that helping others was the “entire premise” of the college, and some participants supported this reality in their use of the phrase “Take care of people.” While discussing her experiences implementing training for over 100 cadets, Viv summarized this work, stating it's “really just take care of people and accomplish a common goal.”

Viv has extended this competency into her military workplace, stating “So I try to take that same approach with my soldiers or with my subordinates.” In describing this approach, she provided an example where she completed the paperwork of a subordinate who wanted to attend their daughter’s extracurricular activity. Finally, Lucas summarized helping others in the workplace, “this job isn't about my international relations skills, and that's not about that; it's about supporting people when they need to be supported.”

Supervision: “the standard”

This competency involves leaders “effectively [providing] direction to those they supervise so they are clear about what they need to do, the process for doing it, and any expectations the leader has” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 58). Unique to the military college experience, cadets operate in a supervisory environment that involves positional authority through rank. Darel described giving others his clear expectations while using the word “standard,” a common reference for expectations among some participants. “As a commander, you set your standards for the company, like what you expect, your expectations at the beginning of the year.” Aubrey discussed enforcing the standard: “It could be upholding a standard that just people don't want you to, but it's important to do it because if you don't, there could be a literal consequence from that exact situation…” Mike believed this learning was primary, stating, “And I remember one of those being just drilling into my head of setting expectations. That’s number one.”

Mike further described transferring the skill of setting expectations and creating a process into his civilian work context.

…but really setting a standard, sustaining process for how we [at work] operate and what we do, is we have six metrics that we measure. So, it’s something that I learned, I guess, at [Military College], but most of it I translated…

Mike believed this competency “translated” into his daily practices of measuring performance indicators in his current supervisory role. Taylor believed he was promoted more quickly due to having experienced supervising others at the military college. “I could tell my peers [in the military] were extremely competent, but they hadn’t had that leadership experience [supervising], and I think that’s why I got selected to go into a [specific] role first.” Elaborating on specific supervisory skills he utilized at work, he described being intentional about “explaining the tasks and purpose. Being able to explain the why to the platoon and my team now is a big thing.”

Empathy

Using empathy, leaders should attempt to experience others’ “thoughts and feelings in an effort to appreciate their perspectives and circumstances as well as show genuine care” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 45). Interestingly, this competency was sometimes held in tension with upholding “the standard.” Aubrey succinctly described this tension, stating, “…you have to uphold the standard, but you have to be empathetic with people too, or they will become resentful of you and think all you care about is results…” Learning through observing negative behaviors, Imani stated, “I also learned that yelling at people is not always the most conducive way to get something done. Sometimes you just got to ask them and have a little bit of empathy.”

When asked what leadership skills transferred into the military work context, Claire’s immediate response was “definitely empathy, realizing that dictatorship is not always the most effective method, and to understand where other people are coming from when they have issues, concerns.” Lisa also described applying this competency in her military workplace:

[Military personnel] have a lot going on in their lives, like financially they might be having issues, they have kids, like all of that is different [than Military College] but similar because I had already learned about having empathy for people and working with people to accomplish your goals.

Here, Lisa clearly made the connection that she had “already learned” empathy at the military college and could, therefore, successfully employ this competency at work.

Personal behavior category

Through experiencing their student leadership position and their general military college experience, alumni developed positive intrapersonal competencies they use in the workplace. From Seemiller’s (2014) personal behavior category, alumni transferred the following competencies into the workplace: resiliency, positive attitude, ethics and functioning independently. Don best summarized this category, stating “That's why you go to [Military College] is to become your best self.”

Resiliency

Leaders must learn to navigate “challenges and adversity that they cannot overcome, as well as major setbacks and disappointments. But it is the leader who can learn from the experience and rise again to the next challenge who stands out” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 132). Stress management or coping skills were emphasized by some participants and connected best to this competency for coding purposes. From his experiences at the military college, Aaron learned that “there’s no reason why any leader should lose their mind over something hitting the fan. If it hits the fan, cool. Dust it off. How are you gonna fix the problem?” Darel described the daily pressures that developed his resiliency on campus:

My experience there at [Military College], especially things like [specialized group training] and holding a rank position and having all those responsibilities while also taking care of your academic courses, just everything I learned from there about just pushing forward, continuing to move through whatever you have going on, take one thing at a time.

Daniel echoed the challenges of holding a leadership position on campus, saying, “You have to deal with everyone’s problems plus your own and everything else. You get good at stress management.”

When experiencing a career development setback, Steve described tapping into the resiliency he developed in college. “But the leadership skills that I just spoke about earlier with you definitely resonated at those jobs… I had to stay resilient with myself because plan A didn't work.” Imani believed his college experience prepared him for the intensity of his current job:

So, our workdays can be upwards of 13 to 14 hours a day… you get tired. But [Military College] taught me – really junior year – it taught me what I could accomplish even though I was sleep deprived and it’s not healthy to be sleep deprived, but it taught me that life still goes on, you’re gonna make mistakes… It’s not the end of the world when something like that happens.

Here, Imani described transferring both the ability to face challenging circumstances and the attitude needed to move beyond setbacks.

Positive attitude

Leaders expressing this competency “foster a sense of purpose, hope, inspiration and enthusiasm even if the circumstances are bad” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 134). For some participants, the daily challenges presented in their highly structured collegiate environment seemed to foster a need for optimism. Imani captures this experience and this competency’s application at work:

And any organization that has a person that comes from this institution [military college] and takes the ideas and the principles and everything that they’ve learned from this place and imparts it onto others. And that’s what I try to do is I try to impart onto others that ‘Yes, what we’re going through is not fun, and it sucks, but at the same time, it’s for a greater purpose, and we’ll get through it one day at a time. It’ll be over before we know it.’

Imani seeks to share this positive outlook during difficult circumstances with others and believes this principle came from his military college experience. Similarly, Mike shares this concept with his work team: “It’s just, ‘Come to work, have a good attitude. If we have a tough problem, let’s work through it.’” Nick also believed he gained this outlook on campus and currently applies it at work: “If you can always have a positive attitude then you will walk into the company as a value add on whatever team you're with.”

Ethics: “Do the right thing”

Leaders “…have been entrusted to make decisions with far-reaching effects and have a responsibility and obligation to hold themselves to a higher standard. Leaders who act ethically can gain the trust of those they work with…” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 58). Through training in the classroom and in leadership position experiences, some alumni believed they garnered a strong ethical foundation they now apply at work. Describing this learning, Don used a common phrase among participants, “Do the right thing,” stating, “I learned that if I knew I was doing what's best for someone, and I knew I was doing the right thing as far as [Military College] standards, then I had no reason not to have a backbone and correct people.” Aubrey internalized this ethical approach through her leadership position, stating, “It's hard to do the right thing sometimes but especially as a leader, you have to make that the priority to just do the right thing even if it hurts.” Nick described learning about this competency in the classroom:

…Learning from guys like [Professor] and [Other Professor], who had been in the industry… telling me about their experiences and how you're gonna find yourself in ethical dilemmas… because you're faced with dilemmas like that far more regularly than a lot of people would like to admit…

Additionally, Nick believed this classroom learning on ethics impacted the way he used his values to serve the well-being of his clients at work.

Extending into the workplace, Aaron stated his career advanced due to his ethical approach, stating, “It’s helped me with my integrity of my job. I literally got my promotion because of the type of person that I am, and my boss will tell me all the time…” Lisa described a specific work scenario where she applied this competency:

…just showing them like that's not good business and that's not a principled way to do business through your suppliers because they're not gonna want to work with you anymore. So, this is how [Specific Company] does business: we stick to our promises and what we say we're going to do. Even if it could hurt us a little bit…

Here, Lisa, like other participants, emphasized that some “hurt” can be associated with acting ethically.

Functioning independently: “time management”

Leaders must sometimes “function without assistance or guidance from others, such as finding answers to questions on one’s own and monitoring the progress and timeliness of one’s own work” (Seemiller, 2014, p. 120). Time management was emphasized by many participants and connected best to this competency. Claire described the environmental conditions where she developed this competency, explaining that “…balancing cross-country and track, [specific military] scholarship things and the cadet leadership and academics, so really four things, taught you time management.” Don described learning to self-manage his lab work on campus:

I had a teacher that was in charge of me but she was never there when I was doing all my research. So, I guess just having the discipline to just go into the lab by yourself and doing what you know you're supposed to do is very relevant to my role now.

Don further elaborated on how this independent lab work transferred into his workplace: “So, my boss is only with me like once a month. So, the hardest part about my job is having the discipline to go do what I know I'm supposed to do with not anyone above me.”

Other participants also expressed using this competency at work. Aubrey remarked, “Definitely time management because my role is very autonomous. Nobody is checking in with me every 10 minutes to make sure that I'm doing the right thing or that I've done it one specific way.” Similarly, Lisa indicated time management “…helps me a lot because all of my coworkers are online, and I'm in the office most of the time, but I don't have tons of oversight. So, that has translated for me in knowing how to prioritize things…”

Self-awareness and development category, scope of competence: “humility”

Scope of competence was the single competency that emerged across the data within Seemiller’s (2014) category of self-awareness and development. According to Seemiller (2014), it is essential for leaders “to be aware of the extent of one’s competencies in an effort to not take on more than one is capable of” (p. 31). Humility was emphasized by many participants and connected best to this competency. Imani described this competency, stating, “I learned a lot about being humble. I'm not right all the time, and I need to be aware of that…” In his student leadership position, he stated this humility allowed him “to sit down and listen to my subordinates and my peers and take that feedback...” Mike connected developing this competency to the intensity of the military environment, offering: “There’s so much pressure, and it’s a pressure cooker, but it forces you to be humble, and then it forces you to respect others because – if you didn’t have that mindset going in – you won’t survive…” Claire expressed the importance of “just asking more questions. Humility, in a way, not thinking you know it all.” Steve learned the need to lean on others due to the difficulty of his coursework, indicating, “I'm so used to doing things on my own that it just came naturally to me to just get it done by myself. But as I learned throughout taking those harder-level classes that it's okay to get help...” Here, Steve references learning that he needs help from others, an important concept within scope of competence.

In her military workplace, Claire described connecting humility to being open to other’s ideas:

Taking a gulp of humility, I think, is important in that because some people may have out-of-the-box ideas… They may have very innovative ideas, and if I put a stiff arm to all their ideas, then we stick with traditions, and the [specific military branch] doesn't evolve.

Viv expressed a similar sentiment through her work as an officer in the military. “I think humility is one of the biggest assets a leader can have…when I came into my job, my first job… I didn't know anything, so I had to be able to ask the questions…”

Summary of competencies applied in the workplace

In conclusion, alumni participants perceived they applied leadership competencies they developed at the military college in their present workplaces. Nine specific competencies connected to three of Seemiller’s (2014) categories cut across the data from interviews. These competencies included: productive relationships, helping others, supervision, empathy, ethics, functioning independently, resiliency, positive attitude and scope of competence. Figure 2 summarizes these findings and includes some competencies’ connections to common words or phrases used by participants (in italics).

Discussion

Military college alumni in this study were able to describe leadership competency development that occurred on-campus through engagement in positional leadership roles, the classroom and through their general co-curricular involvement in a military college environment. Further, participants described general and specific instances of applying these learned competencies in their civilian or military workplaces. The findings from this study are consistent with previous research on traditional college campuses, in which alumni were able to describe leadership learning gained through co-curricular and curricular engagement and the application of this learning to their workplaces (Beatty et al., 2021; Egan et al., 2020; Rosch et al., 2023). Among these studies, a leadership learning thread emerges as alumni seem to highlight the importance of interpersonal connections in leadership. Specific findings connected to this thread include alumni’s appreciation for building relationships (Beatty et al., 2021), the importance of collaboration (Egan et al., 2020) and the view that leadership is an interdependent endeavor (Rosch et al., 2023). Similarly, military college alumni in our study described the importance of productive relationships and the application of this competency at work.

Although similarities certainly exist among these alumni, we suggest that collegiate military environments involve unique contextual factors that may heighten the development of specific competencies that resonated with our participants, including supervision, ethics and resilience. In the development of supervision, collegiate military environments often include a rank structure that entails supervising others while navigating positional authority. These types of institutions often emphasize character development and have some type of strongly enforced honor system, which may contribute to developing the ethics competency. The resonance of the ethics leadership competency with our participants is consistent with other findings indicating that military college alumni believed the cadet honor code was primary to their successful leadership (Husted & West, 2008). Finally, military training on these campuses often includes rigorous schedules, physical training and the intentional creation of controlled stress. Therefore, this campus climate may be conducive to developing resilience.

Interestingly, many of our participants described observing behaviors counter to forming productive relationships from other positional leaders on campus, and then resolved to lead differently. Some alumni participants perceived they encountered positional leaders who were toxic in nature, and these perceived behaviors included disrespectfulness, lacking empathy, caring only about positional authority rather than the needs of followers, unjust consequences given to followers, berating, cursing and yelling. One participant, Lucas, perhaps best described the two possible leadership learning outcomes for those who experienced these types of individuals wielding authority. He stated:

I think cadets will model these behaviors, which lead to them not being necessarily great leaders, or b) they will try to pick out, okay, well, I saw that this didn't make me feel good, so I am gonna do the opposite of that.

In the case of our participants, each who encountered this negative experience stated they resolved to do the “opposite” through behaviors associated with forming productive relationships marked by empathy. However, administrators of collegiate military environments must not assume positive outcomes and should continue to actively pursue strategies to reduce toxicity on campus. Toxic leadership may be a pervasive issue as the United States Department of Defense (2023) indicated that three of the military service academies have climate issues linked to toxic behaviors among some cadets and midshipmen.

Limitations

Our participants included alumni who were highly engaged and held significant positional leadership roles while on campus. We acknowledge this excludes the important perspectives of those alumni who did not have positional roles on campus and likely had differing experiences from those in our study. Future research should seek to include participants who are less engaged in collegiate military training environments to better inform curricular and co-curricular decisions from a broader lens incorporating more cadets. Finally, this study is limited in generalizability as it included select alumni from a specific military college. Readers must exercise care as they assess the transferability of the findings to their specific contexts.

Recommendations and conclusion

Collegiate military institutions often champion the importance of leadership development but, in some cases, may not assess leadership learning across campus. Additionally, limited published research provides empirical support for the efficacy of leadership learning practices in these environments, and minimal research could be found exploring the alumni perspective of this learning. Alumni perceptions in this study offer important insights for administrators or those connected to leadership development in military training environments. Administrators must engage in well-designed leadership learning assessment and share results with other similar institutions as well as internally to identify training or experiential learning gaps.

Administrators should maintain the distinctive features of military colleges, including a challenging regimented schedule, rank structure and moral emphasis through an honor code. As explored in the discussion section, these features likely contributed to development in the supervision, resilience and ethics competencies. Finally, campuses should continue to employ strategies to mitigate toxic leadership behaviors among faculty, staff and cadets.

Future research may consider the use of Seemiller’s (2014) student leadership competencies as a conceptual framework for qualitative studies and for a priori coding, as the present study demonstrated the usefulness of this approach. More research needs to be conducted to explore leadership learning in collegiate military environments. Alumni perspectives should be included where appropriate. An ancillary finding in this study indicated a need for further research on toxic leadership behaviors in collegiate military environments to better understand root causes and to identify strategies to lessen these damaging expressions of leadership. Finally, faculty and administrators at different collegiate military institutions must collaborate on leadership learning research, and resources must be put forward to support such projects. The shared mission to prepare graduates for critical leadership challenges must drive the production of high-quality, actionable leadership research.

Figures

Figure 1

Conceptual framework of alumni leadership competency gains transfer to workplace

Figure 2

Competencies transferred from military college to workplace