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Water resource professionals and others involved in managing water resources face increasingly complex challenges. Effective leadership development programs are needed to produce water leaders who can address these challenges. Leadership programs must be designed not simply to increase participants’ environmental and leadership knowledge but to develop in participants the requisite abilities and skills. This exploratory study determines the extent to which water-related leadership programs go beyond knowledge only, event-type workshops to determine what proportion are grounded in leadership theory, and employ developmental experiences with assessment, challenge, and support components. Results indicate that most water professionals and others seeking to develop 21^st century leadership abilities and skills to manage water resources are not getting the developmental experiences they need. Water-related leadership development programs must be grounded in evidence-based theory; provide assessment, challenge, and support; and offer a variety of developmental experiences and the opportunity to learn from experience. There is an urgent need for new or revised leadership development programs for those interested in water resource management.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of online self-leadership training (OSLT) in promoting leaders’ self-leadership skills and recovery experiences.

A non-randomized controlled trial was conducted under two conditions: a standardized seven-week OSLT (N = 43) and a control without any intervention (N = 42). All participants (N = 85) completed standardized questionnaires measuring self-reported self-leadership skills and recovery experiences. Additionally, participants in the intervention group were assigned to invite one team member each (N = 26) to assess their leaders’ pre-post self-leadership skills and pre-post leader–member exchange.

Significant interaction effects of time and group and increases in the OSLT group (t1 vs t2) in self-leadership skills (cognitive and natural reward strategies) and recovery experiences (detachment and relaxation) indicated the effectiveness of OSLT training. Significant improvements in self-leadership skills and leader–member exchange were reported by team members of leaders in the OSLT group.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first to examine the effectiveness of OSLT for leaders in business contexts in a controlled before-after intervention design. The findings of this study revealed improvements in self-leadership skills and recovery experience because of OSLT.

A census of 23 adult leadership development programs including 2,200 individuals from 262 classes investigated the influence of the group level (class) elements on individual intentions to participate in alumni programming. Individual and group level effects were evaluated, specifically, level of individual and group satisfaction as well as level of individual and group opinion leadership. The results indicate there are group level differences in intentions to participate, albeit small. Additionally, group level satisfaction was a significant positive predictor of intention. Individual satisfaction was found to have a significant positive effect; however, opinion leadership was found to have a significant negative effect on intentions to participate. Finally, group satisfaction was the only significant predictor found when analyzing both individual and group level variables simultaneously.

A sample (N=81) of undergraduates participating in a semester-long team-project engineering course completed assessments of their leadership competence, motivation to lead, and leadership self-efficacy, as well as the leadership competence of their peers who served within their durable teams. Results indicated that peers scored students lower than students scored themselves; that males deflated the transactional leadership scores of the female peers they assessed; and that the strongest individual predictor of teammate- assigned scores was a student’s affective-identity motivation to lead (i.e. the degree to which they considered themselves a natural leader). Leadership self-efficacy failed to significantly predict teammate scores.

This research evaluates (1) work situations prompting participants to recall memories of a wilderness-based leadership training program, (2) the content of such memories, and (3) the leadership attitudes and behaviors inspired by those memories.

A qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews was performed with 36 leaders who had participated in a wilderness leadership transformation program in the past (on average six years before).

The findings suggest that, at moments with emotional pressure and psychological stress, episodic memories of wilderness experiences have a positive influence on actual leadership style. Memories involved moments of solitude, a deep connection with nature, and peer-to-peer counseling. The interviewees regularly relived their emotion-laden wilderness experiences, acquiring direction and guidance. Simultaneously, episodic memories of nature immersion promoted an enduring transformation of their leadership styles.

The findings cannot be blindly generalized as referring to all leaders. The leaders in this study are a subset of leaders who are inclined towards personal growth and leadership development. It is challenging to motivate leaders unkeen on changing to achieve better leadership.

This study indicates that the inclusion of emotional concepts to address the root causes of learning among leaders might be the most promising way to innovate leadership development.

The present study makes a novel contribution to relevant literature by examining leadership transformation through episodic remembrance of leaders' experiences in nature.

Colleges of agriculture throughout the United States place an emphasis on leadership courses where undergraduates develop professional skills. Students entering colleges of agriculture experience varied training in terms of leadership and associated skills. However, it is not understood how this leadership training relates to having more power and control while being happy, intrinsically motivated, and engaged in learning. Socio- Psychological measures of flow and power pose during an undergraduate leadership course were used to determine associations of undergraduates within different domains of learning. This study determined associations between: 1) flow and power pose during leadership course activities; 2) happiness, intrinsic motivation, and engagement in learning; and 3) learning experiences where flow and power pose associations existed. There were positive associations between flow and power pose experiences among students in an undergraduate leadership course. Additionally, there were positive associations between power pose and Flow Theory related to constructs of happiness, intrinsic motivation, and engagement of undergraduate leadership students. Power pose and the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) were used determine flow associations of undergraduate students in the cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains of learning. This research provides a framework for future socio-psychological studies.

The Undergraduate Leadership Teaching Assistant (ULTA) experience offers students a high-impact opportunity to develop, practice, and evaluate their leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine outcomes of the ULTA experience as a high-impact practice for students studying leadership. Weekly journal entries of eight ULTAs were analyzed to assess their perspectives on the experience. Findings revealed the ULTAs developed cognitive skills through the generation of mostly divergent discussion questions on the knowledge and comprehension level of the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain (Bloom et al, 1956). ULTAs applied their learning from the experience to both personal and professional roles and intend to model behaviors in seven skill areas: (a) communication; (b) active listening; (c) mentoring; (d) responsibility; (e) followership; (f) professionalism; and (g) collaboration.