This case study explores a psychologically informed approach to supporting students to present and critically engage with research on leadership and harm. It relates to an international cohort of postgraduate students studying on an MSc in Management programme, Developing Leadership Perspectives module, committed to enhancing their leadership development and practice.
Our challenge / opportunity
Over the course of one lecture and one seminar, students presented and critically engaged with peer-reviewed, published research related to leadership and harm. For the lecture, students presented a summary, critique or ‘yes, but’ of their insights on the topic from their own analysis of research focused on leadership and harm. The students consolidated their insights during a seminar focused on the development of a personal action plan aimed at developing their understanding of and challenging (if and when it feels safe to do so) harmful leader behaviours.
The psychologically informed approach supported students to present and engage with sensitive/traumatic research topics and enabled the students to consider how these insights might impact their future leadership development and practice.
Our solution (approach)
Leadership and harm were the overarching themes for the lecture and seminar sessions with the students. The learning objectives of the sessions were to support students to develop a critical understanding of harmful leader behaviours and consolidate their learning through the development of a personal action plan aimed at developing their understanding of and challenging (if and when it feels safe to do so) harmful leader behaviours.
For the lecture, we began by making psychological safety explicit in the classroom (Mavin et al., 2023) in considering how we would explain ‘psychological safety’ to someone who has never heard the term. Then, we debated peer-reviewed, published research on leadership and harm from NUBS and others research including ‘Defeating the Toxic Boss: The Nature of Toxic Leadership and the Role of Followers’ (Milosevic, 2020), ‘Learning from poor leadership practice’ (Thomson et al., 2024) and ‘No one deserves professional annihilation: Learning from women’s experiences of leadership work-caused trauma’ (Mavin, 2024). Student debates were structured using a summary, critique and ‘yes, but’ framework which aimed to support them to compare, contrast and synthesise their understanding of session content. In small groups, students either presented a five-minute presentation of a summary, critique or ‘yes but’ of their allocated paper, which followed with a critical discussion of the paper content. A range of leadership perspectives were discussed including dark leadership, poor leadership practice and work-caused traumas. The students had approximately three weeks to prepare their presentations.
For the seminar, the students worked in small groups critiquing Brown’s (2020) Power over/with/to/ within statements related to leadership and power. Students were supported to explain their perspective by saying if they agreed, partially agreed or disagreed with the statement, and asked to substantiate their perspective with evidence, using the papers presented in the lecture and from the wider module material. Thereafter, we engaged in a group discussion on the development of their personal action plans aimed at developing their understanding of and challenging harmful leader behaviours.
The impact (results)
Working with research on leadership and harm can be trauma-inducing. As such, I considered the approach to teaching and learning would:
- Provide autonomy support to safely engage students (on their terms) with the session content; and
- Relate their insights to their wider their leadership development and practice
The activities were successful. Students were well engaged and had prepared for the sessions. The students drew on a variety of different leadership perspectives, debated well in the sessions, and showed care and respect for each other’s insights.
Lessons learned
While the activities were successful in engaging students in session content, there were some challenges in managing different perspectives of harmful leader behaviours in contexts where they are normalised. In supporting students, I commented that in contexts where harmful leader behaviours are normalised, it may be an individual’s only reference point if they have not yet experienced inclusive and relational leadership approaches. In this way, I considered my approach might encourage students to ‘think differently’ about harmful leader behaviours and in time consider how these insights might impact their future leadership development and practice.
Tips for colleagues
Colleagues may consider making psychological safety explicit in the classroom (Mavin et al., 2023) to support students to elevate their voice, confidently present and engage with research.
Skills and attributes
Students were able to develop the following attributes:
Education for Life Strategy
This case study reflects the following aims of the Education for Life strategy:
- Encounters with the Leading Edge: To put at the heart of our curriculum and learning experiences, encounters with our world leading research and the leading edge of industry and practice.
Further resources
- Mavin, S., James, J., Patterson, N., Stabler, A., & Corlett, S. (2023). Flipping the normative: Developing and delivering a critical pedagogy for executive education in a UK business school. Management Learning, 55(4), 528-552.
Authors
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Pip Kyle Lecturer in Management Newcastle University Business School |