Success Factors of Grow-your-own Leadership Development Programs in Middle Atlantic and Texas Community Colleges

Open Access
- Author:
- Boswell, Robert Allen
- Graduate Program:
- Workforce Education and Development
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- February 17, 2015
- Committee Members:
- David Lynn Passmore, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
David Lynn Passmore, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
William J Rothwell, Committee Member
Cynthia Pellock, Committee Member
Edgar Paul Yoder, Special Member - Keywords:
- Leadership
Grow-Your-Own
Commununity Colleges - Abstract:
- Current leaders in community colleges are approaching retirement. Senior administrators and faculty members are projected to retire in vast numbers creating a leadership shortage in community colleges. To address the shortage, Grow Your Own (GYO) leadership development programs are supported by literature as a primary solution. The purpose of this research was to describe success factors for implementing GYO leadership development programs in community colleges. This study investigated the behaviors or actions necessary to implement a GYO leadership development program, pros and cons related to implementation, confidence to implement, and the change processes utilized to facilitate implementation. Interviewed were 10 program coordinators who represented 19 community colleges in Texas and states in the Middle Atlantic Region of the United States (Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia). The success factors that emerged were (a) support, (b) research, (c) development, and (d) appraisal. Support refers to obtaining assistance from within and outside the college. Research involves benchmarking other GYO programs and identifying instructional objectives. Development refers to developing the instructional strategy used to achieve objectives and selecting the instructional material to facilitate GYO learning. Appraisal refers to assessing the effectiveness of the program during application as well as assessing the program effectiveness post program application. The findings in this study offer preliminary evidence of success factors and strategies for implementing a GYO leadership development program in community colleges.