| This study examined the intersection of leadership, leader development, and learning environments by evaluating a public-sector leader development training program. For centuries, technology has impacted education. Recent trends have increased pressures to deliver training online. Nonetheless, physical proximity, including face-to-face interaction, remains important for innovation and learning. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study included an online survey followed by interviews. Participants in a public-sector leader development training program gave their views about curricular relevance, learning preferences, program benefits, and leadership behaviors. Key findings included preferences for face-to-face learning for both leader development and leadership communications. Most respondents had taken online learning and most were satisfied with it. However, a majority indicated the leader development training program could not be successfully taught in a fully-online environment. Most program curriculum elements were rated very relevant to leadership practices. The more highly rated an element was for relevance, the higher it was rated for face-to-face learning preference. The lowest-rated items for relevance rated more highly for online delivery. Implications include confirmation of task/relationship variables and leadership behaviors presented in the Situational LeadershipRTM model. The importance of interaction, including face-to-face, in leadership and in leader development was also confirmed. Key recommendations for stakeholders include the need to consider the appropriateness of the learning environment as it relates to the leadership environment. If the online environment is chosen, significant resources are needed to plan, facilitate, and support online leader development training with interactive elements. More research is needed to evaluate fully-online leader development programs. |
