Research Program

 

Reflective Leadership Research Initiative

 

 

Central Question

 

How do leaders develop their leadership through experience in contexts characterized by complexity and uncertainty?

 

 

 

Positioning

 

The Reflective Leadership Research Initiative is a research program dedicated to leadership development, learning from experience, and decision-making in complex contexts.

 

The work focuses on the processes through which leaders interpret their experience, develop their leadership capacities, and improve their capacity to act in environments characterized by uncertainty and complexity.

 

 

 

Theoretical Positioning

 

The program is situated at the intersection of three fields:

• Leadership development
• Reflective processes in managerial practices
• Learning from experience

 

It seeks to understand not only what leaders do, but also how they make sense of their experience and learn from it.

 

 

 

Scientific Contribution

 

A central contribution of the program consists in conceptualizing, measuring, and empirically validating Reflective Leadership Capacity.

 

This capacity refers to an individual’s ability to mobilize different reflective resources in an integrated way in order to interpret experience, learn from it, and develop leadership.

 

It offers a potential lever for better understanding why some people develop their leadership through experience more than others.

 

The research also aims to better understand the role of this capacity in leadership development and decision-making in complex contexts.

 

 

Program Architecture

 

Experience 

↓

Reflective processes

↓

Reflective Leadership Capacity

↓

Learning

↓

Leadership development

↓

Decision and action

 

↺ Feedback into experience

 

 

Research Areas

 

Three areas structure the program:

 

Leadership development

→ understanding how individuals develop their leadership capacities through experience

 

Learning from experience

→ analyzing the processes through which experience is transformed into learning

 

Decision-making in complex contexts

→ studying the mechanisms that contribute to improved decision-making capacity in uncertain environments

 

 

 

Theoretical Foundations

 

The program draws in particular on the work of:

• David Day — leadership development
• Donald Schön — the reflective practitioner
• Chris Argyris and Donald Schön — organizational learning
• Albert Bandura — self-efficacy and social learning

 

These perspectives make it possible to explore the mechanisms through which experience contributes to leadership development.

 

 

 

Research Agenda

 

The program explores questions such as:

• How do leaders learn from their experience?
• Why do some experiences generate more learning than others?
• What role do reflective capacities play in leadership development?
• How does Reflective Leadership Capacity contribute to Leadership Self-Efficacy?
• How do leadership development practices and programs support these processes?
• How do these mechanisms influence decision-making in complex contexts?

 

 

 

Reflective Leadership Lab

 

The Reflective Leadership Lab is a space for dialogue, observation, and experimentation dedicated to the study of leadership development processes.

 

It enables the exploration, in interaction with leaders and managers, of the mechanisms through which experience is transformed into learning, leadership development, and capacity for action.

 

It serves simultaneously as a field of observation, a space for experimentation, and a place for dialogue between research and practice.

 

 

 

From research to practice

 

The Reflective Leadership Research Initiative connects conceptual research, empirical exploration, dialogue with leaders, and Executive Education.

 

It aims to create a continuous link between academic knowledge, real leadership situations, pedagogical innovation, and leadership development practices.

 

 

 

Vision

 

The program aims to contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms through which individuals develop their leadership through experience.

 

It brings together:

• theoretical conceptualization
• empirical measurement
• applied research
• pedagogical innovation
• dialogue with practitioners

 

with a shared objective:

 

to better understand how experience becomes a source of learning, leadership development, and improved decision-making in complex contexts.