Leader Development in Work and Volunteer Contexts: Expected Practice and Unexpected Opportunities

Although engagement in leadership in both work and volunteer contexts is a fairly common occurance, little is known about ways in which leaders develop through these experiences. To better understand leaders’ experiences leading in both work and volunteer roles, we interviewed 40 leaders, seeking to understand their motivation to lead in multiple domains, the process of development, and the outcomes of development. Our findings highlight how leaders develop through intentionally seeking leadership roles, learning, and developing skills, and how they develop through incidental means of unanticipated - even serendipitous -situations that represent new opportunities to lead, exposure to new people and ideas, and new perspectives. Further, leaders reported developing a more integrated leader identity (leading as a “whole person”) through both intentional and incidental development. We discuss ways in which the findings suggest that an expanded approach to leader development beyond intentional, workplace-based approaches may open other important avenues for leader development.