Dialogic and Inclusive Leadership Development in a Large Municipality - Experiences from the Initiation Phase of a Development Programme

Purpose - The paper discusses the experiences from the initiation stage of a dialogic leadership development programme in a large municipal organisation. The case organisation has 13600 employees. The new Mayor initiated the leadership renewal programme that is supported by an action research process. The aim of the programme is to build dialogic and inclusive leadership practices in the whole city organisation on a long term basis. The programme and the research project follow guidelines of dialogic and participative development work. The role of the researchers is to assist and facilitate this definition process.

Design/methodology/approach - The data is created through documentation of dialogic workshops aimed to support the managers in mutual definition and reflection of the leadership development needs and aims, and interviews of the key managers and development officers about their experiences and views of leadership and leadership development. The workshops will form a cascading process including all the persons in managerial position (some 800) in the end. The process enables rich qualitative data about development needs of municipal leadership and about possibilities of dialogic development approach to support mutual leadership development.

Originality/value - The study generates new knowledge about large scale participative leadership development process in which dialogic and inclusive methods are applied. The study will provide a unique access to the multiple view points of transformational dynamics of leadership development in a municipal organisation.

Practical implications - The study will provide practical understanding how leadership and leadership development needs can be discussed in a participative and inclusive way in a large organisation.