The Ian O. Ihnatowycz Institute for Leadership has been recognized by the Academy of Management (AOM) as the winner of the 2024 Management Education & Development (MED) Division’s Evidence-Based Leadership Development Program Award. This award, scheduled to be presented at the 2024 Academy of Management Annual Meeting in Chicago, honours high-quality, evidence-based leadership development programs and showcases innovative and effective strategies for developing future leaders.
The award proposal, authored by Ivey faculty Dusya Vera, Mary Crossan, and Gerard Seijts, was evaluated through a rigorous process that required a combination theoretical coherence and a stringent methodological approach. Their submission was chosen from nominations of leadership development programs at academic institutions around the world.
“The title of our proposal was ‘A Holistic Approach to Leader Character Development for Individual, Team, and Organizational Excellence and Flourishing’,” explained Vera. “Our character development program is holistic in multiple ways. It is holistic because our view of leadership doesn’t look at character in isolation, but in combination with competence and commitment. It is also holistic in that we don’t prioritize one dimension of character over others, but recognize that character operates as an interconnected network of dimensions that work in relationship with one another. In addition, our character development program is multi-level, addressing character at the individual, group, organizational, and societal levels. And lastly, Ihnatowycz Leadership is in itself holistic in that it has four pillars that are integrated into a virtuous cycle: research, programming, outreach, and now, the fourth pillar will be our cross-campus work at Western.”
Within their submission, authors Vera, Crossan, and Seijts describe Ivey’s approach to strengthening leadership and character as establishing habitual behaviours through informed practice, likening character to a muscle that can be exercised in a "character gym.”
“Although character is about as ancient as any field of inquiry, its centrality in higher education and organizations had been lost,” said Crossan. “Our engaged scholarship approach to bridge theory and practice in a meaningful, robust, and evidenced-based way has been pioneering. Beyond the solid research foundation, I am particularly proud of the practical tools and approaches we have cultivated. This award was made possible through the magnificent efforts of so many partners including Ivey colleagues, collaborators around the world, our students and participants, and funders.”
Vera echoed her thanks to those who have supported the Institute’s efforts since its inception in 2010 and looks forward to what the future holds for Ihnatowycz Leadership. “Implementing this holistic system that we offer our students, and practitioners in organizations, would not be possible without very generous donors, the Ivey faculty and staff, including program directors, and the support from Ivey’s leadership, who have believed in character development as a critical part of leadership development in today’s complicated world,” she said. “Looking at the past 14 years, we are excited and proud of the evidence-based, as well as practical, character development programs we offer. We continue learning from other programs around the world. Today, it is more important than ever to develop character in our leaders.”