Chapter 5: Using the Leadership Competency Framework in the Study of Leadership in Digital Contexts

As noted at the outset of this book, the leadership competency framework is a useful tool for individual coaching, group facilitation, and leadership, organizational, and communication research. The framework also serves as a useful model for introducing the topic of leadership to undergraduate students. Importantly, it provides a method to organize the sometimes-dizzying array of concepts that are essential for a foundational understanding of the theory and practice of leadership. This chapter highlights the ways in which the framework is used in a course entitled “Leadership in Digital Contexts” (LIDC). The framework is specifically used to investigate how the five competency domains – analytic, personal, organizational, positional, and communication – can be understood and applied in an environment where interactions between leaders and followers are increasingly mediated by information communication technologies (ICTs) and personal and professional social media platforms.