Profiling leadership: Attitudes, knowledge and training in the biological sciences

by James A. L. Brown

The development and practice of good leadership skills (distinct from management skills) enhances both an individual’s career development, and their organization. However, universities are known to present unique issues around the development, and practice, of good leadership. Good leadership skills should be considered essential for university staff who train (and mentor) staff or students. Currently, there is no clear evidence that staff in the biological (life) sciences undergo formal (routine) leadership skills training (or appraisal). Furthermore, what leadership training this group needs, or wants, is unknown. A questionnaire was designed to explore leadership dimensions (roles, training, perceptions, and attitudes), and incorporated the Leadership Attitudes and Belief scale (LABS) instrument. Including LABS allows evaluation of leadership attitudes as either Systemic (individual responsibility) or Hierarchical (chain-of-command). Self-selecting biological science academics and staff were recruited using an online survey. Analysis focused on academic staff (lecturer/Assistant professor, and above), and explored the relationship of leadership dimensions with key categories (career stage, gender, age, role, and professional experience). Staff were found to be knowledgeable about what leadership is, but strongly desire formal training in leadership skills and practice. Importantly, staff did not have access to specific leadership training (but did have access to management training), but felt strongly that gaining leadership skills would improve their professional skill set. Analysis found that academics in the biological sciences were oriented towards Systemic leadership, a more collective and supportive approach. It was clear that while good leadership skills are highly valued by academic staff, in practice these skills are underprovided in the biological sciences workplace. This work provides a profile, and benchmark, of leadership (current skills, and desired needs) in the biological sciences. These results provide evidence for the need to embed specific leadership skills training into professional development (and teaching) programmes in the biological sciences.