Video and Vygotsky in leadership development

How do you get feedback on what you do, the impact it has and opportunities for change and learning? How do you assess your capabilities in public speaking, chairing meetings or conducting interviews for instance?

A long time ago, when I was a student of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), we were taught the importance of first, second and third position in everything from decision making to understanding behavioural impact. First position being you the actor, second position being the ‘other person’ in the interaction and third position being the all important observation by an impartial observer. This third position often offering a view on the actual interplay between the other parties involved. This is the view we most often lack in gaining insight into the reality of our own personal leadership practice and yet it can be very powerful in terms of learning, insight and personal change.

NLP teaches a reflective practice enabling a person to consider all three perspectives. In my recent studies in blended learning (www.futurelearn.com) I saw a technology based approach used in vocational training that I thought was interesting in promoting greater insight into how we look, our actions, our performance and mastery as opposed to how we think we look and perform as leaders.

Social constructivism and the writing of Vygotsky hypothesizes that individuals learn as a result of social interaction and collaboration with others. In many organizations there is a philosophy of ‘70-20-10’ describing the relative developmental impact of different educational approaches. The ‘70’ (highest developmental impact) is typically described as ‘on the job’ learning and for all leaders this is clearly dependent upon social interaction and the learning and insight derived from these interactions.

I’ve been involved in leadership development and also used video as a tool in development activities for many years. I’ve also used video in sporting activities, to analyze ski technique and running gait. The impartial, implacable digital image cannot be argued with. It offers no opinion or viewpoint. It just is.

The principles of blended learning have prompted me to think about a different kind of use of video in leadership education. In many leadership programs, learning about self and personal practice is often dialogue or reflection based, with a peer group (action learning for instance), coach, mentor or boss. It is conversation based and draws upon perception and interpretation. This has value and is ‘real’. However leaders will often never actually see themselves in practice and see the impact on those around them from a third (neutral) position. Often, without formal intervention to promote learning, their insight is based only on their own impressions and from those either whose job it is to offer feedback (boss or coach perhaps) or those brave enough to offer feedback. The impartial view of what was actually said and done is often missing. Perhaps the intentional use of video as a tool to promote learning about self, about EQ and about leadership could be built into leadership development curricula and so fill this gap of the ‘third’ perspective?

In today’s world of smartphones, iPads and apps designed (almost) for this purpose (for example iObserve) the use of video may well have a new place, beyond presentation skills training, in the toolkit of the leadership developer. I’m certainly looking forward to building this option into my own practice as a developer.