Leadership development as co-reflective practice

The purpose of this paper is to discuss learning processes in a leadership program that contribute to development. To examine what characterize learning processes that managers perceive to make a difference, a case study of an external leadership program with managers from different companies was carried out. The findings indicate that the learning processes in the program that contribute to leadership development are characterized by collective reflection on practice within the community of practitioners. Theoretical knowledge is found to have a function of enabling conversations in the community of practitioners, and to offer a repertoire of concepts that facilitate sense-making (Weick, 1995) of everyday practice. In this paper, the concept co-reflective practice is launched to emphasize that a practitioner’s conversation with the situation (Schön, 1983) need a conversation within the community of practitioners. Learning processes in leadership development that make a difference for the managers are characterized by co-reflective practice.