An Evaluation of an Environmental Leadership Development Programme in New Zealand Today

This study evaluated a leadership development programme for managers in the New Zealand Department of Conservation. The programme is one of several initiatives taken by the Department to adapt its leadership and management to best respond to a variety of challenges. Theories of leadership styles and the efficacy of leadership development are well established, however, little consensus has been researched on the construct of environmental leadership and what makes leadership development for environmental managers successful. This study, which involved a constructivist/interpretivist approach, used mixed methods of research to evaluate the leadership development programme from the experiences and views of the programme participants and some of their managers. Kraiger’s model of evaluation was used to design the evaluation which focused on the programme’s content and design and the changes in the participants. Data confirmed the programme is of high relevance to the participants in their roles as leaders. A number of emerging themes of environmental leadership behaviours resulting from the programme were identified and these are aligned with the literature on leadership and environmental leadership theories. Impacts for future research and practices are suggested such as improving the accessibility of action learning and clarifying the opportunities for incorporating systems thinking.