Introducing the Lectica assessment model for measuring leadership development
It was interesting to engage with an informed audience around dynamic skill theory and the Lectica assessment model. Discussion around the lenses people used to evaluate the order of statements in the exercise was rich and helped to illuminate how any kind of ordering we do in trying to understand phenomenon is subject to the lens we use to perceive and make meaning of the phenomenon. As well, questions helped to illuminate the boundaries within which such assessments can be useful and contexts, focal points or conditions under which it might not be adequate.
Once the boundary conditions and appropriate domain on utility was circumscribed, the robustness of the model was clearer. As with any assessment tool, fitness for purpose of use is important. Here it was emphasized that the utilizations of such assessments is only as a support for highly targeted, domain specific skill building. In this context, it is also clear that ‘skill’ as a construct can imply quite subtle cognitive processes, such as emotion regulation. Working to build such types of core cognitive skills in one domain can increase the ease of learning pathways of applying such core skills in other domains.
In terms of practice, long term coaching and or programmatic use of Lectical assessments can be a more precise and robust way to support growth. While this model and tools is highly informed by and focused on verticality, it also understands that vertical growth in cognitive functioning is primarily a result of building robustness at existing levels of cognitive functioning. Finally, it was made clear that this is only one aspect of healthy growth and development. The contents of our beliefs, the morality of our actions, and the domain of embodiment to have integrity in the area of performance are all also essential components of healthy growth and development.
