A leadership audition. (Review).

* What is a Leader?, online, 2002, Harvard Business Online (800-795-5200, www.eLearning.hbsp.org), $195 per student per year. Other material: online facilitator guide.

How would you answer the question, What is a leader? It's a provocative question when you push past the easy answers. Isn't a clear-cut notion of a leader a prerequisite to being a leader?

Corporate leadership has taken a big hit. The god-to-goat transformation of business leaders is an opportunity, however. An ethical vacuum has contributed to the problem and so has a murky notion of what a true leader is and does. Now may be an opportune time to revisit leadership training.

I think three factors are particularly important when considering leadership training content. The content should reflect values you and your organization can live by. It should also balance precept with application; abstract leadership principles by themselves aren't enough. The final factor is particularly important if you are looking for e-learning content. Online courses can deliver concepts easily but have generally been much weaker on meaningful practice.

Case-based What Is a Leader? rates well on the second and third factors. And I am confident that the values embodied in the course will be a good fit with most organizations.

Features and interface

Although it offers substantial content, What Is a Leader? has been designed to be studied in chunks as brief as 10 minutes. In fact, the producer prefers that its offerings not be called courses at all, so anxious are they to dispel the notion of long time commitments.

In the interactive case section, a summary sets up the situation. Throughout the case, you are asked to make decisions. You are then faced with different scenarios depending on the choice you made.

You can always return to the decision point, choose another option, and play out the next scenario. I often did this to learn from the consequences of different decisions. As I learned at Harvard Business School, there are usually no right or wrong answers, lust decisions with better and worse outcomes.

The case concerns the Tuillex Corporation, a software company based in Denver with regional sales offices throughout the U.S. Tuillex must cope with changing technology and increasing demand for customization. You play the role of Director of Sales and Services; your immediate boss plans to retire in six months. To be promoted, you must run a smooth operation.

You are facing complex decisions involving many people and operations in the company. The first decision involves an accelerated installation deadline for customization work promised by a Sales Manager to get a big account. The next quick decision involves 24/7 support services demanded by a customer entitled only to limited service. As the leader in this division, you must find solutions to short-term crisis, while thinking of ways to resolve the problems over the long term.

To help you gain a broad perspective on leadership, the HBS course offers articles such as "What Leaders Really Do" by John P. Kotter and "The Work of Leadership" by Ronald A. Heifetz and Donald L Laurie.

Although the course does not declare a single definition of a leader, it does show the skills and attitudes necessary to lead such as the ability to analyze a situation, to identify what needs to change, to regulate stress, to selectively show flaws, and to be empathetic. Other skills include handling crises and making long-term decisions; understanding how those decisions affect the emotions and lives of employees; and getting employees involved in the decision-making process.

More than a case

When you complete the case, the program gives you feedback on your decisions, refers you to the leadership concepts of recognized experts, and reviews key points derived from the case. The articles mentioned earlier and other print materials are available as downloadable and printable PDF files.

The tools section includes an option to work with a mentor. You must recruit the individual from your workplace. The course emphasizes the value of working with someone you trust who will provide constructive feedback and help monitor how you transfer your learning into practice. I think the mentor suggestion is an excellent one.

Other tools include a series of skills assessments that provide preprogrammed feedback. The follow-up section offers you a chance to make a priority listing of the changes you want to make in the way you lead. The section is action-oriented: it asks what you plan to change, how you plan to change it, and how you will know it has changed. You can set up email reminders of your goals.

The end-of-course quiz assesses your performance. The results are confidential; only you have access to them. However, if you are working with a mentor, he or she may find the results useful for helping you to improve.

Recommendation

What Is a Leader? from Harvard Business Online offers insight into the experiences of a leader. I recommend it because it is case-based, has thought-provoking content, and encourages you to get others actively involved in your learning process. You should strongly consider using the mentoring option. My only reservation is that course interactivity could be greater and more varied.

What is a Leader? product rating

Holds user interest  ** 1/2
Production quality   ***
Ease of navigation   ***
Interactivity        ** 1/2
Value of content     *** 1/2
Instructional value  ***
Value for the money  *** 1/2
Overall rating       ***

**** Outstanding

*** 1/2 Very good

*** Good

** 1/2 Above average

** Average

* 1/2 Below Average

* Poor

NA Not applicable

NR Not rated (Usually not enough information)

Tim Anderson ([e-mail]) is vice president of business development for Training Media Review. He has an extensive background in Internet strategy and execution, having worked at Amazon.com, Junglee, Vivinity, and the Dialog Corporation. Tim has an MBA from Harvard Business School.