Abstract
Organisations strive to satisfy their need for effective leaders. Their efforts are focused
on improved leader performance, aligned with what the organisation wants to achieve
and their sustainability depends on the selection and development of their leaders.
Large amounts of money is spend on leader development, however, most leader
development programs fail to deliver and the reasons are that the focus of leader
development is wrong because the focus is on the enhancement and introduction of
skills, competencies and techniques. This paper, reports on the findings of a larger
study. Two competency models and Bersin’s Leadership Maturity Developmental
Model are used as parent theories to derive to a new conceptual Meta-Leadership
Development Model relevant and applicable to a specific organisational context. Four
core constructs emerged, character; caring; competence; and commitment. These
constructs were operationalised and are presented in a holistic Meta-Leader
Development Model. It formed the first phase of a larger study and it is argued, that it
has the potential to create greater leader commitment with increased performance
results that are measurable for the leader, the team and the organisation.