How Social Interaction Shapes Leadership Development

Sam Rockwell, PhD (Rockwell&Co) helps leaders navigate their organizations for maximum impact through cohort-based leader development.

The leadership development industry is at a crossroads. Despite billions invested globally each year, many programs fail to deliver meaningful, lasting outcomes. For example, the challenges created by an accelerating pace of industry change and volatile and complex organizational conditions mean that traditional leadership skills are no longer sufficient to help organizations attain success. Moreover, conventional methods of leadership training—which typically focus on static skills and one-size-fits-all solutions—also fail to equip leaders for this increasingly dynamic landscape.

As Amanda Julian notes in her ATD article on leadership development, traditional methods such as coaching, workshops and online courses often lack adaptability, interactivity and real-time feedback, limiting their ability to meet the demands of modern leadership. The need for individualized, context-specific learning is apparent. Leaders today must adapt quickly, think creatively and navigate their organizations through uncertainty with confidence. Yet many programs lack the experiential learning and ongoing practice leaders need.

As renowned leadership expert Peter Senge asserted in The Fifth Discipline, the ability of an organization to learn faster than its competitors may be the last source of sustainable competitive advantage. Gaining this advantage begins with the organization’s leaders. Exchanging individual learning of fixed skills (traditional leadership development) for continuous, dynamic learning within communities (cohort-based leadership development) is necessary to cultivate the leadership competencies suited for today’s challenges.

Understanding why shared learning, real-time feedback and experimentation are instrumental for leaders’ development requires consideration of the neuroscience of learning and the transformative power of social interaction.

The Neuroscience Of Cohort-Based Leadership Development

Neuroscientific research has found that learning experiences occurring within group settings activate the brain in several specific ways that enhance knowledge retention, empathy and leadership skills:

Mirror Neurons And New Neural Pathways

Human brains are wired to learn with and from others—a process Albert Bandura called social learning. When leaders engage with others, their brains’ mirror neurons activate, enabling them to observe, internalize and emulate the behaviors and emotions of their cohort members. In these ways, encountering diverse experiences and viewpoints in a cohort setting creates new neural pathways that enhance participants’ cognitive flexibility, adaptability, problem-solving skills and ability to respond appropriately to the complex organizational challenges they face.

Deep Understanding And Skill Development

David Kolb, an American educational theorist, asserted that learning rooted in hands-on experiences and reflection produces deeper understanding and improved skill development. Cohort-based programs, by design, foster the engagement, knowledge-sharing and real-time application that produce this kind of learning.

BrianJames McMahon, a psychotherapist and cohort facilitator, explains, “Learning in a cohort context moves beyond information and into the experiential wrestling with both content and self … [in] a low-risk experimentation zone where actual strategies can be attempted, assessed, and re-evaluated prior to implementation in the real-world environment.”

This kind of experiential learning engages the brain’s emotional centers (particularly the limbic system), producing improved memory retention. This interaction transcends mere cognitive learning, allowing participants to integrate knowledge more deeply and apply it effectively in real-world situations.

Heightened Engagement And Motivation

Cohorts invite participants to engage in real-time feedback, dialogue and reflection. Not only do these activities reinforce leaders’ new neural pathways but the feedback also activates their brains’ reward systems, reinforcing positive behaviors and promoting further experimentation. McMahon notes that learning “in the presence of—and with—others not only shapes our thinking on leadership but creates the opportunity to be shaped as a leader in real time.” This process helps leaders clarify new strategies, making them easier to implement post-cohort.

Evolved Leadership Identity

Leader identity is the internalized sense of being a leader, shaped through experiences, relationships and social interactions. Neuroscience research indicates that our social experiences influence our brain development, for example, by strengthening neural pathways related to our leadership self-efficacy. Cohort-based development aids this process by creating the space for participants to make and negotiate “identity claims” with others and providing the opportunity to experiment with these identities both within and outside cohort sessions. McMahon adds that communal mirroring within cohorts supports leaders in refining their self-concept and embracing a new leader identity.

In short, cohort-based leadership development is so powerful because it aligns with how the brain naturally learns and grows. In this way, cohorts allow us to move beyond the limitations of traditional training by fostering a communal environment where social interaction, experimentation and feedback drive transformational change.

3 Steps To Leverage Cohort-Based Learning For Leadership Development

To harness the power of cohort-based leadership development, leaders can take the following actionable steps:

1. Join or form a diverse learning cohort.

Leaders should actively seek out or create diverse learning groups where they can engage with peers from different backgrounds and perspectives. Diversity within the cohort is critical, as it introduces cognitive dissonance, prompting the brain to stretch its thinking patterns. By embracing diverse perspectives, leaders can enhance their empathy and adaptability, which are key to effective leadership.

2. Engage in experiential learning activities.

Actively participating in cohort activities, such as case studies, role-plays and real-time problem-solving exercises, helps the brain form stronger memory pathways and fosters practical application. Leaders should approach cohort sessions as “experimentation zones” where they can test new strategies, receive feedback and refine their approaches before implementing them in the workplace.

3. Cultivate reflective dialogue.

Leaders should use cohort interactions to engage in reflective dialogue and share their experiences, successes and challenges with peers. This practice encourages the brain to process and integrate new information, enhancing retention and personal growth. Moreover, the social support provided by the cohort creates a safe space for leaders to confront their own biases and assumptions, leading to a more profound transformation.

With learning embedded in social interaction, dialogue and experimentation, cohort-based learning goes a long way in addressing the challenges plaguing leadership development. It is little wonder why it has become so popular: Cohort-based learning offers a powerful framework for leaders to harness the brain’s natural inclination for social learning, with the result of accelerated professional development.

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