2.1.1 Campbell Leadership Descriptor (CLD)
Purpose
The Campbell Leadership Descriptor (CLD) framework is designed to assess and enhance leadership skills by breaking down leadership into essential tasks and personal characteristics. It helps individuals identify their strengths and weaknesses in nine major leadership attributes and guides them in developing an action plan for improvement.
Learning outcomes for test takers include:
Understanding the major components of leadership
Identifying the characteristics of a successful leader
Evaluating one’s leadership strengths and weaknesses by comparing one’s results to “good” and “poor” leaders
Developing a personal action plan for improving leadership skills and abilities.
Historically, the CLD has been used to help individuals and organizations understand leadership competencies and improve leadership effectiveness. It is adaptable for various sectors, including business, education, government, and nonprofit organizations.
Description
The tool was developed by David P. Campbell. The instrument includes interview questions and Likert-type questions. It is self-scoring, allowing individuals to evaluate their own strengths and weaknesses in leadership attributes.
The CLD was shown to have a good inter-rater reliability (mean inter-rater correlation of.77) and a high internal consistency (alpha coefficients ranging from.87 to.92) in research conducted by Campbell and colleagues (1993). It has also been demonstrated that the CLD predicts leadership effectiveness. Ratings by both subordinates and supervisors on leadership effectiveness, Judge et al. (2004) revealed that the CLD was a robust predictor of leader performance. Like any assessment tool, the CLD may have limitations related to self-assessment biases or the generalizability of its results across different cultural or organizational contexts. These aspects would require further exploration in research or professional practice.
Access
The tool is available at https://hrdqstore.com/products/campbell-leadership-descriptor.
The Facilitator’s Guide package from the owner of tool also provides comprehensive resources for organizing and conducting a leadership workshop. These resources include guidance on scoring and interpreting the Descriptor, a sample completed Descriptor, a step-by-step facilitator’s script, master copies of overhead transparencies, illustrative case studies, and a curated list of recommended books. The cost of the Facilitator package varies, and it is advisable to directly contact the owner for pricing details.
Reference
Campbell, J. P., McCloy, R. A., & Campbell, R. S. (1993). The Campbell leadership descriptor: Development and validation of a multi-source assessment of managerial potential. Personnel Psychology, 46(3), 435–455. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1993.tb00879.x
Campbell, D. (n.d.). Leadership descriptor sample report (2018). Center for Creative Leadership. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1752/1735/files/Campbell_Leadership_Descriptor_Sample_Report.pdf?v=1648823357
Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2004). The relationship between transformational leadership and follower satisfaction and performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 57(2), 505–567. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2004.tb00670.x
