UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to being an effective leader.
The Leadership Development Center (LDC) is a collaboration between the Schreyer Honors College and the Penn State Industrial-Organizational Psychology program in partnership with Deloitte Consulting to draw on the insights of Penn State alumni who now work in the industry. The center provides Scholars with the space to practice their leadership skills while receiving useful, detailed feedback from industry and academic professionals.
Greg Loviscky, teaching professor of psychology, helped jumpstart the center in 2008 alongside retired psychology professor Rick Jacobs. Loviscky shared how the LDC reimages typical leadership workshops and seeks to provide students with an interactive, hands-on approach to professional development.
“The LDC is an in-depth, leadership development experience. Some of our past participants said that it is a rich source of information, as they get to learn a lot about themselves and try different things,” Loviscky said. “The center goes along with my teaching philosophy of student engagement, as I believe that not all student engagement happens in the classroom. This program is a seamless extension of that.”
How the LDC works
The LDC helps Scholars practice and improve their professional skills through a series of leadership-focused exercises. For each LDC session, the program coordinators create a fictitious business, in which each cohort of students must effectively manage and lead. From responding to mock emails, conducting meetings, and collaborating with others, the participants learn how to navigate a leadership role in a simulated professional environment. Scholars also take various self-assessment tests during the program to gain an accurate picture of their personality, values and leadership styles.
The LDC currently runs four times an academic year, with two sessions in the fall and two in the spring. Lasting about a week, the program starts with small activities held virtually over Zoom, followed by an all-day, in-person event at the end of the week. Registration for the program is limited to a cohort of 8-students to give participants a more personalized experience.
“The value of the LDC is very strong as it replicates something that is typically only available to executives in the industry. Students get feedback on the decisions they make as leaders of this simulated business and have the opportunity to interact in groups, communicate, lead, and see new perspectives on different things that typically come across leaders' desks,” Director of Career Development for the Schreyer Honors College Matt Ishler said. “There are people in executive-level positions in the industry who have access to this kind of training and leadership development. But in my experience at university campuses, this kind of program is pretty rare.”
From industry to Penn State
The idea for the program began after Loviscky and Jacobs saw the success of developmental assessment centers in evaluating employees across different industries. These centers present a group of selected employees with potential problems that may occur in the workplace and ask them to brainstorm hypothetical solutions. Based on the responses collected, employers rate each employee's leadership skills and problem-solving techniques to determine who among the group should be promoted.
Loviscky helped run these assessment centers in a variety of industries, including police and fire departments, pharmaceutical companies, and electronic organizations. Seeing first-hand how effective these centers were at pinpointing an employee’s leadership strengths and weaknesses, Loviscky knew a similar program could be useful for students at Penn State. In collaboration with the honors college, Loviscky and Jacobs created the LDC as a modified version of these assessment centers, focused on developing broad-based leadership and professional development skills.
Throughout Loviscky and Jacob’s LDC, Penn State students are assessed by a team of undergraduate and graduate researchers, alongside Deloitte consultants, for each of the simulated leadership tasks. These assessors work to record observations and feedback on the LDC participants, which is presented to Scholars during a one-on-one meeting following the program.
Graduate student Caroline Manning is the current student director of the LDC and has been a part of the program for the past 5 years. Beginning as one of the program’s assessors, she is passionate about helping students identify their leadership growth areas in an interactive atmosphere like the LDC. Manning described how analyzing each participant's strengths and weaknesses is pivotal to the success of the center, as it helps Scholars align themselves with a career path that intersects their skillset with their personal interests.
“What I have been most excited about with the LDC is that leveraging tools to help students become more self-aware. This includes being self-aware of their strengths, their values, and their passions, and how can your future career intersect all of these aspects,” Manning explained. “We know from research that the more aligned you are with your job, from a values perspective or a skills perspective, you are more satisfied and the better you will perform. So, we want to make sure that students have the tools necessary to bring that into their future career.”
A program for all Scholars
Despite the LDC’s partnership with Deloitte Consulting, the program is not only for business majors or those interested in an entrepreneurial career. Cameron Koch, a third-year biology major, detailed his motivation for applying to the LDC program as a Scholar in the field of STEM. He highlighted the center’s value in giving Scholars a personalized avenue to develop their leadership skills in a professional setting.
"Participating in the Leadership Development Center was an invaluable experience that furthered my understanding of effective leadership and helped me grow in a supportive yet challenging environment. The program's professional assessments allowed me to identify areas for improvement while reinforcing my strengths, instilling a mindset of continuous improvement,” Koch explained. “I am highly appreciative of the Schreyer Honors College and Deloitte Foundation for providing students with this opportunity, and I look forward to applying these skills to foster an effective and inclusive atmosphere in my post-graduation pursuits."
Since the program’s start almost 17 years ago, participants like Koch have had the chance to grow in their self-confidence, learn new leadership techniques, and expand their social network. Ishler further emphasized how the LDC provides applicable leadership and professional skills for all academic disciplines, allowing Scholars to stand out in their respective industries post-graduation.
“The ability to look at business challenges, develop a strategy, and advance through adverse circumstances crosses all academic disciplines,” Ishler explained. “This program gives students perspective on the core skills of communicating, influencing, and receiving the input of others, which will drive Scholars forward across any industry they choose to pursue.”
In an effort to reach more Scholars, the upcoming program for February 2025 will be conducted completely online. This LDC will utilize Zoom breakout rooms and virtual collaboration sessions to still ensure a personalized, growth-focused program. This virtual format will allow Scholars from across Penn State to participate in the LDC for the first time and reap the benefits of this one-of-a-kind program.
Manning highlighted how rewarding it is to connect with students during the program and watch them achieve success due to their participation in the LDC. She described how the center functions not only to prepare students for leadership roles in their future careers but also to give them the space to ask questions, form connections and seek advice from the LDC staff. Helping Scholars reach their fullest potential beyond Penn State is what truly motivates Manning to lead the program, she said.
“My favorite part of the program has been meeting with students and giving feedback to them. Helping them create development plans on how they can grow has just been so exciting. One of the students who participated in the LDC, I helped him work on his personal statement for graduate school,” Manning explained. “He got into one of his top choices for graduate schools. It is just awesome to see him, and all of the participants, do great things after the LDC.”
Learn more about the LDC and their upcoming events on the Leadership Development Center website.