Leadership Competencies: Do They Differ for Women and Under-Represented Minority Faculty Members?

The literature on leadership competencies does not include an understanding of how stakeholders perceive competencies for women and under-represented minority faculty members. We surveyed three groups of leaders (N = 113) to determine their perceptions of the importance of 23 leadership competencies. All three groups endorsed the same five competencies for emerging leaders: communication skills, interpersonal relationships, operating/organizational skills, personal flexibility, and planning and problem solving. For women and under-represented minorities, two were identified as being particularly important: conflict management and leadership presence and presentation. These results have important implications for faculty development leadership programs and institutions preparing future generations of leaders.