Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World by Jennifer Garvey Berger (review)

Our roles as higher education professionals require complex leadership capacities— capacities that enable us to make decisions amidst competing perspectives, establish priorities among multiple commitments, and maintain partnerships despite conflict or resistance. In Changing on the Job: Developing Leaders for a Complex World, Berger explains that gaining such capacities is not simply a matter of gaining new skills or using different styles but rather involves developmental growth by which leaders cultivate increasingly broader, more complex ways of making meaning. Drawing upon her expertise in Kegan’s (1982, 1994) theory of self-evolution and her experiences as a leadership development consultant, Berger provides an accessible yet rich resource for fostering one’s own growth and the growth of others as leaders. While Changing on the Job is applicable to a wide variety of learning contexts and educational roles, it is most directly relevant for professional development purposes and supervisory or mentorship roles. Ultimately, Berger highlights the importance of cultivating complex leadership capacities within ourselves and our professional communities as well as among our students.

Berger organizes Changing on the Job into three parts. Part 1, “Growing Complexity,” focuses on the key principles of constructive-developmental theories in general and Kegan’s theory of self-evolution in particular. Berger provides a useful summary of the four increasingly complex forms of mind—or meaning-making structures—that Kegan’s theory describes, though readers looking for more depth will want to turn to Kegan’s (1982) The Evolving Self or Kegan’s (1994) In Over Our Heads. By using case studies and practical tools from her work as a leadership developer and coach, Berger shows how Kegan’s theory applies to organizational contexts and gives readers the resources necessary to begin reflecting on how their own and others’ meaning-making structures influence how they make sense of work. Even readers who are well-versed in Kegan’s theory can gain new insights through Berger’s clear writing and creative metaphors. Overall, Berger highlights the value of using constructive-developmental theories for professional development purposes yet also acknowledges the limitations and ethical dilemmas associated with viewing leadership from a developmental perspective. She frequently reminds readers that “more sophisticated forms of mind bring a variety of benefits, and they also bring losses” and thus “what counts most is the fit between what your life requires and what you are able to do” (p. 49).

In Part 2, “Helping Others Grow,” Berger shifts from theory to practice as she explains clear steps leaders can take to support the growth of people in organizations. The chapters progress in terms of scope of leadership responsibilities and size of organizational groups. The first chapter in this section (chapter (4) focuses on how a leadership coach—a role that readers can easily translate to their work as supervisors or mentors—can support growth through one-on-one interactions. Chapter 5 focuses on fostering growth through larger group contexts such as professional development workshops. Moving to an even broader level, chapter 6 provides the key ingredients of a workplace (regardless of size or context) “where learners show up to work, not just to do their jobs but to learn from the doing of their jobs so they can do the job better tomorrow and the day after” (p. 115). Readers will likely gain the most immediately applicable ideas from the chapter that aligns with their current scope of leadership responsibilities and the size of organizational group with which they work. For example, residence hall directors aiming to help resident assistants grow through one-on-one meetings may find chapter 4 most useful while educators seeking to achieve transformative learning through courses, co-curricular programs, or professional development workshops may find chapter 5 most useful. All three chapters help readers understand how each of the four meaning-making structures shapes the way individuals make sense of their work. Also, each chapter contains concrete strategies for fostering growth...