Leadership development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Abstract

Leadership development has emerged as an important theoretical and practical stream of management. As an area of higher learning, leadership draws from numerous academic fields and real life sources and therefore requires integration of knowledge with experience. There is an implicit assumption that leadership is important, that leaders make a difference, and that positive group and organisational effects are produced by leaders and the leadership process. To most people the importance of leadership is self-evident no matter the setting. In organisations, effective leadership facilitates higher-quality production with more efficient services; it provides a sense of cohesiveness, personal development, and higher levels of satisfaction among those conducting the work; and it provides an overarching sense of direction and vision, an alignment with the environment, a healthy mechanism for innovation and creativity, and a resource for invigorating the organisational culture. This is no small order, especially in contemporary times. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a vast country endowed with huge natural and mineral resources. But for decades the DRC has been through coups d’état, civil wars, rebellions, political turmoil and instability, and it also faced aggression from its neighbouring countries in recent years. All these events have impacted negatively on the state and have provoked the decay of public institutions, making the country one of the notorious failed states of the world (Tshiyoyo 2011:104). Given the state’s failure in the DRC, creating a strong nation should be a priority. The government in the DRC should strengthen the organs of the state in order to tackle the socio-economic crisis that has paralysed many public institutions and impeded the proper functioning of the state’s apparatus. This will require a new breed of leaders who will be able to provide the stewardship needed to pave the way for the country to be placed on the track of development. The DRC requires leaders who are transformational or visionary given its particular context. In this article the model that is suggested to enhance leadership development in the DRC consists of three pillars, namely spirituality, emotional intelligence and morality. However, the success of the proposed model will depend on the kind of social order that prevails in the country and on the type of political arrangements made by the country’s leaders.