This qualitative research study sought to explore and understand the leadership education
needs for Not-for-Profit (NFP) executives in Western Melbourne, as their needs relate to
meeting the challenges of effective sector development.
The study was motivated by two factors. The first factor was that existing research has
shown that NFPs do not invest in leadership/management development education as a
priority of a typical NFP business strategy. The second factor was that within this sector in
the Western Melbourne region, NFP organisations are further impacted by rapid growth and
change at the current time. These factors highlighted the potential that leaders in the sector
may not be prepared to respond to the challenges of effective sector development with
sufficient leadership capability and skills.
This research study explored the perspectives of NFP executives from a cross-section of
industries within the Western Melbourne NFP sector, including social services, culture and
recreation, education, environment and business/professional associations. Seven semistructured
in-depth interviews were conducted with the NFP executive research participants
who gave insights into their perspectives on their own individual needs for leadership
education and development, as well as their perspectives on the needs of executive leaders
more broadly in the NFP sector and the region. Two angles of leadership education needs
were explored with the participants: competency requirements; and the preferred attributes
of learning/educational programs that best meet their needs.
The sector challenges that are driving the need for the development of new/enhanced
leadership capability and skills were also explored, in relation to the Western Melbourne
region. The sector’s current response to enhance leadership capability and skills, including
the barriers and opportunities to access leadership education, were also investigated.
This research study has made three key contributions to existing research on leadership
education needs for the NFP sector. Findings indicate that the priorities for leadership
education need to be focussed on the competency areas of financial management and
fundraising, strategic business planning and management, and people management. It was
also found that leadership education needs extend beyond competency areas and include
the structure and modes of delivery for education and development programs to best meet
the needs of the sector and deliver outcomes, presenting challenging issues for local educational providers to better meet the needs. Additionally, this research study has
revealed the constraints for NFP executive leaders to access funding and support for
leadership education and highlighted the limited opportunities that exist to secure funding
from internal and external sources.