Story 61 - Generativity
NHRI was founded on the notion of highlighting what is right with people and the impact that can be made when we encourage individuals’ strengths. Dr. Hall and Dr. Clifton held the strong belief that the greatest resource is the human resource: an idea that rings true 75 years later.
In 2012, current NHRI Research Director, Dr. Lindsay Hastings, conducted her dissertation research examining generativity among college students who mentor. Dr. Hastings compared generativity levels of NHRI students to college student leaders at UNL who were not mentoring and to general college students at UNL. Data results of Hastings’ study revealed that NHRI students were, indeed, more generative than their peers.
Generativity is defined as the concern in establishing and guiding the next generation. The results of Dr. Hastings’ research indicated that NHRI students demonstrated significantly higher generativity than non-mentoring students, engaging in “generative leadership” evidenced by helping others realize and develop their own strengths.
Previous research has identified generativity as the strongest predictor of social responsibility; thus, not only did NHRI students document higher generativity than their peers, but also were most likely among their peers to be socially responsible as adults. This research helped to provide empirical evidence for the value of the NHRI program.
In just the last 10 years, NHRI has had 25 publications, over 30 conference presentations, and over 50 invited talks. These numbers are a testament to the incredible work happening within NHRI.
Dr. Hastings with former students, Addy Sellon, at International Leadership Association Conference in 2023
“It’s been such a joy to be able to share about what we do in NHRI with leadership faculty all across the globe. And for NHRI to be able to advance the field of leadership, that’s what’s been so fun about this. NHRI students have been instrumental in advancing the field of leadership and how we understand generativity in young adults… [Our] students are completely blowing the lid off of what we’ve understood from psychosocial development theories for decades.”
Hannah Sunderman and Nick Knopik, ALEC graduate students 2019, working on their respective research projects studying NHRI mentors. Nick and Hannah both published studies investigating the growth of generativity in NHRI mentors.
“I am so thankful that NHRI has had a home within the University of Nebraska for 75 years, being part of an R1 institution where research is one of the three main components in the mission of a land grant university. NHRI provides one of, if not the largest, leadership mentoring laboratories, in the world. So for us to be able to research what’s going on within NHRI - and for that research to be a very encouraged and celebrated part of what we do - has been such a blessing because these students have a story to share. To be in a place where we can collect those stories and share them globally has made a world of difference in demonstrating the impact of what we do here and the power of this mission.”
Register today for the Friday, November 8 NHRI Alumni Class, Luncheon and Dr. Hasting’s NHRI Generativity Focus Groups!
Funded by a grant from The Allstate Foundation, Dr. Lindsay Hastings will gather groups of NHRI alumni to collect stories about how they grew as leaders during their mentoring experience. This research will help NHRI better understand how and why our mentors developed leadership skills, behaviors, and mindsets as a result of leadership mentoring. This research will also advance the field of leadership education and help scholars across the country understand more about how leadership mentoring works as a tool for leadership development.