These answers draw in part from “Workshop: Creating Your Own Personal Leadership Cloud (1 ETH, 1 SUPERVISION CEs)” by Adrienne Bradley, M.ED., BCBA, LBA (BehaviorLive), and extend it with peer-reviewed research from our library of 27,900+ ABA research articles. Clinical framing, BACB ethics code references, and cross-links below are synthesized by Behaviorist Book Club.
View the original presentation →A personal leadership cloud is a customized collection of resources, experiences, relationships, and learning opportunities that you assemble to develop your leadership competencies. Unlike a single training program, it recognizes that leadership development happens through diverse channels over time. To build one, start with a self-assessment of your current leadership skills, clarify your career aspirations, and then identify resources that address your development needs. These might include mentors, professional communities, formal coursework, leadership books, experiential challenges, and reflective practices. The cloud is dynamic: you add, modify, and remove components as your development needs evolve.
With 64% of the behavior analytic field certified within the past six years, the field has a large cohort of relatively new professionals who will be stepping into leadership roles over the coming decade. Meanwhile, the environments in which ABA organizations operate are becoming more complex: evolving insurance landscapes, workforce shortages, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and growing service demand all require sophisticated leadership. Graduate programs in behavior analysis focus on technical clinical skills and provide minimal leadership preparation. If the field does not invest in developing its emerging leaders, the quality of services and the sustainability of organizations will suffer.
Several Ethics Code elements connect to leadership. Code 5.02 (Supervisory Competence) requires skills that are fundamentally leadership skills: assessing supervisee needs, providing feedback, and managing professional relationships. Code 1.07 (Cultural Responsiveness and Diversity) requires building inclusive environments, a core leadership responsibility. Code 2.16 (Describing Conditions for Program Effectiveness) calls on practitioners to advocate for conditions that support quality services, which is an advocacy and leadership function. Code 1.05 (Practicing Within Scope of Competence) implies that taking on leadership roles without developing leadership skills constitutes practicing outside your competence. Leadership development is therefore an ethical imperative for behavior analysts in or approaching leadership positions.
While specific needs vary by role and context, several leadership competencies are broadly important for behavior analysts. Communication skills are essential for working with families, interdisciplinary teams, and staff. Decision-making under uncertainty is critical because clinical and organizational decisions often must be made with incomplete information. Team development skills are needed to build and maintain effective clinical teams. Strategic thinking enables practitioners to look beyond immediate demands and plan for the future. Conflict resolution skills are necessary for navigating the inevitable disagreements in clinical and organizational settings. And ethical leadership, the ability to model and promote ethical behavior, is foundational to everything behavior analysts do.
Absolutely. Leadership is exercised at every level of an organization, not only in formal management roles. You exercise leadership when you mentor a colleague, advocate for a client, propose a new clinical approach, facilitate a team discussion, or take initiative on a project. These informal leadership opportunities provide valuable practice and feedback for developing your skills. Additionally, many leadership development resources such as mentoring relationships, professional communities, coursework, and self-study are accessible regardless of your formal position. Starting your leadership development early in your career, before you hold a formal title, ensures you are prepared when leadership opportunities arise.
VUCA stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous, and it accurately describes the environment facing ABA organizations. Volatility appears in rapidly changing insurance regulations, reimbursement rates, and authorization requirements. Uncertainty manifests as workforce shortages, unpredictable referral volumes, and evolving scope of practice debates. Complexity is evident in the multiple stakeholders, regulatory requirements, and competing demands that organizations must navigate simultaneously. Ambiguity arises from unclear regulatory guidance, evolving ethical standards, and the inherent difficulty of predicting industry trends. Leaders who can navigate VUCA conditions are better positioned to sustain their organizations and protect the quality of services they deliver.
Mentoring is one of the most powerful components of a personal leadership cloud because it provides personalized guidance, feedback, and support from someone who has navigated similar challenges. An effective mentor can help you identify blind spots in your leadership approach, provide perspective on complex situations, share lessons learned from their own experience, and hold you accountable to your development goals. Ideally, your mentoring network should include mentors from within behavior analysis who understand the field's specific challenges and mentors from outside the field who can provide fresh perspectives and broader leadership knowledge. Peer mentoring, where colleagues at similar career stages learn together, is also valuable.
Measurement should include both formal and informal indicators. Formal measures might include 360-degree feedback assessments where colleagues, supervisees, and supervisors rate your leadership competencies, performance evaluation data related to leadership functions, and completion of planned development activities. Informal measures include your own reflective assessment of how you handle leadership challenges, feedback from mentors and peers, and observable changes in your behavior such as more effective communication, better decision-making under pressure, or stronger team development. Set specific leadership development goals with measurable indicators and review them quarterly, just as you would review clinical progress data.
The case for including leadership training in graduate programs is strong. Given that most BCBAs will supervise others, collaborate with interdisciplinary teams, and influence organizational practices within a few years of certification, leadership competencies are essential for effective practice. Graduate programs could integrate leadership content through dedicated coursework, experiential projects, practicum experiences that involve leadership functions, and mentoring from experienced leaders. This would address the current gap where graduates enter the field with strong technical skills but minimal preparation for the leadership demands they will face. Until graduate programs fully integrate leadership training, individual practitioners must take responsibility for their own development.
Many behavior analysts find themselves in organizations that do not provide formal leadership development opportunities. In this case, self-directed development becomes essential. Build your personal leadership cloud using resources you can access independently: read leadership books, listen to leadership podcasts, join professional communities focused on leadership, seek mentoring relationships outside your organization, and pursue external training opportunities. Within your organization, create informal development opportunities by volunteering for projects, seeking feedback from colleagues, and taking initiative in areas where leadership is needed. Document your leadership development activities for your own records, and advocate within your organization for formal leadership development programs by presenting the business case for investing in leadership capacity.
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Workshop: Creating Your Own Personal Leadership Cloud (1 ETH, 1 SUPERVISION CEs) — Adrienne Bradley · 1 BACB Ethics CEUs · $50
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.