Personal Leadership Plan and Response

PART 1: RESPONSE

Looking at the feedback I can say there are slight differences. Even though my peers were objective in their ratings I can confirm that they missed some critical aspects. On planning, I can say that I share the same view with Shakirya and Lashell. In all tasks stated under the planning function both of my peers strongly agree and agree that I exhibit such qualities. I can now confidently confirm that I am a good planner even in my peers’ eyes.

On organizing there is a slight difference. In my ratings I strongly agree that I display such qualities in any given task however, Shakirya indicated that she only agrees but does not strongly to any statement. Although in some statements Lashell strongly agreed she was not sure about my proposals for organization changes. Personally, I have always believed that my organizational skills are at par. I am always good at maintaining active networks, I understand external and internal customers among others, unfortunately, one of my peers could not strongly agree with any of them. This caught me by surprise as I thought the two of my peers whom I have interacted with could not strongly agree with me.

On leading, I share the same views with Lashell because she strongly agrees with some statements only that she disapproves of my ability to delegate, empower, and reward. On the other hand, Shakirya could only agree and she was not sure about some of the skills. Even though I tend to believe in myself on matters of leading others, especially by motivating and influencing however one of my peers could not agree with the statement which caught me by surprise.

 I realized that all of my three peers could agree that I am good at controlling. Even though on my side I believed I was poor in controlling some of the activities, Lashell and Shakirya saw this potential in me. Although it didn’t get me by surprise, I realized that I needed to make major changes in my leadership control because it is a skill that can be improved only by being keen on what takes place at every step.

My main surprise was in the cross-functional management skills. I did not believe that I could get such rates given that I am very poor in multitasking skills. I thought that Lashell and Shakirya would poorly rate me as I always focus on delegation instead of multi-tasking on several tasks at one time. Every time I find myself in a fixed situation, I call upon my colleagues very fast and distribute work according to priority. Maybe it is through being proactive and distributing work according to priorities that caused my colleagues to see cross-functional management skills.

Strengths identified were cross-functional skills and control on the other hand weaknesses were organization and leading.

PART 2: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Developmental Awareness

Any effective leader ought to plan for his or her success. A plan consists of a career improvement plan and a personal growth plan (Bateman & Snell, 2015).  In this essay, I will outline some of my weaknesses and strengths as a leader, discover where there is a need for improvement, and detect some of the leadership practices plus skills to be applied to become an effective leader.

Strengths

A good leader understands his strengths properly to provide good leadership (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). Based on this, I can identify some of the areas in which I feel my strengths lie. For example, I have good organizational skills. Organization is a major feature of being a good leader. I normally find it easy to handle some of the given tasks without any coercion. This gives a clear guideline on what tasks are supposed to be completed in a day and in which way. The staff working under me are proud of my guidance and direction towards service delivery. I always provide clear procedures for everyday tasks that are supposed to be done. This comprises giving the agendas for the meeting, individual goals as well as follow-up emails. This kind of organization helps to align tasks and goals together (Bateman & Snell, 2015). Notably, workers usually respond suitably when working with a leader that offers clear guidelines. This ranges from giving meeting schedules to giving a follow-up note that ties all the information together.

Possessing perfectly organized materials helps other staff to work towards the common goal (Dearborn, 2002). It will make sure I work with juniors to formulate and attain their personal goals. Some of the other strengths that I exhibit comprise: I am a very creative, visionary, confident, caring, and effective planner, possessing the capability to manage any resource given, and committed, structured, and considerate. Being structured permits me to set strictures that as a team we can all work to attain the overall goals of the company.  Structure helps to create ties as well as a sense of cohesiveness in the place of work (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). This kind of teamwork is essential for the organization’s success.

Combining all these skills shall permit me to have followers who are skilled, committed, and willing to embark on the journey to attain the firm’s goals.  This shall encompass utilizing resource management skills effectually. This merely entails totally using the resources I have healthily. Everyone has something to offer and I as a leader ought to embrace these diversities so that all of my followers sense that they are always treasured.  These positive attributes shall increase the job relationship that I have with my support staff since they will develop confidence in my skills and abilities.

Weaknesses

In my daily activities and programs, I was able to find some of my weaknesses. Being able to identify and acknowledge my weaknesses serves to make me a better leader. I have an opportunity to see some of the areas where a job is needed to lead effectively. Some of the areas that I must work on to improve include: improving self-confidence, working on interpersonal skills, and expanding management skills.

It was very hard in the past to maintain the position of leadership unless one knows his or her followers. This is one of those areas that I will work to improve on. On the other hand, lack of self-confidence is due to the feeling of inadequacy in certain areas. The feeling that others have more education or training as compared to mine leads to a feeling of nervousness which in the long run displays low self-esteem. This predetermined thinking that some people are superior could also be the reason behind my interpersonal skills.

An effective leader ought to outline some of the areas that need improvement (Mumford, Campion & Morgeson, 2007). This will permit me to work to improve on my skills so that I can effectively lead. I have managed to identify many areas where there is a need for improvement. Some of the areas include confidence, improving technical competence, communication skills, and interpersonal relationships. Effective communication is critical because of the dissemination of the information to the subordinates.

How do I Manage or Lead?

The styles of leadership that I regularly use include coaching, democratic, and affiliative. In most cases, I tend to cautiously analyze circumstances and collect input from other people before making choices. My style leans on collaborative leadership as compared to competitive. Whereas this enables me to be a great team player, the challenge is that I may spend a lot of time on collaboration when making personal decisions could be the best alternative. The overdoing of collaboration as well as consensual decision-making at some point represents the desire to minimize risk by disseminating a decision. This is in line with the online information that I received from Timothy Donald Cook concerning role shifting and flexibility to balance different kinds of leadership.

Leadership Goal(s)

Improve interpersonal skills. As a good leader, I will focus on having people skills. This will help my colleagues and subordinates to feel comfortable approaching me with any problems they experience, and not afraid and intimidated by my reaction. Being able to take more time to ask for the views of my colleagues and listening attentively to the opinions of every person (Avolio, 1999) also indicates that I hold them in high esteem. Some of my colleagues similarly appreciate some of the small things, like complimenting them for a job well done or being able to remember the name of the person I met recently.

I need to assess my skills. Being able to do a continuous evaluation of my own skills helps to ensure my competencies are at the level that ought to be. If my profession needs knowledge that does not change too fast, doing this evaluation periodically is satisfactory. In case I am changing my field very fast where new skills are regularly needed to keep up with some of the changes – I must complete this assessment early enough to be updated.

I must increase my knowledge. An effective leader never puts a full stop to learning and constantly wants to his or her skills. Being able to make a list of where I want to improve like acquiring particular skills or enhancing the existing capabilities can help me to become a valuable leader. After identifying some of the areas that need improvement, I should seek means to get these skills. Attending conferences or company trainings, asking for more tasks at the workplace, taking online courses, finding a mentor, and subscribing to relevant professional blogs (Mumford et al., 2000), are some of the ways that I can use to expand my leadership and job performance.

I am going to strive to inspire others. Inspiring as well as encouraging members of my team to accomplish their own goals and reach their potential can help me become an effective leader. Involving every individual in planning goals for the future will make each person feel valued and help them get excited over any project that unfolds. A leader setting the highest standards for worker’s performance challenges them to work extra hard. Awarding team members for their exemplary performance indicates that they are recognized and makes them to be part and parcel of the team (Mumford et al., 2000).

Individual Objectives Required to Reach My End Goal(s)

Objective #1- Achieve my improvement goal

My dedication (goal improvement) from this practice is to take a step and be ready to adventure and take part in situations where I find it hard to control all end results. What I am doing currently is trying as much as possible to avoid sharing my views in big groups, consult others for issues so I can make the final decision, and divert or end it when I sense the eruption of conflicts. My secreted competing dedications are to not appear senseless, not feel ashamed, not make an error, not lose my emotional control, and lastly not upset or dishearten others.

Objective 1: in the following 3 weeks, I will spend 25 minutes every week following the leadership and instruction in Invulnerability to Change to collect data and test presumptions to make progress toward attaining my improvement goal. I am dedicated to taking greater risks and being prepared to put myself in circumstances where it is impossible to control all the results.

Objective #2 – to increase my confidence and experience leading projects

Although I made major progress on my leadership and development project, I feel there is still more to be done as my achievements were below the expected results within the given timeframe. I finished working on the background study and created a research questionnaire for my department managers and staff on issues relating to the progress of the worker development plan. I will focus on leading this project and finish the following steps:

• Finish analysis of data and make draft commendations for process enhancement
• Evaluate results and draft commendations with workgroup
• Work closely with directors to create an execution plan.

Objective #3: I will participate in my section’s continuous quality improvement committee.

Timeline for Reaching My Goal(s)

• January 2019 - Complete a short-term course on leadership and management 
• February - April 2019 – execute objective 1.
  • Work on some of the areas in which I had weaknesses to change the goal, with a review carried out after every three days of progress and major corrections in the course as required.
  • Participate in the Continuous Quality Improvement Committee.
• May 2019 - Evaluate improvement on all of the goals stated above and continue or adjust as needed.

Resources and/or Tools needed to reach my Goal(s)

• I will evaluate my supervision role to modify it to remain on track with attaining my improvement goal.
• I will be very close to my director to identify some of the weaknesses to attain my leadership goals and objectives.

References

Avolio, B. J. (1999). Full leadership development: Building the vital forces in organizations. Sage.

Bateman, T. & Snell, S. (2015). Management: Leading & collaborating in the competitive world (11th ed., Chapter 1). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education

Dearborn, K. (2002). Studies in emotional intelligence redefine our approach to leadership development. Public Personnel Management, 31(4), 523-530.

Mumford, M. D., Marks, M. A., Connelly, M. S., Zaccaro, S. J., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2000). Development of leadership skills: Experience and timing. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 87-114.

Mumford, T. V., Campion, M. A., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007). The leadership skills strataplex: Leadership skill requirements across organizational levels. The Leadership Quarterly, 18(2), 154-166.