Leadership Development Plan - Essay Example

?My Leadership Development Plan My Vision and Values for my Personal and professional life:  There has to be a clear understanding of one’s roles andprofessional responsibilities in order to successfully achieve them. The aim of my professional career is to prove my skills as a manager and leader along with the affirmation of my proficiency in accounting and finance knowledge. Knowing the responsibility that lies on me as a supervisor and manager of 24 employees, I need to develop my leadership and managerial skills to keep a track of all the employees working under my surveillance. I would like to achieve a degree of expertise where I, as a manager and supervisor, not only meet the targets of the organization that I am working for but also meet the expectations of the employees working under my supervision. The personal life, challenges and opportunities also affect the professional life, vision and career development. The personal challenges that I face involve lack of time for the family members and inappropriate time to socialize and active participation in physical and mental activities. These challenges that I face, due to tight schedule of my job and my undue precedence to the professional career, are disrupting my personal life. Unstable personal life affects the professional career badly and hence, before going any further in the development of my professional life I would need to resolve the personal life issues keeping the professional values and visions under consideration. My Values: Basing the discussion on the LPI feedback, the most important trait according to my leadership skills is to treat others with dignity and respect. Employees working under my control, hence, are encouraged to put forward their ideas without any fear of embarrassment or humiliating behavior from the management side including me. My values involve firm commitment and fulfillment of my promises which act as a modeling behavior for the employees. Employees spend more time observing the leaders’ behavior on how he/she acts in certain circumstances and respond to the commitments. A responsive, more responsible and committed leader inspires the visions and actions of the taskforce. I also believe in developing a cooperative environment where workers are encouraged to ponder over different issues, share their thoughts and implement the change. The fact that their ideas and views are respected and implemented if they are appropriate, integrate them more in the organization and they feel more relaxed and satisfied with the working environment. This leadership trait also enables the workers to trust the leader, act upon his decisions and understand the underlying factors of the decision which are beneficial for the firm and/or the performance of the group. My leadership values include the communication about group aspirations often in the daily working environment. This enables the employees keep their focus on achieving the group goals rather than achieving individual targets which collides with the group targets. Hence, proper communication of the targets and motivation to achieve them as a group helps achieving those targets by inspiring the group members’ vision and point of views about the work delegated to them. The LPI also suggests that seeking challenging opportunities to test and polish skills is also one of the traits that I adopt as a leader. Challenges and adverse situations enable the person think critically, evaluate, assess and implement. The challenging tasks and situations help making the group more integrated and devoted. The whole group is equally involved in tackling the difficult situation, hence creating a more firm and goal oriented taskforce. This further helps in realizing the true potentials of the group members and their involvement and interest in achieving the group goals. In addition to this, my values involve proper assessment of the group progress and communicate the results with the group to encourage them on improvement and discourage the traits which may hinder the success of the group. The remarks and reports on the performance of the group and the individual workers, however, do not violate the self-respect and values of the employees. Description of Goals: It is important for every individual to decide, understand and properly prioritize his goals. Knowing the complex nature of my job, I always need to manage my goals and work on them to achieve success. My goals are not limited to the success or achievement of the organizational objectives but to satisfy the needs and expectations of thee employees for good performance and results. Unsatisfied employees lead to inappropriate or unexpected outcomes. Hence, as a leader I need to incorporate such goals in my development plans which not only help me in achieving my personal goals but also help in building stronger relationships with the employees. On the other hand, it must be understood that employee-leader relationship should be of professional nature and there is a need to keep certain powers separate from such relationships. For instance, the decision making power should not be handed over to the employees but their opinion should be appreciated and considered if it is competent. 1. The first goal is to improve the management skills which are of paramount importance for leaders as well as other professionals. Since, the concept of management and leadership are closely related, there is a need to be a good manager in order to become a successful leader. A leader needs to plan, implement and supervise the whole activities of the group. A leader, hence, needs to manage time, tasks and workforce in an appropriate manner to be successful in achieving the targets. The targets that are set need to be achieved within the time frame, resources and conditions provided by the firm. The personal reason of keeping this goal on the top of my priority list is to manage time between work and personal life. My personal life has been affected badly due to lack of time management skills and improper working schedules. There is a need to develop a schedule where work is separated from the personal life and I get enough time to spend with friends, family and other activities. The work planning and management of the tasks within the time frame allocated for work, hence, is the solution of family life and personal problems. Moreover, if we consider the professional career, management of tasks, time and resources help in reducing risks associated to the achievement of goals. Properly managed tasks are easier to accomplish and often result in better performance of the group as a whole. Management of tasks also includes delegation of authority and work to the subordinates who have the potential to work on them and achieve the targets defined to them. 2. As suggested by the LPI, I need to understand the new techniques and use them rather than following the traditional ways. Experiments and risks help developing a whole new working environment. New techniques and strategies help in improving the performance of the group as employees do not get bored of the same work. The responses to the open eneded questions by the observers also suggest me to improve this area and accept the challenges to improve the work environment and technique. Hence, my second aim/goal is to improve my acceptance of new methods, ways and techniques by properly analyzing the situations and probable outcomes of those changes and innovative ideas in order to avoid failures. 3. Motivation leads to energetic, more encouraged and goal-oriented workforce. My third goal is to improve my motivational skills. One way to improve it is by celebrating the accomplishments. Even the smallest success of the group should be celebrated or communicated to motivate the group of their capabilities. The successes help in increasing the self-esteem of the employees and by celebration or communication of the accomplishment, employees feel more encouraged towards achieving the bigger targets. Employees’ enthusiasm is, hence, unleashed by getting knowledge about their own success stories. 4. My next goal is to provide a vision of future accomplishments to the employees. The LPI feedback suggests that I lack in providing the visionary details to the employees about the future success of their efforts and how it will be achieved. The aim here is to improve my own future visualization skills and to ‘communicate’ the expected results of the efforts that group is making. By providing the image of future success and the rewards or appraisals that are expected, employees may be motivated on achieving the targets as planned. 5. The LPI results in concluding that I lack giving people choice about how to do their work. In other words, group members have the power to communicate their ideas but are not able to implement their ideas. My aim here is not to give them full authority of completing their tasks as they feel appropriate but to consider their suggestions where applicable. A complete autonomy to the employees may result in mismanagement of task and hence failure of the organizational aim for which the group was made. 6. Feedbacks help in understanding and improving a person’s skills. I aim to seek others’ feedback in order to overcome the shortcomings of my leadership, managerial and personal weaknesses. Being a leader, I influence others and my binding decisions are also influencing the people working under my control. Hence, it is important to understand the effects of my commands and decisions on others. The feedback may help me in developing my skills and weaknesses on one hand and will make me act like a role model who respects others’ suggestions and take steps to overcome the weaknesses. In this way, employees will also be motivated to improve their performance based on the feedbacks provided to them. Strategies and Action Steps Toward Each Goal: 1. Management puts forward the idea of getting things done effectively using different management techniques and proper planning. It provides a tool for problem solving. Management puts forward a systematic idea to solve problems including the most complex and the simplest problems. The creative problem solving as proposed by management consists of 4 basic functions. These functions involve planning, organizing, leading and controlling. In order to improve the management skills, I would need to adapt a proper management strategy, prioritize my daily activities, and set time to accomplish those activities, work according to the plan, keeping track of the planned activities, review the plan and revise it if required (Mancini, 2007). Completion Period: There is no fixed completion date of this goal as Management is an ongoing process. 2. “Only through risk taking and the ever-present risk of failure can we grow and improve” (McCoy & Stanford University,2007 p 153). Hence, to improve in the area of risk taking I would consider changing the older patterns and try new ones. The decisions of changing the strategies, however, would need a careful examination of their possible outcomes. Completion period: at least a month to consider, assess and implement change. 3. In order to celebrate the success of accomplishments I would provide performance appraisals, rewards, applauds and arrange small celebrations. The ways to celebrate are not limited; however, it depends on how large or small the accomplishment is (Kouzes and Posner, 2007 pp. 307-27). Completion Period: From Day1 of any project till the last day. 4. In order to provide the employees with vision of future success, I would follow the strong communication process whereby I will design the future success in terms of their goals being achieved. I will communicate the effect of each activity and will focus on how each activity is moving us towards the goal. Such communication patterns will be adopted which will motivate and inspire them (Mumford, 2009 p 172). Completion Period: From the beginning of activities till the accomplishment of the major goal. 5. In order to give them freedom of choosing their strategies to work, I would request their recommendations and will follow the one which is the most appropriate. Moreover, in order to avoid any misunderstandings or negative feelings, I would provide them with the feedbacks about their ideas containing the positive and negative impacts of their proposed strategy. Completion Period: Before the work starts (strategies will be revised during the process if needed) 6. I will set up a system for receiving regular feedback. The use of computers and emails is of the efficient and cheaper ways of getting feedbacks. Hence, I would implement and online feedback form to be submitted by each employee and co-worker on periodic basis. Completion Period: Monthly activity. Tracking Progress: 1. Matching the plan with the current success is a useful tool to track the progress of this goal. If the tasks are being performed as planned, management skills have been improved and are up to the mark. 2. Tracking the changes that occurred from the beginning till the end may help in realizing the improvements in risk taking area. 3. Apparent and prominent indicators are the number of performance appraisals passed, rewads given and other tools of appreciating the employees’ success. 4. Employee feedbacks and satisfaction is the key to measure the success of this goal. If employees are always motivated to achieve their goals, they have properly visualized the success of their project. 5. The comparison of suggestions provided by the employees for the strategies or work process they want to follow with the currently implemented procedure or strategy may indicate the success in achieving change. 6. Emails will help in providing the changes required and a personal evaluation of those changes being adopted. Supporting People: Employees and other co-workers are the major people who will help in the successful development of my leadership skills. Their proper guidance, feedbacks and support will lead me to the accomplishment of the goals mentioned. Personal Mission Statement: I want to achieve my goal of becoming a successful leader and add as a valuable asset to the organization I am working for. My aim is to prove my abilities and this development plan aims to polish my existing abilities and bring changes which will lead me towards improvement as a leader and as an individual. Bibliography: Mancini, M. (2007). Time management: 24 techniques to make each minute count at work. New York: McGraw-Hill. McCoy, B. H., & Stanford University. (2007). Living into leadership: A journey in ethics. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Business Books. Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2007). The leadership challenge. San Francisco, Calif: Wiley. Mumford, M. D., & ebrary, Inc. (2009). Leadership 101. New York: Springer. Read More