Capstone: Apl Prac & Princ Ldg

6.3 Assignment. Personal Manual of Leadership

Getting Started

It’s time!

Throughout the program, you’ve been collecting ideas, practices, principles, resources, and even connections (e.g., peers in the course; interviews). You have been gaining new tools, sharpening old tools, and otherwise building the toolkit for applied, effective leadership. During this course so far, you have been assembling some pieces that you will now integrate to create your own Personal Manual of Leadership. We might also call it – your complete leadership toolkit. But... keep growing. Keep adding tools in the future.

Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:

· Synthesize a comprehensive set of leadership principles, practices, resources, and ideas into a cohesive philosophy of leadership.

Background Information

This  brief video (new tab) YouTube- Create Your Own Leadership User Man  might spark some creative ideas for part of your final course project. You should follow the assignment instructions below, but the project is your Personal Manual of Leadership, so feel free to add your own “flare” within the boundaries of the final submission.

This  video (new tab) Youtube The New York Times Higher Ed Leader is longer (40 minutes) but worth reviewing about how to create a leadership user manual. The video is an active workshop, so there are places where you can fast forward the video (or you could actually do the exercises in the video).

Instructions

1. Review all the materials assigned in Workshop 6 as well as any other relevant material from the course, assignments, and program. Conduct any new research that might be needed to complete this assignment.  

2. The final step in building your Personal Manual of Leadership involves collecting (and revising to address any instructor feedback and further updates) the work you’ve done thus far in the class (final written assignments for each workshop) as well as some new components. Each of the required components is detailed below.   

3. Cover/Title Page.  (New work for this workshop)

a. Your Title page does not need to be a typical APA title page. You may be creative in creating a cover page for your personal manual of leadership.

4. Table of Contents. (New work for this workshop)

a. To facilitate the future use of your Personal Manual of Leadership, develop a basic table of contents for the document (e.g., no more than one page). If you are comfortable doing so, you may use the “levels of headings” feature in Microsoft Word to generate an automatic table of contents. However, doing so is not required. You may create a “manual” (rather than the Word automatic) table of contents.

b. You may select the level of detail (e.g., how many levels of heading) for the table of contents and its format. Simply keep in mind what might be useful to you in the future.

5. “Personal User Manual.” (New work for this workshop)

a. The videos in the Background Information section provide some ideas about creating a “leader user manual.” The videos note the potential value of being able to share such a document with your team so that they understand some of the important elements about you as a leader.

b. Create a 1 to 2-page “user manual” following some of the guidance in the video or other similar resources that you might find. Be creative. Be “visual” (e.g., infographic-type presentation). In many ways, the “user manual” is the most concise summary of the most important information about you as a leader that appears throughout your personal leadership manual.

6. Executive Summary. (New work for this workshop)

a. Your executive summary should be a one-page, high-level synthesis of your personal leadership manual. While the “user manual” portion of the assignment may be graphical (e.g., infographic) and useful for sharing a bit about you as a leader to your team, the executive summary is a one-page narrative addressing the “most important ideas.”

b. Use the executive summary to present your integrative motif.

i. Some notes on integrative motif: for the past few workshops, you have been composing various pieces of your personal manual of leadership. As a part of that process, you have consolidated ideas, principles, practices, and resources. You have summarized key ideas and composing brief statements (e.g., of purpose). Review and reflect upon everything you have created so far as part of the course project (and program capstone!). Is there a central theme, idea, or “integrative/organizing motif?” Perhaps there is a topic or idea that seems to permeate throughout your material. Maybe it has something to do with character, relationships, accountability, or effectiveness (see the looking ahead sections of previous workshops for some other possible themes). Your organizing motif is unique to you. Identify that central theme that defines your leadership.

ii. Be sure to consider how to include the integrative motif in the “user manual” and executive summary portions.

7. Personal Development Plan (New work for this workshop)

a. As you come to the end of your program, hopefully, you have learned a lot about yourself as a leader. You have developed much broader and deeper knowledge about leadership. You have gained or refined important leadership skills and abilities. However, every leader has strengths and opportunities.  

b. Create a one-page personal development plan assessment. What are your leader strengths? What are your leader opportunities (e.g., weaknesses)? What is your plan for further developing your strengths and leveraging them to enhance leadership effectiveness? What is your plan for managing your weaknesses or addressing them somehow? Be specific in your action plans. (note. Some of these ideas may also appear in brief form in the “user manual” and/or “executive summary.”)

c. You may be creative. That is fine if you want to write out the plan as a narrative. However, you may also create the assessment and plan in some type of graphical presentation. Focus on identifying clear, actionable items for your plan. The plan is for you! Remember that you have used various development tools, such as SMART goals, throughout the program (e.g., LDR-220 – Developing the Self as Leader; LDR-410 Leading with Wisdom, Vision, and Values). You may want to use some of those tools in your development plan work.

8. Consolidation of Documents (compiled and revised work from previous workshops). View  this Infographic (PDF document)  for suggestions on how to create your final submission document.

a. During Workshops One-Five, you completed assignments ranging from 2 to 5 pages. Pull all that work together into a single document.

b. You do not have to put the documents in order as you completed them in this course. You could rearrange them (for example, perhaps you think the Workshop Two paper should be first in order). Arrange the “consolidation” into an order that best fits you. It is your personal leadership manual.

c. Be sure to incorporate any feedback on those assignments provided by your faculty (I.e., use improved work and not just the original work).

d. Consider “where” it might be appropriate to include revisions to your documents (from each workshop) to incorporate your integrative motif throughout the documents.

e. No specific page requirement exists for this section as it reflects the compiled and revised work previously completed.

9. Conclusion

a. Approximately ½ page.

b. Provide a brief conclusion that summarizes two or three of the most important “things” that emerge from your work in the course, program, and/or final project. For the conclusion, consider your answer to “so what?” What is the “so what?” (or even “so what’s”) about what matters or why leaders or leadership matters, or what it means?  

10. References page.

a. Be sure to include an appropriate references page for any references you cited in the work.

b. You do not need to include the sources you detailed in the “annotated bibliography” unless you used them for material elsewhere in the document.

11. Optional: Appendices.

a. You may include appendices that you think will be helpful to you in the future.

12. Inasmuch as this is a reflection paper, first-person voice is acceptable.

13. When you have completed your assignment, submit a copy using the Assignment submission link by the end of the workshop week. 

14. Feel free to utilize  Academic Writer (new tab)  (APA formatting resource) and Grammarly (grammar and plagiarism check) on the  IWU Resources (new tab)  page.

a. All papers must be written per  APA Guidelines (7th ed) (new tab) , including format guidelines. Papers must be logical, well organized, grammatically correct, and have correct spelling and sentence structure.  Write in complete paragraphs of at least three sentences in length. 

b. Proofread your paper using Grammarly. Grammarly is provided to you as a student at no cost to proofread and spellcheck your paper. Proofreading your papers prior to submitting them ensures the highest quality of presentation. 

15. Failure to meet these minimum writing and formatting requirements will result in a lowering of the overall grade.  Use a #12 black font in Times New Roman for narrative sections.