1.4 Assignment: Leadership Competencies

·

Step 1: Career and development o

bjectives.

Your career objective comes directly

from the goals quadrant of the GAPS analysis; it is where you want to be or what

you want to be doing in your career a year or so in the future. The development

objective comes from your gaps

-

of

-

the

-

GAPS anal

ysis; it should be a high

-

priority

development need pertaining to your career objective. People should be working

on no more than two or three development needs at any one time.

·

Step 2: Criteria for success.

What would it look like if you developed a particular

skill, acquired technical expertise, or changed the behavior outlined in your

development objective? This can be a difficult step in development planning,

particularly with “softer” skills such as liste

ning, managing conflict, or building

relationships with others.

·

Step 3: Action steps.

The focus in the development plan should be on the specific,

on

-

the

-

job action steps leadership practitioners will take to meet their development

needs. However, sometime

s it is difficult for leaders to think of appropriate on

-

the

-

job action steps. Three excellent resources that provide on

-

the

-

job action steps for

a variety of development needs are two books,

The Successful Manager’s

Handbook

47

and

For Your Improvement,

48

and the development planning and

coaching software

DevelopMentor

.

49

These three resources can be likened to

restaurant menus in that they provide leadership practitioners with a wide variety

of action steps to wor

k on just about any development need.

·

Step 4: Whom to involve and when to reassess dates.

This step in a development

plan involves feedback

—

whom do you need to get it from, and how often do you

need to get it? This step in the development plan is important

because it helps keep

you on track. Are your efforts being noticed? Do people see any improvement? Are

there things you need to do differently? Do you need to refocus your efforts?

·

Step 5: Stretch assignments.

When people reflect on when they have learned

the

most, they often talk about situations where they felt they were in over their heads.

These situations stretched their knowledge and skills and often are seen as

extremely beneficial to learning. If you know of a potential assignment, such as a

task f

orce, a project management team, or a rotational assignment, that would

emphasize the knowledge and skills you need to develop and accelerate your

learning, you should include it in your development plan.

·

Step 6: Resources.

Often people find it useful to r

ead a book, attend a course, or

watch a recorded program to gain foundational knowledge about a particular

development need. These methods generally describe the how

-

to steps for a

particular skill or behavior.

·

Step 7: Reflect with a partner.

In accordance

with the AOR model described

in

Chapter 2

, you should periodically review your learning and progress with a

partner. The identity of the partner is not particular

ly important as long as you trust

 Step 1: Career and development objectives. Your career objective comes directly

from the goals quadrant of the GAPS analysis; it is where you want to be or what

you want to be doing in your career a year or so in the future. The development

objective comes from your gaps-of-the-GAPS analysis; it should be a high-priority

development need pertaining to your career objective. People should be working

on no more than two or three development needs at any one time.

 Step 2: Criteria for success. What would it look like if you developed a particular

skill, acquired technical expertise, or changed the behavior outlined in your

development objective? This can be a difficult step in development planning,

particularly with “softer” skills such as listening, managing conflict, or building

relationships with others.

 Step 3: Action steps. The focus in the development plan should be on the specific,

on-the-job action steps leadership practitioners will take to meet their development

needs. However, sometimes it is difficult for leaders to think of appropriate on-the-

job action steps. Three excellent resources that provide on-the-job action steps for

a variety of development needs are two books, The Successful Manager’s

Handbook

47

and For Your Improvement,

48

and the development planning and

coaching software DevelopMentor.

49

These three resources can be likened to

restaurant menus in that they provide leadership practitioners with a wide variety

of action steps to work on just about any development need.

 Step 4: Whom to involve and when to reassess dates. This step in a development

plan involves feedback—whom do you need to get it from, and how often do you

need to get it? This step in the development plan is important because it helps keep

you on track. Are your efforts being noticed? Do people see any improvement? Are

there things you need to do differently? Do you need to refocus your efforts?

 Step 5: Stretch assignments. When people reflect on when they have learned the

most, they often talk about situations where they felt they were in over their heads.

These situations stretched their knowledge and skills and often are seen as

extremely beneficial to learning. If you know of a potential assignment, such as a

task force, a project management team, or a rotational assignment, that would

emphasize the knowledge and skills you need to develop and accelerate your

learning, you should include it in your development plan.

 Step 6: Resources. Often people find it useful to read a book, attend a course, or

watch a recorded program to gain foundational knowledge about a particular

development need. These methods generally describe the how-to steps for a

particular skill or behavior.

 Step 7: Reflect with a partner. In accordance with the AOR model described

in Chapter 2, you should periodically review your learning and progress with a

partner. The identity of the partner is not particularly important as long as you trust