Development Plan

Leadership Development Plan Instructions Page 1

Leadership Development Plan (LDP)

Goal: a) To develop and enhance self-awareness b) To help you formulate a plan for “leading” in a way that matches your goals and values. c) To increase your ability to lead effectively.

Personal Leadership Definition (2 – 3 paragraphs, no more than 1 page): Leadership can mean many things, from being a role model for others, taking initiative, acting with

integrity, and achieving formal positions of power (e.g., management). Please write a coup le of paragraphs, minimum describing what leadership means to you. You can include formal definitions of leadership, but I am most interested in how you define leadership. What criteria would you use to determine whether someone was a leader or not? What criteria would you use to decide if someone was an effective or excellent leader? No quoting of material. Please cite outside sources, if used.

Your Leadership Aspirations (2-3 paragraphs, no more than 1 page): In this section you describe your own leadership goals, hopes, plans, or dreams. How does leadership

play into your career, or as you move into the next stage with your MBA or Master’s degree? Don’t put grand definitions of leadership here, unless you are personally striving to match that grand definition (some of you will want to be a CEO, or inspirational leader, others will simply want to be a good employee who takes initiative and speaks out when change is needed). When you complete this section, think about yourself, not some ideal leader. If you achieved what you wanted to as a leader in the next five years, how about someone describe you? Some students find it helpful to write this section in the third person, as if someone were describing them. Feel free to be creative in your approach.

Strengths and Vulnerabilities (about 2 pages): Your table is not included in the page minimum. In other words, the table/matrix is in addition to what you write about in this section. Write down what you think are your two greatest strengths, and your TWO greatest weaknesses.

Why do you believe so? Can you think of examples where you demonstrated (or failed to demonstrate) them? Next, contact three (3) people whom you respect and with whom you have associated closely at some point recently. They can be supervisors, coworkers, friends, spouses/significant others, or relatives (try to get a good mix). You will be interviewing these individuals to elicit information about your personal strengths and weaknesses. I expect each interview should last about 15 to 20 minutes, but this is not a strict guideline. Think of this as valuable time to learn more about yourself! You may mention that you are interviewing them for a class project. Explain that you are interested in obtaining information to help you make developmental plans regarding your career. It is okay if the interviews are not face-to-face (e.g. Skype/Facetime, Zoom, or phone is okay).

Interviews should focus on the following issues: 1. What do your interviewees see as your TWO greatest strengths? Why? 2. What do your interviewees see as your TWO greatest weaknesses? Why?

You are encouraged to take notes during the interview, but do not let your writing distract you too much from the conversation and interaction. Under no circumstances should you argue with your interviewees. You may only ask questions to clarify your understanding or to probe their reasoning. Avoid raising your voice, be sure to smile, and use reassuring verbalizations. It can be more awkward for them to discuss your weaknesses than it is for you!

When you are finished, generate a matrix summarizing your interviewees’ feedback to help identify overlap in your interviewees’ assessments. A sample of what this matrix should look like is provided on the next page.

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Sample Feedback Summary Matrix:

AREAS INTERVIEWEES IDENTIFIED My Own

Thoughts Supervisor Significant

Other/Partner Friend

Strengths • Strong

communication skills

Write & speak well, very clear

Strong writing skills

Good job keeping me informed

• Positive outlook on life

Pleasant, friendly

Nice/ Cooperative

Optimistic, kind

• Superior analytic ability

High quality work

Superior work quality

Weaknesses • Perfectionist Overly critical

of self Too much time on details that don’t add value

Picky, sometimes too detailed

• Take on too much work

Little time left for self

Never delegate to others

Seem overworked & stressed

• Avoid conflict even when needed/ too nice

Let others walk on you

Be more direct in disagreements

Insights about leadership and yourself (about 1 page): In this section, discuss 2-3 key learnings about leadership (including about yourself as a leader) from

activities associated with this class (readings, group feedback, personal discussions, etc.). For some of you there will be a longer list of learnings and insights and for others there will be fewer. If you learned many things about leadership you can make a list, but be sure to fully expand on 2- 3 issues that were the most meaningful to you. Feel free to reflect on course readings or your own outside sources or course book.

You might find yourself feeling this section is redundant with the prior section, but it should not be, though it may build on it. For example, one of the things you may have listed as a strength is that you are a good listener. You might have reported this as a strength in the preceding section. But, it would show up in this section ONLY if it was an important new learning for you. If you already knew you were a good listener, it would show up in the preceding section as a strength but it would NOT show up here. Issues that show up in this section are the things that you learned. That means you will be talking about things you did not know before this class or things that you now understand in greater depth, or in a new way. What I am looking for here are the pieces of knowledge or insight that you gained about yourself, or leadership in general, or what employers want in employees who will be leaders – as a result of this class.

Self-Improvement Plan (about 1 page) Analyze your current status as a leader. You have defined leadership in the first section and then

analyzed your own current capabilities in the strengths and vulnerabilities section. Considering

Leadership Development Plan Instructions Page 4

these sections together, what can you do to improve? List your goals and objectives for improving your leadership capabilities. What will you need to do in terms of experiences, learning, and development? In this section, you should take the long view, addressing your development as a leader over the next 1-3 years. If you are to become the leader you aspire to be (per the leadership aspirations section), what will you need to do? BE SPECIFIC; BE REALISTIC. What will you do? What obstacles are you likely to encounter? How will you monitor your progress to know if your leadership capabilities have increased? How will you evaluate the effectiveness (success) of your development activities? There should be obvious links between your improvement plan and the earlier sections of your LDP.

Personal Values Proposition, as a leader (100 words or fewer): It may seem that this statement is about you, but as you develop it you should be thinking about your

future employer and the leadership role that you want in their organization. The goal is to communication what you bring to an organization, as a LEADER (with leadership described per your individual aspirations). If somebody said to you, I am going to make a decision whom to hire based on your personal value proposition and you have only 100 words to convince me to hire you, this statement would be your response. I should see evidence of self-awareness in this statement. If you seem to be talking about someone very different than the person described in this document, then you need to go back to the drawing board. This is a summary of who you are, and what you bring to an organization that is looking for leaders. You should be seeking to differentiate yourself from other candidates. LDP Length Requirements:

Your plan should be a minimum of SEVEN (7) pages (single-spaced, with 1” margins and using a 12- point font). I t can be m or e pages. W hat w i l l be eva luat ed is your subst ant ive descr ipt ion, d iscuss ion, and ana lys is of your per sona l LDP. You need to balance the need to be thorough in covering the central points while also communicating the information as concisely as possible. Writing Matters. I would guess than an effective 100 word value proposition will be revised as many as 10 times, so that the end result is a clear statement of what you have to offer as a leader.

Leadership Development Plan Instructions Page 4

Evaluation: The following form indicates more precisely how I intend to evaluate your LDP.

Criterion Points

Clarity, Organization & Professionalism (25% possible) Clear writing style, logical flow of writing, use of headings & subheadings where appropriate, clear transitions between sections of paper, title page & table of contents, numbered pages.

Thoroughness (25% possible)

Complete coverage of all required elements and thoroughness with which elements are covered.

Quality (50% possible)

Care & critical thought put into the plan – (a)depth of insight, (b)creativity in plan to match individual student circumstances, (c) clear statement of learning, (d) development of realistic improvement plan, and (e) a clear, concise and informative value proposition that follows from the information in the plan. Do the various elements of the plan work together to present a coherent narrative about your goals and aspirations, where you stand today, and what is needed to bring you closer to your goals and aspirations? Does the values proposition follow from the rest of the plan?

(up to 25)

(up to 25)

(up to 50)

TOTAL POINTS: