Presenting Yourself as a Global Leader **FOR KIM WOODS ONLY**

Running: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN 1

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN 16

Leadership Development Plan

MBA6026

The Global Leader

Shermanda Green

Leadership Development Plan

Introduction

In order to develop an ideal global leadership development plan, one has to conceptualize what it will look like in their mind. The global development leadership competence curriculum that has to be developed must be one which is unique to my needs as an individual (Abbasiyannejad & Silong, 2015). It must be one that indicates my vision and mission in leadership and my main competencies in leadership. It is not easy for one to determine his/her competency in leadership without having a great technique to do so. There are some people who have relied upon computerized programs to come up with a description of their competencies, this might not be the best method yet. In this paper, I have made use of Gardner’s five minds to determine my areas of strength and weakness.

After development of the Gardner’s five minds, the paper has proceeded to create the personal leadership development plan based on the leadership concern of the future. The main concerns for leadership in future include the following main areas; human resources management, social media, ecommerce and technology. These are important areas that have been aligned to my vision of leadership that is based upon management of diversity and change in an organization. This paper contends that it may not be easy for a leader to operate well without having a mastery of how best the above four areas can be managed.

The concerns that the global arena of leaders have at the moment is transformational leadership which is aimed at no only improving the relational type of management but ascertaining the future of organizations. Therefore, in the current world leadership has just stood as an entity that people possessing leadership characteristics are selected randomly and put in a position of leadership without a proper understanding of who they really are and what they can promise. There are failures that are brought about by the failure of the leadership characteristics that organizations have put so much hope because of the kind of leaders that they place in top positions. Leadership is not based on the amount of time someone can use to complete a task but how far can a person go deep in desiring to rid errors while in the process of executing the directive of a task which will give them a true shape of how decision making and implementation of projects shall be done in the future.

Global Leadership Concern for the Future

The current global trends that are driving the global leadership agenda is heavily based on the areas of human resources management, technological application in organizations, e-commerce and social media. It will not be easy for one to operate as a global leader without incorporating these trends into their leadership agenda.

In relation to human resources management in global environment, one important element that comes up is management of a diverse set of employees. There are several good managers who have been made even better based on their ability to manage a diverse set of employees. The current global environment requires that organizations keep changing their capabilities and use of resources. Change within an organization can only occur when an organization has a huge talent base from which it can choose. In order to have a unique combination of talent, the base must be made up of people with different capabilities derived from different backgrounds. It is for this reason that organizations must have people from varying backgrounds.

The second area that is important in the contemporary global leadership is application of technology. Businesses are able to outdo each other based on which business has the best technological application to implement compared to the other. Technology increases productivity and reduces costs hence the business becomes more profitable than before. One reason as to why companies such as IBM have managed to continue being in the market is due to their ability to alter their technology to go in line with their technological needs.

The third area that is important is the field of ecommerce. Technological changes have made it easy for the business to move to the next level in terms of how they can meet the customer, convince them and make the final sale. It has become easy for a customer to make an order online and the good be delivered at his or her doorstep. Initially this was not possible since technology had not advanced to such sophisticated levels. Situations of this kind mean that the management has to be keen on the best methods through which internal development agenda is set in relation to customer relation and service delivery. Under environment of ecommerce, management issues to be addressed have become even more complicated. It is not easy to learn the organizational culture and determine how best it can be made part of the organization.

Social media, is a huge part of ecommerce. Without the social media, different businesses would have found it a little difficult to advertise most of their products and get feedback in relation to customer satisfaction. Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and many other platforms have been used as a means through which research on the product can be carried out (Alimo‐Metcalfe, 2008).

My leadership needs can be aligned to the above areas in terms of diversity and change management. Technological development calls for an organization that is full of talent. In order to attain high levels of talent development, an organization must embrace diversity. Change management has become an important topic in the current generation. Technology, social media and ecommerce represent areas in management that are challenging as they change with each passing day. Management must be ready to always move along with the changes so as to remain relevant in the short and the long run. Without a proper understanding of change management, it becomes very difficult for the manager to determine what technology will be profitable in the long run and which ones will only be disruptive technology.

Emerging Leadership Theory

There are several emerging leadership theories in the field of leadership and especially planning and management. Failures that have been witnessed in the current leadership in organization is what has led to the development of the new models and theories to establish what the current market of leaders need and what the future has for organization in the leadership that is expected. The relational theory is one roadmap of what the world is so much yearning to be in possession (Zaccaro & Horn, 2003). Mistakes have been made in which leadership fail to provide the scalars for relationships and intellectuality in making choices which affect everyone else.

Therefore, the relational theory is demonstrating for a leadership that employs social and emotional intelligence whereby a leader shows empathy and is ready to welcome opinions from their juniors (Abbasiyannejad & Silong, 2015). What has actually made the leadership to reap very few results beyond expectation is because leaders become domineering instead of demonstrating assertiveness in all difficult situations. To champion the desired leadership agenda for the 21st century CEO, there should be a relational leadership that focuses on leader-member exchange to build the leader, the subordinate member and the profile of the organization.

The contingency theory states that there is no best way to plan, organize manage and lead an organization; rather, leadership is contingent (dependent) on the internal and the external factors in a leadership (Barney, 1985). In relation to the multi-dimensional leadership rich in transformational agendas for the future, assessing the type of leadership that is present in an organization verses the desired future is very vital. This is because through the assessment, the leadership is going to identify indicators or the risk factors both in the inner and the outer environment which can be dealt with squarely for the leadership of an organization to have relevance in the current world of leadership.

Thirdly, Theory U states that the quality of awareness, authenticity, attention and consciousness is a variable of a function which is the results that the participants have purposed to attain. The theory should be broken down in three main dimensions: framework, method and a way of being. In relation to the global transformational leadership that not only changes the organization but leave impacts in the society, the theory is result-oriented and is step by step. This kind of leadership theory asserts that leadership fails because there is a blind spot in which organizations do not take heed to identify. Blind spots are what brings about deficiencies in the management of employees and execution of projects (Otto, 2008). Therefore, the course of excellent leadership according to the theory should demonstrate assessment of the potentially exposed tools of management and identify indicators through self-assessment tests so that result can be ascertained even before an action is taken.

Lastly, path-goal theory focuses on the transformational leadership in which an organization selects or nominates an objected-oriented leadership in which the leader should be an exact replica for the ingredients that the employee requires for productivity. This is the kind of leadership in which leaders should assess the empowerment of the employees through short courses and trainings to improve their productivity. The theory also asserts that leadership of an organization should look for ways in which employees are motivated so that they can work to better the transformation of a company.

Personal Plan to Develop Global Leadership

A global leader is tasked with several areas of concern than any other form of traditional leadership. This is the reason as to why a global leader must always strive to make changes to his/her style in order to deal with the changes that take place in a dynamic environment with each passing day. My main responsibility is to ensure that change in organization is properly implemented and that diversity is embraced within my area of jurisdiction. Several leaders in the past have failed due to their inability to adapt their followers to change and to embrace diversity that exist in any global organization. Basically, this is the reason as to why it is important for me to develop as a global leader.

Change management is not an easy task; several organizations have failed in the past due to their inability to embrace change. IBM realized that it was headed the wrong way when it was not able to make use of talent from within the organization to implement change (Alimo‐Metcalfe, 2008). This is the reason as to why the management decided to develop the IBM General Management Leadership Development Program (GM LDP) (Goodman, 2016). In this program, leaders have been undergoing a training mentorship which has been rotational in nature. The different areas that were identified at IBM include; consulting, sales and business development. Personally, I have made sure that I take part in all the development areas and I have taken part in each area of importance above.

Diversity management is another element of modern leadership that has to be embraced by a modern leader (Bass, 2009). It is paramount to understand, as a leader that no one organization can be managed by a homogeneous group of people. Different people come into the organization with varying characteristics based on race, age, gender, sizes, race and even educational background. A global leader must have an understanding on how best to manage the different groups of people with varying talents to produce positive long term results.

As a global leader, I have a responsibility of making sure that people working under me are open and free to express their varying degree of creativity. This may not be possible in case where the environment where the team is operating is not tolerant of divergent idea. My leadership learning goal is to learn the best way through which I can manage to lead within an environment that is diverse.

In relation to Gardner’s five minds level of competency, there are several areas that I was able to point out in relation to my strength and in relation to my weaknesses. Just to give an overview of what I was able to find before providing my plan on how best I can manage these area, the following are the issues that came up;

a. Disciplined mind

This is one area where I have considered myself to be very strong. My personality can be described as being quite disciplined. I have worked from home for the past 10 years and it takes a great amount of self-discipline to get out of bed each morning, when you know you have no one watching you to make sure you are working. There are few people who have the ability to make things happen without having to be pushed around by a supervisor (Alimo‐Metcalfe, 2008). Being an individual with internal self-discipline is by design the path to better global leadership

b. Synthesizing mind

The global business environment today is complicated, and a leader has to understand not only his area of expertise but also several other areas within his environment. In order for this to actually take place, one must have the ability to grasp information, process it and make decisions out of such information. Pieces of information under these circumstances will come from various varying directions. When I am focused on a task at hand I try to put 100% of my time into making sure it’s done correctly before moving on. In the effort of trying to multi task at times, I seem unsuccessful more than successful because of my need to perfect things. It is not easy to perfectly handle different issues that arise from various areas, it is important to have the ability to grasp a little of each content and relate it to the main goal of the organization. This is one area in which I need to make some changes and learn more.

c. The Creative mind

The global management environment has changed from what it used to be under the traditional form of management. At the moment, the environment keeps changing with each passing day, and leaders have to set their minds in line with the changes that take place (Northouse, 2015). Creativity is an area in which I have built my strength. I love to create things and bring forth new ideas. I have the ability and imagination at times to create things that are positive. In working from home, I have to be extremely creative in the ways of marketing my business. You have to constantly be reinventing your business so to say to make sure you stay relevant. There is no way a business can keep up with the pace of changes that are taking place in the global area without having a plan on how best to create new ideas (Nicola & Thomas, 2011).

d. The Respective mind

Respect is the ability to understand other people’s opinion and work with them based on what they believe in. Other people’s opinion should not be seen as being inferior to my opinion. Respect is one area that I have mastered very well. I am most certainly open to diversity. Having many bi-racial members in my family, I have always been respectful of others cultures and beliefs. Having a respectful mind speaks volumes about a person. This strength has given me the opportunity to make great friends and enjoy many cultural experiences (Avolio, 2010). I use my respectful mind to hear out people’s concerns and help them make decisions on certain aspects of their lives.

e. The Ethical mind

Ethics refers to the rightness or wrongness of an action. It is based on expected norms in a certain culture (Cacioppe, 2008). Personally, I have been raised within a family that holds high the principle of morality and good practice. This is what has guided my leadership performance and understanding up to date. In any workplace, having a team of employees that show this high standard of value is good for the company and job performance. When I had an office job, I would always look for individuals that had an ethical mind because these individuals could help me work effectively and provide quality and positive outcomes.

Leadership development plan

In order to ensure that am able to translate vision into reality, it is important to plan as a leader. What leadership entails is proper form of planning. In this leadership development plan the main areas that must be highlighted include; my leadership vision, the main role models or the main mentors that I look up to, the areas of weakness identified above, the main learning agenda, the possible realignments and the coalitions that I might form

As an individual, it is important to have a vision. I am an individual who believe in workplace democracy and each and every member of the team is equally important. In modern global leadership, it is very important to view oneself from a complete image and not a broken self. A good vision does help make sure that the image is seen as a whole and not as pieces. By referring to vision, am not only talking about just any other form of vision. There are up to five forms of leadership commitments that I must adhere to;

1. As a leader, it is important that I find my voice and lead by example. Any leader must always understand how best to model the direction that will be taken by the rest of the team

2. As a leader, much of the work that I do is based on the help of other team members, this is the reason as to why it is important to develop a vision that can be shared by the rest of the team

3. In leadership, it is not proper for one to always agree with every aspect that is put forward by the rest of the team, it is very important to find my voice and challenge some aspects of the process that are not ideal. It is always important to look out for opportunities, carry out experiments and take risks in relation to implementation

4. It is easy to operate with others if one creates means through which collaboration can be made possible in order for the team members to build each other. As a leader aiming at ensuring there is diversity in the organization, this an important element that has to be highlighted

5. Encourage internal celebration where as a leader I can celebrate personal achievements and add them to the areas of victory that must be celebrate.

The main questions that my leadership vision seek to answer include the following; what do I want to create around myself as a leader. It must describe the type of leader that I wish to be three years from now. To answer this, I believe that I want to be a leader who is able to understand various facets of operation, both with and without my business’s operational area. I want to think about myself and other people that work around me and make them believe that they are as important as their leader in terms of contribution towards the success of the organization. The main leadership goal that I wish to accomplish is that of diversity and change management.

The role of a mentor in my leadership development is another area of importance. A mentor is a person that helps me as an individual to have an ideal interpretation of the world (Nicola & Thomas, 2011). One great leader in the global environment that has helped my vision of the world is Steve Jobs. He had a vision for his organization and planned on how best he would be able to ensure that such vision would be attained through management of diversity and change. Several years down the line, Apple is one the world’s most valuable companies. Lack of a mentor in most cases leads an individual into a barrier in terms of development and growth.

The main gap in my leadership bag is my inability to deal with information from different sources (Cacioppe, 2008). This means that I have no capacity to be able to synthesize a huge amount of information at once. Most managers are faced with ambiguous situations that they have to offer guidance; this means that one must have the ability to make use of a range of information in order to make a final decision that is geared towards achievement of the organizational goals.

In order to learn how best to deal with huge information load, as a manager, I have to learn the best skills in reading quickly and internalizing the main contents in the paper and using the information to making decision. I can take lesson on how best I can do short hand writing, skimming in reading and selective listening where I will be able to only pick that information that I believe is relevant to the decision that has to be made.

In order to evaluate my progress, it will be important to come up with my leadership challenge assessment (Northouse, 2015). The various behavioral items will be set out in form of a question and they will be scored against a rating where the most appropriate score from 1 up to 5 will be circled as a reflection of that area that requires the best form of rating. A score of 5 will indicate that the behavior is shown in me extensively and a score of 1 indicates that such behavior is not displayed.

Action steps of the plan in tabular form

Month	Task
November	Gardners’ Five Minds (Determination and analysis)
December	Analysis of the minds and determination of the existing gap
January	Determine the main commitments that must be provided under the vision
February	Develop the main questions that must be answered through the vision
March	Create the vision
April	Share the vision, make it part of the entire team working with me
May	Select the mentor
June	Develop the value that must be provided by the mentor
July	Undergo the mentoring process
August	Develop a personal executive coach on; professional development and emotional competence
September	Development of a global leadership Assessment

The calendar table above indicate the activities that will be carried out in order to attain the goals of the global leadership plan. The activities start with the creation of the Gardner’s Five minds and carrying out an analysis as to which areas form my strengths and which areas form my weaknesses. After this has been developed, the next step is to come up with a plan on leadership which is further split into other activities that are carried out successively from one step to the other.

Conclusion

The leadership agenda is to bring about transformational leadership that changes the global society and not the contemporary leadership that ok for satisfactory results. Therefore, to make an evaluation, the leadership agenda in terms of the expectations of the global society and the dominant theory should demonstrate multi-dimensional change in which the leadership is its bedrock. The leadership also should be set in place so that the safety of the future is guaranteed through self-assessment of participants of the agenda and the external indicators countering progress rather than just observing that the law is followed as the common contemporary leadership does.

This can be customized at organizational through stirring change at organizational level so as to display the blueprint of ‘the future we want’. The global leadership agenda proposed is establishment of a multi-dimensional change of the global society through authentic gearing leadership in which the main goal is to leverage the different capacities of individuals and protect the possibilities of risks by engaging in mitigation process, for the common good of the society’s future.

References

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