The purpose of my report is to present a personal leadership development plan to lead the workforce of a business firm towards the organizational goal as well as this is an account of self-evaluation and self-planning to make remarkable changes in personality as an effective leader (Bolden, 2016). It is a strategically proven method, often considered as ‘best practice’ to structure and maintain an individual leadership development plan. It evaluates and identifies the areas of improvement, along with that; it includes the process of making own self better as a leader. It will be easy for a leader to attain goals of professional life if he/she is focusing on organisational purpose and plan personal development accordingly. Several research scholars have proved that, leaders who plan for self-improvement are likely to be more successful irrespective of their efficiency (Day et al., 2014). In order to frame a logical structure of development plan minimum five years of period should be considered, therefore I have considered the same here. I have taken reference from Boyatzis Intentional Change models, which is considered as one of the most comprehensive models while structuring a development plan at personal level (Boyatzis et al., 2013). This development report will elaborate the ideas to develop my skills and knowledge in order to operate the tasks and resources towards the right direction, depending on which my professional career will grow. On the basis of my colleagues’ opinion/ feedback on my strategies of leadership will be evaluated. Feedbacks will help me to identify the gaps against which I can develop some strategies in future. Concisely, a personal leadership development plan not only helps an individual to grow as a professional but also creates a positive impact on the workforce of the organisation (Sutherland, 2013). The ultimate purpose of my development plan should be merging organisational goals with the personal achievement.
I have always considered the ideal traits and qualities of an individual, which are necessary in order to lead operations flawlessly. Honest and ethical behaviour is primary trait of a leader. Advanced technical skill is mandatory. Conquering a managerial designation, biased practice under any circumstance is not acceptable. A leader should be friendly enough to maintain a communicative relationship with employees; it helps to solve several problems without much trouble. Along with all these features, according to the theories of Anderson, Poto?nik & Zhou, (2014), I have to remember while leading, creative and innovative ideas are going to make things work according to the dynamic business environment.
The desire to make a change of both the organizational and personal orientation can be explained with the theory explained by Richard Boyatzis and his research fellows (Boyatzis et al., 2013). Their Intentional Change Theory supports the fact that a sustainable change occurs when five steps of evaluation has been done accurately. According to Kaiser & Kragulj, (2016), identifying the purpose of change or development and core values according to the requirement of the job role is the first and foremost thing that should be taken into account. Based on that vision statement will be formed. The second step will be communicating effectively with the world. More communication will expose new information, which will help to shape his/her perception of ‘Real-self’. Adjusting the ideas of ideal leader with personal capabilities is critical to do. It will help to discover areas of weakness and strength, which is again an essential factor required for development. Third discovery consists of developing a framework of future goals and action plan. This ‘performance development plan’ needs extensive motivation in order to avoid the stress of transition. A person must be capable of adjusting with any critical situation within the workplace to fulfil the purpose. The next level demands to implement the learning outcomes by practicing the existing and new cultures, along with that a detail reading of Carter et al., (2013) explains, initiating experiments within the industry is going to take an individual closer to his/her vision. As per the theories given by Thamhain, (2013), the final discovery comes with the maintenance of mutual collaboration and establishment of trustworthy relationship. The entire model of five discoveries helps a professional to frame a personal leadership development plan. While structuring the five-year plan I have strictly followed the model of discoveries and included some self-made strategies. Although, not every time the success can be determined yet planning is significant if there is an authentic desire of development (Gurdjian, Halbeisen & Lane, 2014).
I had joined as an operational manager one month ago; therefore, several functional areas are unknown to me and on that, I have to develop further conception. While framing the development plan my focus will be to learn new things and motivate the employees as I used to do as a team leader previously. However, this time I have to make sure that my vision, my work ethics reflect in their performance. Moreover, a structured development of plan maintaining a timeline will consist of my learning outcome and implementation of methods, which will influence the work culture and help me to grow as a phenomenal leader within the organisation (Getha-Taylor et al., 2015). There are some basic aspects, which I have to consider before framing the timeline. Aspects are as follows.
It is difficult to reject own characteristics and behave or work as efficient as a professional manager from the next day. Previously, I used to lead one team yet the responsibility has been doubled after that. There should be numerous areas, which I have to discover and work for making those areas better. This process is time consuming as in a workplace you can learn something or the other every single day. However, in order to achieve immediate higher post for myself I have to frame the timeline and within that period, I have to learn necessary functional areas of operational management. Not only that, as far as personal traits are concerned, it will take time to shape my personality. It will be helpful for me if an interactive session can be arranged where my colleagues, friends will share their views on my leadership capabilities and weakness (Sotarauta, 2016). I believe, this process will assist me to frame what my values and vision should be as a manager.
Considering the qualities of an efficient leader a self-assessment will be helpful to develop my set of principles, which will guide me throughout my leadership career to take decisions ethically and in an unbiased way. According to my perspective, moral principles like, developing personal and workforce’s knowledge, integrating them with single purpose, consistent friendly and effective process of communication along with that establishing a culture of mutual collaboration might help to make remarkable changes within an organisation.
I imagine myself as a senior operational manager within the duration of next five years. Although, financial aspect is involved, simultaneously I want to develop my skill and knowledge to that extent to achieve my immediate higher post. The workforce should be driven by one single purpose, which is attaining organizational goal Day & Dragoni, (2015). In addition to that, I want to leave a positive impact with my work ethics and philosophy, on every employee’s professional and personal scape. As effective human resource is considered one of the biggest resources behind organizational excellence, I believe by motivating them wisely I can make remarkable changes as well as contribute my best and will be a part of company’s success.
Structuring a resume can help to identify my existing and potential capabilities as a leader. It includes personal skills like capability of resolving issues, adjusting with and leading diverse workforce, dealing with work related tensions and so on (Mabey, 2013). Apart from that considering the development of self-awareness, effective communicative relationship with others and advices from counsellors might help to grow my skills (Kennedy, Carroll & Francoeur, 2013). Moreover, as described in Braun et al., (2013), implementation of excellent technical skills in work and managing teams with different expertise at the same time will be a challenge for my job role. A consistent process of development maintaining a stipulated duration can be considered as the correct way towards self-improvement.
The next step will be considering feedbacks from the industry mates and seniors to find out if my work is making effective changes to the organisation or not (Clayton, Sanzo & Myran, 2013). I want my employees to possess the dedication to accomplish goals along with that my wish is to leave a positive impact on them through my leadership. However, the reality differs and not all of them cannot share same opinion. Asking for feedbacks may expose some gaps in my way of thinking and implementing strategies, which were not realised before. I genuinely care for what are the perceptions of my employees and I would love to hear for them in which areas I need to improve. This will help me to grow as a leader and a professional. In this course, if I identify there are some aspects, which are needed to change for betterment I am bound to do that. At first, I have to work at least two years successfully then only I can ask for extensive feedbacks from them (Sargeant et al., 2015). Although, brief sessions of collecting views can be considered for routine development for the organization and myself as well.
After a critical evaluation of personal skills and capabilities possessing the conception of ideal leader in mind, it can be said that organisational goals should be counted before counting mine because half of my development will depend on organizational success unless I want to design may career in a different way. Time oriented attainable goals should be considered first. Measurement of resources and developing them within a time gap is also a part of the objective. Working together, collaborating each other always support an individual to enrich functional knowledge. The idea of action plan revolves around considering two aspects. Actions, which should be taken according to the circumstances and resources, these should be developed in order to make a better future. Organisation’s success depends on how effective I am in leading, therefore acknowledging above-mentioned requirements the timeline has been prepared.
Although, I have worked as a team lead before joining as an operational manager, I do not have experience to lead teams of various expertise at the same time. I am going to consider the first year of my personal development to understand my job role and the workforce precisely. The first year is crucial in terms of establishing an interactive relationship with the workforce so that I can mitigate the issues related to human resource and development with perfection. An engagement with employees in necessary to lead (Breevaart et al., 2014). Mere instructions and regulations cannot control employees if they do not feel to work for the company. The production might be hampered if employees cannot follow or understand leader’s perspective. It is a great time to learn functional areas of leadership and the way a manager should think and process ideas to accomplish organizational purpose. Reading of books or recent journals on leadership or managing the workforce may help to develop my theoretical skills. Moreover, effective communication is the key to make out the new conceptions.
In the next level, I have a distinct prior perception of my values, vision and leadership’s conception, by the starting of second year of my job I will start to identify the areas of my weakness while implementing my knowledge, which are still not clear to me or there can be some specific areas where more knowledge is needed. Considering those personal gaps, I can enrol for a professional management course according to my expertise. Scope of learning never ends. I believe the wish and consistent effort of being a skilful professional leader will treat all the limitations within myself. There are opportunities of making my conception and work process better if I get assistance from my seniors. My expectation is that, occurrence of consistent challenging situations and complications of new or international projects will shape me as a leader. Presence of efficient senior management team will be beneficial for me to identify areas of development and set goals according to that. My job will be for the entire course of the year to gain experience and try to merge my personal goals with the organizational objectives.
As far as development is concerned, being workplace efficient only cannot help a leader to grow as a professional. A leader should be updated with the recent theories and implementation on that certain industry (Storey, 2016). A detail current knowledge of the industrial function and strategies are the key to handle critical projects. New learning and consistent reading of recent journals and one influential book per year, (if possible) are immensely helpful. As elaborated in the study of Crossan et al. (2013), apart from that, refusing to be inside the comfort zone induces further perception over international trend of business projects. As described in LEPELLEY & KERR, (2013), working on ‘stretch projects’ can help both the employees and a leader to discover new theories beyond their skills and ‘stretch’ their capability as a professional. In order to understand the characteristic of stretch projects a brief introduction I have to include demonstrating the way of my development.
Third year of my development plan will be dedicated to the practice and implication of my knowledge whatever I have learned by maintaining a personal development process. I believe, working on experimental assignment will enrich my knowledge and expand my capabilities as a leader. Moreover, chances of working on a stretch project will shape my experience as a leader.
Although, starting from the initial days continuous process of learning the functional aspects is the key strategy of development still the fourth year is important in terms of maintaining the bonds with the employees and stakeholders. In order to make a change within the organisation and self-development the bond of trust and interpersonal collaboration is important (Thamhain, 2013). It takes a long span of time to gain the trust of the workforce as a leader. Managing or leading cannot be performed if I cannot make them believe my potential or position in the company. In order to lead them I have to work for them as well as with them only then both the personal and organizational purpose will be successful. It takes a long time to achieve the position where my values will influence them. After spending four years as a leader, I expect my capabilities and knowledge will arrive to the extent of taking a leap towards next step. The reality may differ from the framework yet as per mu assumption it should work in this way. In future, it may not become true still a structured plan always motivate professionals towards perfection. In order to understand my strength and weakness from workforce’s perspective an descriptive feedback session can be arranged by the company in this course of the time, from where I can possess the idea of my areas of improvement along with that employees are going to accept me as a senior manager or not. In addition to that, based on that feedback assessment I will set my goals for the coming year.
The final year will be the time of transition in terms of my both personal designation and organisational structure. I should prepare from the beginning of the year, as I will have to appear for internal aptitude tests, as well as certain leadership qualities will be evaluated. In order to develop the conception on my own capability and realise the hidden opportunity, I will try to focus on that feedback assessment report (Hutchinson & Hurley, 2013). Executive coaching programmes can be a matter of high investment, therefore I would suggest myself there is no greater teacher than experience and if someone is willing to gain and develop knowledge, hurdles become enjoyable to overcome.
Conclusion
As per the desire of developing personal leadership skill, this report has introduced intentional change theory by Richard Boyatzis that has helped me to structure my five-year development plan. As I imagine myself as a senior operation manager within next five years, an effective framework is needed to follow for that. After evaluating and discovering five experiences, it can be concluded that, the model of intentional change theory has supported me through out to establish my future goals and action plans (Dinh et al., 2014). Although, a structured framework has been prepared as a form of timeline, it should be remembered that planning is a positive assumption, which helps execute future actions. However, the reality is unpredictable where the objectives have dynamic character. Considering the ever-changing business scenario as well as organizational purpose, this planning has been done and it should be remembered whether I will be able to accomplish my goal or not within the stipulated time, the effort should always be there to make it possible by trusting intentional change theory and individual planning. No matter what, significance of a structured framework cannot be denied even acknowledging the unpredictable nature of future possibilities.
References
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