Plan For Personal Development: Self-Identity, Project Leadership, And Career Path

Self Identity

Management and leadership are closely related terms, but are not the same. You can be a competent manager but not a good leader. Management is usually described as getting a group of people to achieve a specific goal or objective in a given environment or situation. It focuses on tasks within a structured hierarchical environment.  The manager is concerned with setting objectives, planning, organizing, co-ordinating, control and communication. The emphasis of leadership is more on interpersonal behaviour, whereby the leader inspires and influences people to do things and getting their full and voluntary support. A leader is influential and visionary. He/she gets the people around them to come alive, by closely interacting and being involved with them. Williams and Deaney (2014) declare that leadership involves encouraging the workforce to aim for personal development as well as organizational goals.  It is concerned with the individual.

In the past, philosophers and thinkers have tried to define what really makes an authentic leader. In the process, a number of theories have come up, bearing their arguments. The oldest theory on leadership, the Great Man Theory (1840s) states that leaders are born and not made. They are naturally set on leadership positions. Other theories in order of precedence are; the Great Man Theory the Trait Theory (1930-40s), the behavioural theories (1940-50s), the contingency theories, with the situational leadership theory being dominant (1960s), transactional leadership theories (1970s) and the transformational theory.

Hatch and Cunliffe (2013) recommended a different kind of leadership that focused more on expertise and talent of workers rather than the relationships existing between them and the typical leader. In spite of all the theorizing of leadership and what it constitutes, it is a very necessary aspect in almost all circles of society, organizations and any setting which involves people.

A person’s self image and identity usually shapes an individual’s behaviours, attitude, confidence and the general handling of situations and people. How one sees himself dictates how they will relate to other people and how they act around them. A positive self identity will see confidence levels rise and therefore better relations with peers and other members of society. A negative one will bring about behaviours such introversion (which is not a necessarily bad quality) and low confidence.

I come from a humble Christian family where my parents tried to teach us everything that pertains to living the kind of life to be emulated by others. They are ardent Christians who believe in good morals and conscientious living. A major quality that they believe in is discipline in all endeavours.  My thinking and attitude towards life has been greatly influenced by them, as it began from early childhood. As I grew up, other influences also came in, including teachers, friends and societal figures.

The first leadership role that I got in my early years was that of being a class prefect at the age of ten. Later in high school, I got involved in a science project with two of my classmates that we had to develop and present to a panel of judges. Steering the project was a major task and since the idea was conceived by me I had to be the de jure project leader. All in all we generally worked as peers and equals throughout the project. I was also later to become a class representative in college for two semesters before moving on. Along the way, some leadership skills have been developed, either consciously or unconsciously.

Project Leadership

My goal is to have a fulfilling career as a project leader in a professional setting. Entrepreneurship is also an option that I have been seriously considering. Here I can really put my natural and acquired leadership skills to some good use.      

Project leadership is the process of motivating your workforce (the team) to give their best services, talents and full commitment to the completion of an undertaken project. This kind of motivation improves the quality of the final outcome of the project and hence the probability of success is very high. Leadership as well as the managerial aspect are essential in the successful execution of projects (Mullins and Christy, 2016).

The transformational leadership style is very useful when inspiring or motivating the team to give their best performance. The project leader incorporates the team members into his vision and stimulates their energy and commitment by acting as a role model to them. Apart from that, he gives each team member a sense of worth by closely interacting with them and even finding out their personal strengths and weaknesses. The situational leadership style is handy when dealing with incidences which come up during the project’s lifecycle. With the dynamic and changing nature of projects this promotes flexibility and the ability to adapt to any changes in the project environment. The transactional leadership of give and take, rewards and penalties helps in motivating the workforce and building discipline among them. It also fosters a sense of accountability and responsibility among them.

In all the above leadership styles, authenticity is a key quality which I will strive to exude at all times. The team members need to build their trust in and respect towards me as their leader. This is very important in forging the team to be an effective force that is to be reckoned with. Ahmed, Azmi and Masood (2013) argue in their research study that team performance is paramount for project success and not just effective leadership.

To sum the above, I should be able to balance concern with productivity and concern for people for optimum performance and project success, according to the two dimensions of management. As much as there should be excellent productivity, as a leader, I need to consider the needs of the team members in an empathic manner. These needs could be physiological, social, psychological and so forth. Emotional intelligence allows a leader to be empathic, in that, they try to understand the implications of their decisions of the team members and how it could affect their performance. In past history, there have emerged many leaders, who were solely driven by the desire to conquer, win or meet a certain objective at whatever cost. As history books depict, one such leader is Hannibal, who led an army to cross in a bid to capture Rome in 218 B.C. By the time they were reaching Rome, almost a half of his army had died from cold, hunger and the treacherous path they were following. Hannibal had only one thing in his mind, conquer Rome.

Career Path

As is with most of my peers, my dream has always been to graduate and pursue a career in the information, communication and technology industry. Initially, I wanted to be a software developer. But as time went by, I realized that ICT has a wide and range areas of specialization. Although there are those skills that may be considered ‘general’ for any ICT professional, the need to specialize in a given area is of utmost importance. Hence I chose professional project management as the Holy Grail for me.  In the process, I would acquire practical knowledge in an industrial setting, probably under one or more good mentors, where my career would blossom. According to me, this would not only be an opportunity to advance my career and climb the corporate ladder, it would also be a chance to contribute to society in general by improving lives by delivering quality products and services. My goal is to be in a managerial position within five years, and then embark on being an entrepreneur by starting my own IT firm. That is my ultimate goal. Nation building is also an important aspect in my philosophy.

Currently, I am not employed. I hope to be, within a considerably short length of time. However, the skills which I deem necessary for project management include planning skills and the ability to foresee situations and circumstances. Other skills include the ability to be provide direction, inspire and motivate. Another important skill that is necessary is the ability to embrace mistakes as a way of learning and improvising on them. This goes hand in hand with the ability to be flexible and adapt to changes in whatever situation or environment one may find himself as a project leaders. From the self audit of the previous assignment, I realized that I have some intrinsic leadership qualities. I am pragmatic, resourceful and reasonably confident. I can communicate fairly well to put my point across to the intended recipients. I plan on developing other necessary skills and competencies along the way.

I aim to be a leader with character, authenticity and integrity, who will be able to work with all types of people at whatever professional or social level they are. Building mutual trust and cooperating with other people is very important in order to achieve a given goal. Furthermore, I also wish to better the lives of others by not only delivering quality services and products but also inspiring others to be better people.

I intend to build a relationship with the project manager, the IT manager and any team members with whom I will be working with.

My relationship with the project manager will be important as he/she will review my progress and assign tasks and responsibilities. Though the relationship with the project manager will be formal, I expect that with time openness and trust will be gradually built. It may take some effort on my side for that to happen, but I hope for the best. This relationship is vital as project management is my expertise of choice. Gleaning from his vast experience and wisdom, I intend to build practical skills that are necessary to be a good project manager.

Another key relationship that I intend to build is with the IT manager and his team. I can achieve this is by taking up tasks that are available and actively getting involved in projects, however small. The IT manager will also keep me up to date concerning technology leverage in the organization and the general direction which the organization is taking as relates to information systems and technology.

 When dealing with team members, I need to develop a rapport with each one of them, regardless of their personality, character and disposition as much as is possible. I also need to be culturally aware of their backgrounds and appreciate the diversity. I will try as much as is possible to  put more emphasis in my encounters with my team members for example by developing emotional intelligence, conflict resolution skills and interpersonal skills. I will use face-to-face conversations, phone, email communication and social media as well as to build rapport. I will let them more about me as I also learn about them. Other strategies that I will use include engaging in social activities with them or paying them a visit. I also expect that the professional experiences that we go through will serve to connect us more and build team cohesiveness.

	Strengths	Development needs
Character	I am an extrovert but…. I am good at control but….	I would like to develop a more reflective side of me would like to learn to delegate tasks and responsibilities to others
Experience	I have 1 year experience in this unit and in five years…	I would like to have more experience at project management
Mindsets	I use my thinking abilities in an effective way without having long discussions and arguments but … I am intuitive but…. I generally have a positive attitude towards life and the workplace but….	I would like to be able to listen to people more and take their opinions more seriously I need to be more factual and logical when dealing with information I would like to create a work life balance by being emotionally mature and balancing work and life
Skillsets/capabilities	I am resourceful and pragmatic but…. I can communicate very well but… I good at planning and organizing but…. I am conversant with the necessary tools of trade in project management but…. I am very knowledgable in project management and leadership and associated content but….	I would like to be more structural in approach when handling issues I would like to further my writing skills I need to involve other people in my decision making I need to further my knowledge and continuously improve I need to practically apply that knowledge and hone my project management and leadership skills

TOPIC	GOALS	METHOD	TIMEFRAME
Leadership	Learn about specific leadership skills	Read books about great leaders Participate in leadership roles whenever the chance presents itself, for example community development initiatives	Ongoing Occasionally
Emotional intelligence	Develop emotional intelligence skills	Learn about the various types of personality traits by reading books Reflecting on the decisions that I make and the implications on team members	Ongoing Ongoing
Team working skills	Develop team working skills	Attend workshops and short courses	Biannually
Mentoring	Have  a mentor who can further hone my skills	Enrol for an attachment Attend seminars/webinars Read mentorship books by noted leaders	Not less than 4 months Monthly ongoing
Politics	Learn how to handle political issues while maintaining authenticity	Research on political dynamics in a society and organizations	Within the next 1 month
Conflict	Develop conflict avoidance and resolution skills	Study different scenarios in which conflicts have been resolved Learn how to be assertive without being aggressive	1 month ongoing
Stress	Be able to better handle mental and emotional stress	Exercising Developing good eating habits Developing a positive attitude towards life Having a confidant with whom I can comfortably share issues with	Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing Ongoing
Creativity and innovation	Be able to develop new insights in current operations and create innovative solutions	Find unique ways of stimulating creativity Acquire as much knowledge as possible in a wide variety of areas and creative processes Find inspiration from creative people	ongoing
Flexibility	Be able to quickly adapt to new situations and new information	To train my mind to be ready for or anticipate new situations	ongoing
External awareness	Be aware of outside factors and entities which affect the organiation	Identify and keep up to date on external factors that affect the organization.	Ongoing
Communication skills	Be able to put across ideas and information effectively	Learn about public addressing Improve vocabulary Improve grammar and written skills	Ongoing Ongoing ongoing
Planning and organizing	Be able to allocate and effectively utilize resources	Attend organization skills training program Learn through first hand experience from mentors and other organization members	2 weeks Ongoing
Problem solving	Be able to identify existing or possible problems and provide appropriate solutions	Learn about problem solving skills by reading books and materials dealing with subject matter Develop enthusiasm for offering solutions to problems	Ongoing ongoing
Cultural awareness	Be able to appreciate people from various backgrounds	Learn about cultural backgrounds of team members	Ongoing

References

Ahmed, R., Azmi, N., Masood, M. T., Tahir, M., & Ahmad, M. S. (2013). What Does Project

Leadership Really Do?. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 4(1), 1-8.

Hatch, M. J., &Cunliffe, A. L. (2013). Organization theory: modern, symbolic and postmodern perspectives. Oxford University press.

Lori D. Patton, Kristen A. Renn, Florence M. Guido, Stephen John Quaye. (2016). Student

Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice. John Wiley & Sons

Mullins, L. J., & Christy, G. (2016). Management and organizational behaviour. Harlow, England; New York: Pearson.

Schwalbe, K. (2015). Information Technology Project Management. Cengage Learning

Williams, P., & Denney, J. (2014). Leadership Excellence Devotional: The Seven Sides of Leadership in Daily Life. Newburyport: Barbour Publishing, Inc.

Ortmeier, P. J., & Meese, E. (2010). Leadership, ethics, and policing: Challenges for the 21st century. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.