Individual Development Plan
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Personal Story
Leadership development is a process accompanied by an increment of leadership skills useful now and in the future. A few years back, I had no idea about planning for individual developments and setting specific goals to be achieved after a certain period. My work was just to focus on the current issues and how to deal with the problems at hand. I had no thought on how to focus on my aspiration to become a leader in the future and the new skills that I required. The idea of doing something more to secure a higher leadership rank or to develop leadership skills never crossed my mind. However, my major turning point was when I realized I was sleeping on my potential. I attended several training seminars to acquire leadership skills and started put some standards that I had to attain after every three months. I utilized individual development planning and development goals to challenge my skills and help me develop new ones for future leadership aspirations.
Leadership
Leadership involves strategy and influence (Harman, 2019). It is the art of doing the right things, including taking the right approach and finding ways to influence those being lead. Leadership and management are closely related, but the big difference between the two is that leadership is based on strategy and influence. In contrast, management entails controlling of resources and doing things right. Approaches in leadership comprise of tools such as visioning and setting of goals inferring that leadership involves the setting of goals and visioning. Influence, on the other hand, entails communication, emotional intelligence, and storytelling aspects of leadership. Authentic leadership is determined by the effectiveness of interface and the ability of leaders to communicate clearly to their juniors.
Short and Long Term Goals
My short term goals include acquiring a leadership role, initiation of a development project, and enhancing my leadership skills through more training and seminars. These short term goals are achievable within 12 months, and the purposes should bring development change to my career. My long term goals include achieving a master’s degree and rising to the highest leadership position in an organization. These long term goals may take four years to be fully accomplished. These goals require resilience and self-motivation to be achieved.
Strengths
My leadership strengths include the ability to influence people and raise a course of action. I can influence people to follow my lead or make them do as I want without forcing them or using any external force on them. The ability to influence people to take a specific course of action towards a set goal is the greatest strength in leadership. People under my leadership respond through their actions and more effort to the goals I put in place for them, and this strength has been merit to my aspiration to achieve a higher leadership position. The other leadership strength is effective communication of plans and the ability to give timely feedback. My functional strength lies in the ability to make reasonable decisions, come up with strategies, and implement the strategies at once. Planning and implementing procedures is not always an easy task for leaders, but to me, it is a stronghold.
Exposure
Exposure to different functions, clients, and projects is very vital in enhancing leadership skills and increasing knowledge. The vulnerability allows one to learn the different ways other leaders lead in their sectors and the strategies they have put in place. Various functions and projects increase the flexibility of leaders in their leadership and enable them to venture into diverse projects and have a broader perspective in their direction. More exposed leaders perform far much better than the less visible leaders. Therefore, I would like to be exposed to diverse functions, projects, and customers to increase my skill in leadership and widen my know-how. The exposure would increase my proficiency and influence my choice of leadership style and strategies.
Specific Skills
There are specific skills that I would like to learn and acquire. Such skills include how to use humor, build trust, and give negative feedback without causing harm. Humor is interconnected with leadership because of its social power (Harman & Waltham, 2019). Humor releases tension and allows people to be more open, especially during negotiations. This specific skill would help me conduct lively negotiations where each party can give views without fear. Besides, the ability to integrate humor helps me build social trust in those surrounding my leadership and me. Giving negative feedback would also be made more accessible whenever fun is involved. The individual receiving negative feedback would not feel offended but instead, take the negative response to elicit motivation towards excellent performance.
Work Style
The only thing that I would like to modify my work style is to embrace the utilization of formal teams. Teams are more efficient in enhancing employee experience and the generation of innovative ideas. Teamwork is very crucial in solving problems, making wiser decisions, and increasing performance. Teams are more cohesive, and working in teams means more energy, motivation, and focus (Harman, 2020). Communication is more productive while working in teams, and this makes teams more effective as compared to individual working or working groups. Therefore, adapting teamwork as my working style would help increase performance and enhance working skills through learning new ideas from team members.
Resources and Support for Achieving Development Goals
Resources and support are most required in achieving my development goals. The resources and support may include financial resource support and moral support. Financial resources or capital are necessary for initiating development projects and acquiring a master’s degree. Without such funds, the goals would not be achieved and may lead to individual failure to fulfill a personal development plan. Moral support is more of motivational and encouragement in the journey of making the development goals. Moral support helps navigate several challenges that might be faced without giving up at any point. Finding a mentor is always the best thing in finding moral support and keeping healthy even in the worst moments.
Challenges in Achieving Development Goals
Several challenges could get on my way of achieving both short term and long term development goals. Financial difficulty is the most probable challenge that might be faced since most of my development goals require to be financed. Achieving a master’s degree requires finances as well as attending leadership training programs and seminars. The other challenges may include delaying the achievement of the goal, unexpected catastrophic occurrences which may lead to termination of goal pursuit such as accidents and change of mind.
Influence on Goals
This course has had a lot of influence on my development goals and how to pursue the goals. Before the session, my goals were more ambiguous with no time limit, but after the course, I made my goals more specific and within a given time frame. The course helped differentiate between long term and short term goals and in determining the most appropriate way to pursue each goal.
Takeaways from the Course
My biggest takeaway from this course is the importance of individual development goals and how to work on the goals to achieve the desired aspiration. I learned that leadership is more of doing the right thing, strategy, and influence. Besides, I got that leadership can be offered best through the integration of humor or storytelling, emotional intelligence, and effective communication. I also learned that teamwork or working in teams is more effective than working individually or working in working groups. The other biggest takeaway is the power of development goals, values, and vision in offering good leadership.
Vision Statement
My vision is to be the best leader, mentor, and team player, consistently leading with fairness, humility, professionalism, transparent, and truthful communication.
Video Notes Summary
My personal story reflects on the ignorance of young people to develop their skill and development goals in their aspirations for future leadership. Most young people have dreams, but they have no intentions to help achieve the vision. Individual development planning is very crucial in making real our aspirations and dreams now or in the future.
Leadership involves the setting of strategies, influencing people, and always doing the right things. Effective communication, visioning, and background of achievable goals is very crucial in leadership and leads to success n leadership. Short term goals are goals achievable within a short period of less than two, while long term goals take more than two years. My short term goals include acquiring a leadership role, initiating a development project, and attending more leadership training and seminars. On the other hand, long term goals include earning a master’s degree and attaining the highest leadership position in an organization. My strengths leadership strengths lie in my ability to influence people and arouse a course of action amongst people without using any external force. The ability to make effective communication of plans and giving timely feedback are also my strongholds in leadership. My functional strengths include my ability to choose the best alternative, formulate strategies and make those strategies useful. I would like to be exposed to diverse functions, clients, and projects to sharpen my leadership skills and widen my knowledge on leadership. Exposure would also increase my flexibility in a future administration and enable me to have a broader perspective on leadership. In my future leadership career, some specific skills would be very crucial in enhancing my way os leadership. The expertise that I would like to acquire includes how to use humor to build trust and give negative feedback to my juniors without causing harm to their feelings or morale. The only modification I would like to make in my work style is to introduce teamwork. Working in teams is more efficient as compared to working groups or working individually.
Teams are more cohesive, energized, focused, and communication is effective. Financial resources and moral support are very crucial in the achievement of my development goals. However, possible barriers that may hinder the attainment of my development goals include financial constraints, unexpected discouraging occurrences, and change of mind or shifting to a more advanced goal. This course has influenced my development goals, and it has helped me make more specific and achievable goals. My biggest takeaways from this course are the importance of individual development goals and how to go about the goals. I learned more about leadership, purpose and vision setting, and the importance of teamwork. My vision statement is to be the best leader, mentor, and team player, consistently leading with fairness, humility, professionalism, transparent, and truthful communication.
References
Harman, B. (2020). Teams part 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfBmdbdg9_0.
Harman, B. & Waltham, T (2019). How to Use Humor to Build Trust. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyTcpolYOOI.
Harman, B. (2019). Leadership versus Management. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkm2jRXDhP4