Your Task:
The task for this assessment is to prepare and present a plan for your development as a leader. The period of your plan could be 2, 5 or 10 years. Select the period that makes most sense to you, depending on the current stage of your life and career. Briefly explain the reason for the time period that you have selected.
Your plan needs to be based on or anchored by an established model of personal development. A number of possible models were provided in Module 1. The choice of a model is up to you. The Whitman GROW and Boyatzis Intentional Change models are two of the most comprehensive at a personal level. However, other models may be more relevant to your current needs. You are also welcome to use an appropriate model that was not included in Module 1, provided it meets the tests of academic rigour and usefulness to you. Provide a brief description of your chose model and a justification for your selection. It is important that you go to the source documents and not rely only on the summary version of your chosen model.
Learning Outcomes
a) Explore and reflect on self- development as a leader to build self-awareness.
b) Through critical reflection on key leadership theories develop a personal leadership development strategy.
c) Analyse and develop the capacity to influence, motivate and inspire others in your workplace and/or community organisations.
d) Implement and practice coaching others to enhance self-awareness and core communication skills for emotional intelligence, with emphasis on active listening, building empathy, giving and receiving feedback.
e) Demonstrate the technique of reflective and reflexive practice as a means of continuous learning and self-development
Executive Summary
The paper is a personal plan for development as a leader, and I have developed this plan for myself. I have selected two years because it is appropriate to evaluate the effectiveness of a development plan. To develop this plan for myself, I have used intentional change model by Boyatzis. The model has five elements helping the development to be possible step by step. Transformational, authentic, and democratic leadership styles have been my inspirations, and I have set the target of these leadership styles. I want these styles to be in my personality as a leader. My strengths of being a good participative and collaborative person help me to develop these leadership styles and attributes in me. My weaknesses of lack of knowledge and lack of temperament are not suitable to be such a leader. Therefore, the chosen model has helped to develop attributes of these leadership styles in two years. The paper recommends following the routine so that I can be a successful and effective leader in my life.
Introduction
Developing as a leader is not a short–term plan or process because leadership qualities take years to be part of one’s personality. I believe that leadership abilities nurture in a specific environment and context where one has to bring discipline in life. It’s the aim of this reflective paper that self-development as a leader is necessary. I have taken the approach of self-development as a leader, and self-awareness is the cornerstone of this approach. There are specific models of self-development that can help a person to bring discipline and routine to life. I have chosen the intentional change model by Boyatzis because it offers a clear plan for self-development as a leader (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019). Being a leader means that I am ready to take the lead and adopt a leading position. I have also been glad and motivated to act like a leader because I love to guide and help people. I believe that leadership has an obligation and fundamental duty to help and assist others. People are not followers only, and they are not slaves, as well (Rodriguez, Green, Sun, & Baggerly‐Hinojosa, 2017). They only accept your leadership when they consider you able to represent them. I have taken the help of the model by Boyatzis that intentional change is possible. Despite the fact, I want to be e leader and consider that I have leadership qualities; I have to learn to be an effective leader. It requires a reflection into my present and future role as a leader. This reflection would help me to build self-awareness to be an effective and supporting leader after some period.
Period of my Plan
Planning for self-development as a leader requires time, and a certain period can keep things on track. Moreover, it is always suitable and useful to set the duration of a plan so that one may measure change and development. It is the reason that I have set two years for the self-development plan as a leader so that I can evaluate myself after this period. I agree with the notion that it may be a brief period. But it is feasible, and after this period, I would be able to bring changes to the plan as per the development and progress in my personality. Therefore, this period of two years will start, and I hope it will continue in the future. In this context, the present self-development plan as a leader in the milestone.
Chosen Leadership Development Model
There are specific leadership development models and theories to help a person on the journey to be a leader. Different approaches and models consist of self-awareness and self-development opportunities for people. I have chosen the intentional change model by Boyatzis in this reflective paper because I have found it clear and compelling. It has elements which can help me learn how to be a good leader. In the following, I have used the model to reflect on the topic.
International Change Model Boyatzis
The model used for development as a leader in the intentional change model by Richard Boyatzis. The model is simple and effective, with five steps in it. These five steps present an integrated approach to learn and develop new habits and expertise. In the following, I have discussed each step one by one, but they play an integrated role in becoming an effective leader (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Discover your Ideal Self
My ideal self as a leader is the one who is there for help and assistance for people. I do not want to be a leader without the consent of people, but I always have the ambition to be participative with people. As a leader, I want to achieve short term and long-term goals so that I can effectively lead people. Here, I would like to brainstorm because the intentional change model tends to allow this for me. In the process of discovering my ideal self, these goals may help very much (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
My ideal self is to be a person who helps and transforms others. Theories of authentic leadership, democratic leadership, and transformational leadership always fascinate me (Lawrence, 2019). I want to achieve behavioral integrity so that people show trust in my words and actions. When I utter words, they do not feel hesitant in believing me right. It may be difficult, but I want to be such a leader, and further, I want to extend my role as a leader. I want to mentor and coach others so that they follow me. For this purpose, they have to consider me able to do so. I have to be the perfect and right person to educate and teach them. My long-term goal is that I want to be an authentic (Rodriguez, Green, Sun, & Baggerly‐Hinojosa, 2017), transformational (Nguyen, Mia, Winata, & Chong, 2017), and democratic leader (Ukaidi, 2016). For this purpose, I have to give value to increase the trust of followers and people around me. It is a long-term purpose or goal at the end of the period of two years (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
The long-term goals need many short-term goals. The ideal self has to endure to speak the truth and go away from lies. I want to lead by example, and for this purpose, I have to bring discipline and certainty in my life. I have to be predictable so that people do not get surprised. Moreover, I want to get a formal and informal education so that any shortcoming because of a lack of knowledge may not hinder my journey to be a leader. It shows that short term and long-term goals are not complicated, but they are practical and straightforward (Chuang, Jackson, & Jiang, 2016). But in reality, they are difficult to practice as it is very challenging to narrow the gap between actions and words. I think that I have many attributes of chosen leadership theories and styles, but yes, to be perfect requires a development journey. I am ready to travel through the journey of development as a leader (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Discover your Real Self
The ideal self for the plan as a leader was vital because it has helped to set goals for me. However, it is a perfect self, and it is different from the real self. The real self is that I have all the attributes to be a democratic leader and want to transform others. But I feel that I have little knowledge and information that sometimes prohibits me from being an effective leader for my followers. My strengths are that I am participative and cooperative with others, and they consider me helpful and contributing to their cause (Bouwmans, Runhaar, Wesselink, & Mulder, 2017). At the same time, I also feel self-actualization when I help others. I love to give others advice or consultation. I have observed that I get new knowledge when I consult others on any issue. These strengths are in line with transformational and democratic leadership styles (Hill & Bartol, 2016). These leadership styles are part of my dream leadership style, and I want to be a person practicing on these leadership styles. However, there are some weaknesses, as well.
It has been noted above that sometimes; I lack information and knowledge to advise others. Being a transformational leader, I have to be able to guide people with enough experience, especially when it is the era of data and information (Mittal & Dhar, 2015). Moreover, I sometimes get hyper when I have a difference of opinion. It does not occur, most of the time, but I have noted that I lose my temper sometimes. My friends and family members understand my temperament, but strange people may take me wrong. It may hurt my endeavors to be a leader, and it would hurt my interpersonal skills as well (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Therefore, it is part of the plan to discover more strengths and weaknesses in my personality. So that I can overcome negative attributes as well as improve positive characteristics in my character. The excellent point is that I am flexible, and I learn things fast. Being flexible and accommodating help me to adapt to new situations and interact with people of different views (Li, Shakkottai, Lui, & Subramanian, 2018). Moreover, I have some concerns about the routine and discipline of my life where I am not able to give time to many duties. I also have the problem of procrastination. These weaknesses may delay the journey of development as a leader. But there is a need to exploit strengths. It is promising to know that my ideal self and real self are not distant. I have a strong ambition to be a good leader of people and helping others would help me reach this position in a two-year period (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Create your Learning Agenda
Now, the ideal self and real self are known, and learning agendas may be developed around these known resources about me. The learning agenda includes a summary of strengths and weaknesses in me. I have to understand the fact that I have to overcome weaknesses and exploit my advantages to be successful. Moreover, I have to brainstorm so that I can learn to reach the ideal self-stage (Pi, Yang, Hu, & Hong, 2019). To be exact in the learning agenda, I have to be familiar with my learning styles. But learning may not be possible through self-learning because I have to find a mentor so that he can teach me how to pass the ladder to be an effective leader in two years (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
The personal development plan has the first part of brainstorming. I have to brainstorm to increase my strengths and eliminate weaknesses. I have come to know that I am happier when I am among people. I like to be with my peers and even strangers. It is an excellent sign, and it is essential to pursue my dreams to be a good leader. I have to control my habit of getting hyper and a lack of knowledge or information. It may help as a democratic leader because I can invite others to share their views and ideas to overcome this problem of lack of information or knowledge. Different other ways may be thought of as a result of detailed brainstorming sessions (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
I have consulted David Kolb’s model to identify my learning styles. The model contains four learning styles, which are accommodating, converging, diverging, and assimilating. I am a converger as I like to deal with abstract ideas. I do not get confused or feel a headache when I have to face abstract and confusing thoughts. However, I want to turn them into concrete results. It is in line with my desired leadership style, which is democratic, transformational and authentic leadership styles. These styles provide opportunities for more cooperation and collaboration from the people around me. I have to develop skills further to link my learning style with my goal of development as a leader. In the journey towards being a leader, I have to consult a mentor because self-learning is not possible. My teacher, father, friend, and library can be a good mentor, enabling me to learn new skills and expertise to be an effective leader at the end of the assigned period (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Experiment with and Practice New Habits
For the development of a leader over two years, I have to experiment and practice new habits. It is also part of the chosen model. Weaknesses and my ultimate objective would help how to study and practice new habits to be an effective leader. First, the presence of a mentor is significant, and I would prefer to get guidance from the mentor.
Moreover, the advice and suggestions from my friends and peers would also be very useful in this regard. I would take opinions and views from these key people and would change my life and beliefs as per their responses. I give this part half weight because a new experiment without guidance and supervision is not practical and result oriented. The mentor is my teacher, and he may be an expert in his respective field. Moreover, he would be from my friends with definite opinions and views. It is important to highlight what they would do as their role. They would enrich me with new knowledge, help me teach working abilities, and be open and comfortable with other people. Then, my efforts are also important to experiment and practice new habits (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
I have to get new knowledge and information so that I can take others along with my views and suggestions as a leader. It may not be possible that they agree with me all the time because the difference of opinion is always there is a healthy and informative circle of friends and peers. In this case, I have to practice to be flexible and develop the ability to respect each other’s beliefs and views. For this purpose, my formal education, additional readings in my course, and other academic and research sources should be part of my development. These sources would help me how to be an effective leader with knowledge because a leader is because of wisdom and knowledge. I can respect others’ views only when I have my strong opinions and arguments. It makes discussion healthy and constructive (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Moreover, I have to participate in teamwork activities in class so that I can develop as a leader. It is an excellent source of development, and it would benefit me in two ways. First, I would get opportunities to be a leader and take peers along with me. Second, I would be active in learning in class to get high grades and marks in subjects. I have to divide the day to achieve my target over the period so that activities are completed in time.
Some of the activities on the journey to be a leader are as follows:
- The daily accomplishment of goals and milestones
- Studying in class and educational institutions
- Working as a team and in a team
- Active class participation
- Respecting others’ views and suggestions during class and out of the class discussions
- Readings additional sources for reading in the class
- Learning new knowledge and information
- Experimenting with new knowledge and interpersonal abilities daily
- Working in a team and being participative
- Taking the role and accomplishing that role
Get Support
Getting support is the fifth and vital part of the chosen model to be a leader. Much of the support has been discussed in the above section. There, I have emphasized support and participation to experiment and learn new knowledge and expertise. It is because of the importance of involvement and sharing in my future journey to be a leader. I do not want to be an authoritative leader, but I would like to be a democratic leader. I want to be an authentic leader. I want to be a transformational leader.
My favorite leadership styles indicate that I need support from friends and the people around me. I cannot be successful without people’s contributions. I also want to be participative with others. Therefore, getting support from people is an inevitable part of and after becoming a leader. I have to take assistance and participation from various people (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
My teachers, seniors, and knowledgeable friends can be very helpful because I spend a lot of time with them. I can share my objectives with them, and in so doing, they would help me with set goals. I have given priority to teachers and friends the priority in getting support because of two reasons. First, the amount of time spent with them is higher than the time spent with someone else. Second, they can develop and assist me in this journey to be a leader as they may be involved directly. Teamwork and guidance from these people are critically important for me as a leader (Waqas, Zubair, Mahmood, & Anwar, 2019).
Support from my parents is also crucial because their advice is directly useful to me. I give valuable support from parents and family because I have to practice participation and sharing habits at home as well. I cannot be a good leader if I am not practicing a leadership role at home (Ukaidi, 2016). Otherwise, it would be artificial practice. Therefore, support from the family and parents is necessary to make leadership practice part of my personal life and habits. In this way, I would get support from people around, and seeking their support to develop as a leader would help me as a leader after a specified period of two years.
Conclusion
The paper concludes that the leadership development process over two years can be successful and implemented with the help of the chosen model named intentional change theory. The period of two years is appropriate to learn leadership’s essential lessons. I have been getting inspiration from leadership styles based on the participation and collaboration of people. This leadership development plan is also about this aspect of leadership with the help of transformational, authentic, and democratic leadership styles. With the help of intentional change theory, I have made this plan so that it can be implemented in my personal life. Leadership development is not as successful as a result of the plan, but it requires dedication. For instance, I can be a leader if I want to be. For this purpose, I have to set a direction. The selection of leadership styles is the first step towards the development plan, and I believe pursuing the plan with dedication. I have to coordinate efforts so that the timely application of the plan may be a reality, and I have to acknowledge the participation and support of everyone supporting my journey to be a transformational and democratic leader in the future.
References
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