Personal Leadership Action Plan
Introduction
Within any professional setting, acquiring and retaining a leadership position is integral to any individual’s growth and personal development. As a leader within any professional capacity, I endeavor to push myself beyond my limits so that I can impact the lives of the people within my community. Leaders have the power to effect change within their immediate organizational setting by inspiring their teams to work harder and smarter (Sunday 936). My Personal Leadership Action Plan is geared towards addressing several aspects that have cropped up during my leadership journeys, such as team-building skills and self-awareness. An illustration comes to mind of a leader from whom I draw inspiration from. A lecturer known as Putt from one of the recognized educational institutions had a condition from birth, which left him with a limp and affected how he walked. After one of his lectures one afternoon, Putt noticed something that completely shifted his perceptions to teaching. As he walked along the corridors of the school, he turned back and saw that his students were imitating his walking style (Shkoler 170). He had such an immense influence on his students’ lives that they sought to do things just as he does. The role that leaders play is integral to all aspects of their subordinate’s lives (Jimenez 238). My education thus far has opened my eyes to the differences between the theoretical notions of leadership and real-life leadership problems that are experienced within an organizational setting.
Career Path and Leadership Opportunity
Currently, my focus has been on implementing my leadership technique on my family and my community at large. To achieve this, I have developed different strategies geared toward achieving community development. These strategies involve applying specific theories such as transformational leadership theories and the transactional leadership approach. I am in the process of acquiring my bachelor’s degree, but I work as a customer service executive on a part-time basis as well. After holding this position for a time and gaining experience at the ground level, I sought to challenge myself and elevate my skills as a leader. I was put in charge of my own team made up of six executives who directly reported to me. Their performance was based on how well I inspired them to work hard and achieve their monthly goals. This experience tested my leadership capabilities and my ability to identify my team’s strengths and weaknesses.
After serving within this capacity for about two years, I decided to delve into community development satisfied that I could lead the different projects that would see my vision to fruition. What I had not bargained for was the wide variety of responsibilities that would fall to me ad the planning that required connecting individuals from different walks of life to achieve a common goal. As a junior management member within the community projects, I was involved within an array of activities such as the building of the brand image, resource allocation budgetary concerns, and fixing of product prices.
Analysis of Opportunity
My new circumstances have caused the need to redirect my styles of leadership completely. Proper understanding of the difference between the traditional method of leadership and the modern form of leadership is essential (Pyle 83). During my previous professional engagements, the leadership style that was preferred was more inclusive and supportive of delegation. This is because the team needed to feel included for them to produce results. I had noticed this, especially with those who were in executive positions. However, as I moved towards this new venture, I realized that my leadership stance required to be both authoritative and democratic alike. Today, the notion of “leader” and “leadership” has undergone a radical change (Pyle 84). The community development project requires a new approach that fosters for acquiring results while maximizing on the community’s involvement and input. There is a need for an inspirational leader who would be focused on encouraging robust communication and teamwork (Bonau 616). This kind of leader would harmoniously carry its team and its subordinates. I had to adopt a transformational type of leadership and focus on the capabilities of all the members of the organization to foster growth and development within the organization.
My vision for my community development project is to secure a future for the community through the preservation of its heritage. To achieve this, I have to adopt several productive leadership traits, such as:
Self-Awareness: This skill would enable an avid assessment of my team’s performance in comparison to their past performances. I can set benchmarks against which also I can assess my own performance as a leader in an organizational context. If I can adequately judge the propensity of my achievements, then I can do the same for my sub-ordinates.
Communication: For effective leadership, one needs to communicate with those that are working under them or with them. On my part, there’s a need to open proper communicational channels with my team members so that they can feel heard, and they can feel like they are part and parcel of the organization.
Teamwork: Organizational success depends on how well the team members work together to achieve the organizational goals and objectives (Bonau 620). The team members can only achieve said objectives if they have a leader who fosters teamwork. I possess a strong team spirit, which has aided me in all my leadership positions in the past. A transparent communication model is an appropriate approach for achieving good teamwork.
Personal Leadership Action Plan
The elements that have been included within my plan have majorly to do with effective communication, general leadership skills, and team-building capabilities. By strengthening my skills concerning the afore-mentioned notions would directly exemplify my leadership approach in the dynamic professional setting (Bonau 620). To implement these skills in the best way possible, I believe it would take up to one and a half years. During this time, I would be able to complete my current degree and forge on to my MBA course, which would propel me to a better understanding of what leadership skills better suit my station. In the meantime, I will be interacting with different individuals within the project, which will enhance my communication skills and self-awareness capabilities. Coming up with budgets, partitioning teams, and allocating resources would provide realistic actions that would further build on my leadership skills.
Measurement of Success will be necessary for the plan. Without a measure of how far or how close towards achieving the goal I am, progress would be hampered. To measure my leadership skills, I would employ the use of the 360-degree feedback mechanism. This would provide my team members the opportunity to present their opinions about my level of leadership. During the course, I shall be able to gauge the capability of my leadership in a team based on the grades we acquire throughout the exercises. These markers will provide insight into the areas of my leadership that I need to look into or improve upon. This plan would be a dynamic way to strengthen my leadership abilities continually.
My personal Leadership Action plan aims at applying values and personal purposes that act as a foundation for my leadership approach. Objectivity and Authenticity remain the primary driver of what is to be achieved within my plan as well. Leaders play an essential role in both the cooperate world and society and should hone their skills to direct their teams and organizations better.
Works Cited
Bonau, Sarah. “How to Become an Inspirational Leader, and what to Avoid.” The Journal of Management Development, vol. 36, no. 5, 2017, pp. 614-625. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JMD-03-2015-0047
Jiménez, Marisela. “Leadership Style, Organizational Performance, and Change through the Lens of Emotional Intelligence.” Foundations of Management, vol. 10, no. 1, 2018, pp. 237-250. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/fman-2018-0018.
Pyle, Benjamin S., and Joseph Cangemi EdD. “Organizational Change in Law Enforcement: Community-Oriented Policing as Transformational Leadership.” Organization Development Journal, vol. 37, no. 4, 2019, pp. 81-88.
Shkoler, Or, and Aharon Tziner. “LEADERSHIP STYLES AS PREDICTORS OF WORK ATTITUDES: A MODERATED-MEDIATION LINK.” Amfiteatru Economic, vol. 22, no. 53, 2020, pp. 164-178. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.24818/EA/2019/53/164.
Sunday, Samson B. “The Effect of Leadership Style, Job Satisfaction and Employee-Supervisor Relationship on Job Performance and Organizational Commitment.” Journal of Applied Business Research, vol. 32, no. 3, 2016, pp. 935-946. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v32i3.9667.