Leadership Development Plan for Advertising Industry

Dynamic
Leadership

Executive Summary
Given the competitive scenario that we live in, every industry and every business is growing
rapidly. In the face of this competition, in order to grow, it is important to be an excellent
leader. Someone who can lead a team and drive them to work towards achieving common
goals. My first experience as a leader was when I was appointed the captain of the football
team in high school. Following which, I have led the creative arts team in college and have
also had the opportunity to lead some short term projects in my small career span.
This course has offered me an opportunity to reflect upon my leadership journey so far,
identify my goals and a leader and devise a plan to achieve them. In order to do that, I looked
back upon my leadership and tried to analyze my strengths and weaknesses. I also took online
tests to dig deeper into my personality and I also reached out to my partner to seek feedback
regarding my leadership style.
The report below consists a detailed analysis of my personality as a leader including my
strengths and shortcomings. I have also devised a two year leadership development plan with
an aim to lead the team in an advertising firm as a manager. The plan and the detailed
analysis below helped me identify my weaknesses and I am sure this is just the right first step
in the direction to improving my leadership journey.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Leadership style.........................................................................................................................3
Feedback from partner...............................................................................................................4
Leadership plan..........................................................................................................................5
Technical Skills......................................................................................................................6
Information.............................................................................................................................6
Communication......................................................................................................................6
Time Management..................................................................................................................7
Assertiveness..........................................................................................................................7
Whitman GROW model.........................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................11

Introduction
Leadership is the action or the ability to lead a team, a group of people or an organization.
Leadership has always been a vital part of my life and I feel fortunate that through this course
I have been able to dig deeper into my skills and reflect upon my leadership journey so far.
Since my school days, I have been an athlete and have affinity towards playing sport. In high
school, I was appointed as the captain of the football team and this was the first leadership
experience I had my life. The entire experience was extremely gratifying as well as full of
learning.
Communication plays a significant role in any leadership journey. It is the backbone upon
which leadership functions (Komives & Wagner, 2016). Therefore the primary thing that I
tend to focus upon is to consistently improve upon my communication skills. This helps two
purposes, first I am able to create transparency within the team and secondly whenever
required, I am able to motivate my team in an effective manner. Primary responsibility of the
leader is to be able to motivate team members and inspire them to work hard towards
achieving team goals and targets.
Through the course I have been able to understand that there are several ways in which
leaders can inspire their team to work hard. Similarly, despite the famous notion about
‘leaders are born’, there are several leadership aspects that can be learnt and developed
during the leadership journey. This reflective essay throws light on my leadership
experiences, my learning through the course and thereby a devised plan for the future of my
leadership journey. The idea behind creating this plan was to ensure that I am able to improve
my abilities as a leader. At present, I serve the position of an intern at an advertising start-up.
My aim is to become director of advertising in a multi-national agency and I am sure that this
leadership reflection and plan will help me be a better leader in the span of my career.
Leadership style
Different leaders adopt different leadership styles. There is no leadership style that has
proven to be correct in every situation and it is impossible to state one leadership style better
than the other (Storey, 2016). As a leader I believe I adopt a democratic leadership style. A
democratic leader is a participative leader wherein members of the team participate together
towards taking team decisions.