Personal Development as a Strategic Leader

This report examines the importance of personal development for strategic leaders, using Sainsbury's as a case study. It analyzes the needs, goals, and aspirations of individuals involved in inter-organizational strategies, identifies the strategic skills required for leadership ambitions, and analyzes the relationship between existing, required, and future skills. The report also includes a personal development plan for achieving strategic leadership development, outlining opportunities, execution processes, and the impact of achieving objectives on strategic leadership ambitions. Finally, it discusses the effectiveness of strategic leadership development in advancing professional leadership practices.

Personal Development as a
Strategic Leader

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Needs, goals and aspirations of people involved in inter-organisational strategies..............1
1.2 Strategic skills required of the leader to achieve identified strategic leadership ambitions. 3
1.3 Relationship between existing, required and future skills to achieve identified strategic
leadership ambitions....................................................................................................................4
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Opportunities to achieve strategic leadership development..................................................5
2.2 Personal development plan to achieve strategic leadership development.............................6
2.3 Execution process for the development plan........................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Achievement of outcomes of the plan against strategic needs............................................10
3.2 Impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic leadership ambitions.......................11
3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan.........................................................12
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Strategic needs of organisations involved in inter organisational strategy are met from
current resources.......................................................................................................................14
4.2 Formulate proposals to develop the strategic leadership resource......................................15
4.3 Effectiveness of strategic leadership development in achieving advancement of
professional leadership practices...............................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................18
.......................................................................................................................................................20

INTRODUCTION
Personal leadership refers to leadership of self. It is an ability to explain direction for
leadership and move in a proper direction with clarity and consistency. Personal development is
all about acquiring skills, experience and knowledge for purpose of improve the self perception
as well as individual performance. It is systematic process which has motive to create, determine
skills to be improved, action plans and utilise better opportunities and many others. Personal
development involves all those activities or tasks which can increase potential and also
determine an individual (Allee, 2012). It is a procedure of improving oneself by some activities
for an instance increasing employment skills, buiding wealth and maximising the consciousness.
In this present time period, personal development is more imperative as it is planning process by
which employer acquire the knowledge as well as leadership skills in order to attain the long
term objectives of company. This present report is based on the Sainsbury organisation. It is
largest supermarkets chain in United Kingdom with 16.9% share in supermarket sector. This
organisation was founded in year 1869 and in 1922 it became largest retailer of groceries. This
comp-any is divided in to three different parts such as Sainsbury bank, Sainsbury's Argos and
Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd. It provides the better quality of products and services to people.
Personal development is necessary in every organisation and helpful in improving the
skills, knowledge and capabilities of an individual. Under this, report will be discuss about goals,
aspirations and needs of people which are included in an inter- organisational strategies
(Blumenthal and et. al., 2012). Relationship among the current, necessary and also future skills
to attain determined strategic leadership outcomes will be mentioned. Personal development plan
is helpful in accomplishing the strategic leadership development. There will be discussion about
strategic requirements of companies included in an inter- organisational strategy in order to meet
from existing resources.
TASK 1
1.1 Needs, goals and aspirations of people involved in inter-organisational strategies
An inter organisational system refers to system among the firms or share information and
data between group of organisations. In the competitive market, I have faced face more
competition. Numerous issues are faced through enhancing technological requirements and focus
on expand business at the large scale. Strategies are helpful in conducting the activities and tasks
1

in a systematic manner. The inter-organisational strategies are helpful to develop the more
flexibility as well as agility. The needs, aspirations and goals of different people are varied from
each other. Under this, if two organisations work together then in this case their goals and
requirements will be same (Bolden, 2016). Under this, there are two business firms Sainsbury
and Morrisons both deal in the retail sector and also a chain of supermarkets. The main focus of
both organisations is to achieve the common goals with in given time period. They focus on
fulfil the requirement and goals of different group of people in develop the inter- organisational
strategies. Under this, the personal skills are need communication, decision making, time
management etc. There are various factors given below which help in analyse goals, aspirations
and needs of various group of people:
Political Factor- For conduct business operations, political stability is necessary. If
government will make changes in policies then in this case company will need to make changes
in its exiting policies and same as group of people will also require to make some modifications.
Technological factor- It affect on business operations in many different ways. For an
example- Marketing department communicate with its consumers face to face because it does not
have any technology. It is more time taking and expensive. So, company need new technology
from which they can interact with the customers in an easy manner by using Facebook, Twitter,
E- mails and many others. The goal of both group of people is to increase its revenue by 5% to
8%.
Social Factor: It affects on operations and activities of business. Under this, need of
group of individuals are not similar. Thus, it impacts on working environment of both firms so it
affect my working attributes and techniques as well. This affects productivity of organisation and
they are not able to achieve their set business goals and targets. The goal of group of people is to
produce the eco- friendly products to consumers so that they can attract more.
Environmental Factors: These factors consist of all those elements that are influence by
the surrounding environmental that consists of scarcity of raw materials, carbon footprints and
targets which are set by government bodies. If there are demands of products in the economy,
then it will result in growth of the economy as people will be buying the products and there will
be high money flow (Broman and Robèrt, 2017). If there are changes in the climate conditions,
then they are directly affecting the production of firms thus they will not be able to achieve their
set targets.
2

Economic Factor: These factors determinates performance of business. The elements
consist of exchange rates in the economy, rate of inflation, disposable income of customers, the
rate of employment. These factors are having long term impact on the business operations as
they are affecting purchasing power of the buyers. This in turn will result in changing the
demand and supply models in the economy. It also affects those strategies which are formulated
by firms for selling their goods and services (Brown and May, 2012).
1.2 Strategic skills required of the leader to achieve identified strategic leadership ambitions
A strategic leader is one person who make plan and procedures to ensure the long term
mission and objectives. Mainly, strategic leadership is the ability to influence other person to
take voluntarily and make better decision. This will help in enhancing prospects for business
organization to maintain long term stability (Bryson, 2018). In addition of this, for achieving
strategic ambitions leaders required good leadership qualities and ideas to implement entire
activities of the business. Leadership play vital role in every business organization to bring
success ion market because leaders are responsible for motivating their team workers and also
encourage the to improve their capabilities for attaining strategic objectives. As leaders are
important for company to develop corporate strategies, procedures to predicting future plan. This
will contribute in measuring time to time performance by meeting strategic ambition. In context
of Sainsbury, leader also required some strategic skills for achieving the determined strategic
leadership ambitions are as follows: Vision: It is an ability to focus on the future plan of the company in order to improve
their performance level. In addition of this, strategic planning is important process for
looking ahead. As the strategic leader needs to define clear future plan and at the same
timer also motivate their workers to follow the same (Cheng, 2013). With the help of this,
achieving predetermined goals and objectives. Relationship: In this, leader should maintain better relation with their team members. For
this, they tries to understand workers issues that occur at workplace. With the help of this,
employees of Sainsbury can easily improve their performance and attain positive results. Teamwork: It is important leader to motivate and encourage their team members so that
workers can easily perform their allotted task. By this skill, strategic leader can improve
performance of the workers in which they can easily attain set target of the company.
3

 Intuition and development: Developing others is important for leader in which they give
opportunities to explore their ideas (Cottrell, 2015). In this strategic leader has ability to
make their clear plan and direct to employees so that they put their efforts to attain goals
in appropriate time frame. Strong communication skills: Effective communication is important for leader to interact
with their team members and provide them direction so that they can easily execute their
activities. With the help of this, leader understand workers issues that arise at workplace.
It also contribute in identified strategic ambitions. Decision making: By this skill, strategic leader evaluate the ways and aspects to take
right decision. As leader also include workers in every activities to make their aware
about changes and effectively implement. This will help leader to take right and adequate
decision for attaining strategic leadership ambitions.
 Time management: It is important for leader to hold and manage the time at workplace
to attain certain goals (Day and et. al., 2014). If workers are effectively perform work as
per allotted time. It also help in creating superior work and at the same time also provide
right path to leader to attain strategic-leadership ambitions.
1.3 Relationship between existing, required and future skills to achieve identified strategic
leadership ambitions
Ambition are refer to the opinion and ideas which relate with the risk. In this strategic
leader is responsible for making effective plan and strategies for reducing the negative impact on
business organization. If strategies are not appropriate than it affect the overall growth of the
company at market place. Thus, it is important for strategic leader to identify the strategic
ambitions to evaluate the overall performance of the company. In context of Sainsbury, they
focus on their time management skills, decision making skills and ability to take initiatives and
so on. All these are important for leader to implement to increase the chances of attaining
success. It also help in in attaining competitive advantage from other business organizations.
There is relation between the existing a future skills as person who want to see
themselves at the top positions have to show their talent among the workforce so it can be
discovered (Day, Harrison and Halpin, 2012). The most effective key is Management insight
which helps in knowing the effective skills. The wider gaols and strategies are supported by the
plans and policies formulated by business in order to achieve strategic leadership positions. If the
4

negative factors on the current skills are identified then it will result in establishing top position
in the future time. There should be management plans developed on day to day basis in order to
know the performance level of worker so they can achieve strategic leadership position (Doody
and Doody, 2012). There should be training and development programmes organised in order to
address the gap by which person is not able to achieve top position in the company. Training also
helps in enhancing skills of individual as they will analyse those areas where actually they are
facing problems and ways by which this can be resolved this results in achieving strong positions
at work place. Training should not only be limited to cooperate goal but they should be linked
towards analysing performance of individuals, succession planning is necessary in order to
develop intelligence map as they help individuals in achieving strategic positions.
As per current skills of the leader needs to improve their communication skills for
establishing better relationship with their team members. With the help of this, they can easily
enhance their productivity level and at the same time also identify the strategic-leadership
ambition. This will support company to increase overall productivity level at market place.
Along with this, leader of Sainsbury analysis the gap between existing and requires skills with
the purpose of attaining strategic ambitions of the firm. For this leaders bring the time
management skills in their personal development for attaining future goals in appropriate time
frame. By doing this, positive image of the firm get increased and also bring more profitability at
market place. In addition of this, leader skills may contribute in attaining strategic leadership
ambitions through which firm established reputation.
TASK 2
2.1 Opportunities to achieve strategic leadership development
Leadership refers to ability of a person or group of people to guide the members of
company. Under this, leader guides the team members so that they can focus towards attaining
the goals in systematic manner. Strategic leadership refers to potential of manager to express
strategic vision for company and also motivate others in order to acquire vision. Strategic
leadership development equips the more experienced executives which are moving in main
leadership roles in context to tackle the particular business related challenges with an assurance
(Gibb, 2012). The programmes of strategic leadership development is helpful in enhance the
performance level that will result in provide the positive outcomes over long term. It can used as
5

launch pad for the organisational change or particular project. Under this, strategic leadership
can explained as utilizing the strategy in employees management. The main focus of Strategic
leadership development program is to develop leadership skills which are necessary to being the
efficient manager, team members, executives and supervisors. On the basis of research it is
identified that managers are good at evaluating opportunities and forecasting outcomes of actions
which are close to operations perform by Sainsbury. For an example- Sainsbury organisation
develop strategies to expand its business or supermarket in to rural areas. (Gibb, Haskins and
Robertson, 2012).
Goals and objectives of Sainsbury are more exaggerated through an application of
different strategies in the various sector and some of the other factors. The strategic leadership
development provides the better opportunities to leaders in order to increase their skills as well
as core competencies. In addition to this, it is necessary for planned manager to create control for
support ambitions. In Sainsbury business firm, there are several individuals develop effective
strategies so one need to prepare from start to have better strategies in context to work with other
staff members. Under this organisation, manager should have the power of controlling on its
resolution of developing skills as well as specific plan.
Leadership quality for attaining ambitions as itself top strategy because it includes the
human resource management (Herrmann and Herrmann-Nehdi, 2015). In order to develop
professional skills it is necessary that a person gets full support from other staff members. The
company have been known to offer participative environment which provides the manager and
budding leaders to avail numerous opportunity to grow and develop themselves. The crucial
decision which are formulated in the organisation are carried out with the help employees and
workforce working with the business. The ways through which opportunities related to strategic
development can be exercised in the present environment are as follows:
Taking initiatives: The delegatory environment assures that manages and leaders are
provided with more authority and responsibility. The undertaking of more responsibilities will
definitely be helpful to an individual in improvement of leadership skills.
Interaction with others: Good communication skills are necessary at every stage. To be
good strategic leader perfect as well as effective communication is necessary. It helps in personal
leadership. The opportunity to enhance level of communication can be carried out through right
participation in team affairs and engaging self in discussion and conferences.
6

Critical thinking: It is one of the important skill for leader to carry. In this leaders have
to able to evaluate the chances of issues before happening. A good leader should also know
about opportunities that provide benefits to workers and company as well. This undertaking of
critical skills thinking will be helpful in formulation of right decision and understand tactics to
manage risks in business.
Following the role model: It is one of the crucial opportunity which can be availed by a
leader or manager in the organisation. This undertaking will be helpful in developing traits and
characteristics similar to that of role model such as passion, confidence, discipline and
motivation others.
2.2 Personal development plan to achieve strategic leadership development
Personal development plan refers to process of developing an action plan that depends on
values, goal settings, planning, awareness and reflection for the purpose of personal development
in context to career. It is continuous lifelong nurturing process, improving knowledge and skills
and also shaping to assure the enhance effectiveness as well as ongoing employability. If the plan
will be clear then in this case employees will perform in a systematic manner. It is helpful in
attaining the strategic leadership development.
Under this, it is enable to examine effectiveness and efficiency of personal development
plan with the help of using various methods or techniques. It is difficult to develop the personal
development plan to guide the leadership development and some of the other points for bearing
in mind to conduct audit of skills, determine skills and also make improvement in them for
perform activities in better manner oat given time period. It is necessary that plan should be
proper so that employees will be perform in significant manner (Hitt and et. al., 2012). In
addition to this, there is a requirement to personal development plan to do self evaluation of an
individual to search weak points and needs. After this, a person is able to create objectives in
better manner.
S
.
N
o
.
LEAR
NING
OBJE
CTIV
E/
GOAL
CUR
REN
T
PRO
FI
CI
TAR
GET
PRO
FICI
ENC
DEVELOPMENT
OPPORTUNITIES
RESOURCES TIME
SCALE
OUTCOME
S
7

E
N
CY
Y
1 Leade
rship
skills
3.5 4 Dearth of leadership
skill is one of my
major drawback
which is required to
address long term
objectives and
creating healthy
organisational
environment within
Sainsbury. Under
this, on the job
training is necessary
to improve I will
motivate team
members and other
individual and can
provide strategic
vision.
Training
programmes,
Online
courses,
senior
managers
15
Septembe
r, 2018
After
executing
the PDP
plan for
improving
my
leadership
skills, I have
observed
betterment
in my
potential to
manage
strategic
vision
within
Sainsbury. I
am more
able to
persuade
and
motivate
other team
member to
acquire the
standard and
set vision
using
8

appropriate
strategies
according
distinct
consequence
.
2 Comm
unicat
ion
skills
3 5 My communication
skills is weak and I
feel hesitate to
interact with many
people.
Communication
skills helps in
interact with
different persons
and employees.
Seminars,
Technology,
30
Septembe
r, 2018
With in
mention
time period,
I improved
my
communicat
ion skills in
better
manner. Co,
I am able to
interact with
people and
share my
opinions in
front of
people
without any
hesitation.
3 Decisi
on
makin
g skills
4 5 Decision making is
an act of selecting
among two or more.
In this being
provided
opportunity to work
in an environment
Learning from
seniors,
strategic
thinking, 360
leadership
assessment
12
Septembe
r, 2018
After
execute
Personal
Developmen
t Plan, I can
see some
changes in
9

and also learn to
make the better
business decisions.
Gain more
experience of
process of business
analysis and by
using this in
working
environment I will
make improvement
in difficult decision
making.
my skills
and I can
able to take
better
decisions
and develop
positive
working
environment
in
Sainsbury.
4 Behav
iour
(Inspi
ring
others
)
4 5 As a strategic
leader, positive
behaviour is
necessary for solve
issues. But I require
to improve my
behaviour such as
developing trust,
inspiring others so
that goals of
business are fulfilled
and compelling
vision for the future
could be formed.
Interact with
seniors
18
Septembe
r, 2018
After
implementin
g PDP plan
for improve
my
behaviour, I
have noticed
betterment
in my
potential in
order to
inspire the
other
people,
encourage
and develop
trust.
5 Knowl 3.5 5 Under this, Online 28 As a
10

edge
(Busin
ess
planni
ng)
knowledge should
be necessary related
to marketing,
strategy,
performance
management,
technology etc. it is
essential for a leader
to possess strategic
skills so that he is
able to form ideal
plans for business
which is a duty of a
leader.
learning Septembe
r, 2018
strategic
leader, I
notice some
changes in
my
knowledge
but I need to
gain some
better
knowledge.
In this development plan, there are three different skills are to be mentioned like
leadership, time management and communication (Kidd, 2013). It is a responsibility of a leader
of Sainsbury to make improvement in its skills with in specific period of time. Under this, it is
necessary for a leader to focus on the communication skills because it is more important.
2.3 Execution process for the development plan
An individual development plan plays an necessary role in development of staff.
Generally, it is developed for manager and employees as what all the initiatives a company
requires to increase skills of staff members and also focus on develop them. Professional and
personal skills are necessary to attain the strategic objectives. Leader can perform its
responsibilities as well as duties with the help of using all these given skills like decision
making, leadership and communication skills. After developing the personal development plan,
there is a requirement to Sainsbury company to implement this development plan by following
the whole process in a systematic manner (Lee, 2017). The personal development plan includes
the many steps and this is tailored to a person developing it. Generally the personal development
plan is in the written form and also taken seriously through employee and management.
Development plan is set with some objectives and aims. Under this, there are some steps in
execution process for development plan mention below:
11

Set Goals for Your Development Plan- It is the first stage in the develop plan. At this
stage, focus of firm is on develop the plan. Goals can be develop son short term basis and also
long term basis. Under this, goals can be career and financial based. In order to develop the
better goals, better skills are required to manager. It is a priority of top management to prepare
the development plan in better manner and implement at workplace. I have set my goals and
objectives on the grounds of their priorities in which first is my decision making skills, second is
communication skills and third is leadership skills (Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee, 2013).
Create a Timeline- It is second stage and in this, manager of Sainsbury organisation
needs to execute deadline with objectives. Without deadline, I am unable to achieve the goals. It
is essential that timeline should be realistic and manager should motivate the staff members that
they can focus on attaining the decided objectives with in specific period of time. It is required t
understand the timelines and prepare a Gantt chart according to the process of development.
Know Your Strengths- Strengths are the capabilities for firm. At the time of preparing
the development plan, it is necessary to determine the strengths of employees so that they can
feel confident and determine the new and different methods to attain the goals. After this, it is
my responsibility in company to identify the improvement areas (Mabey, 2013).
Pinpoint Your Weaknesses- Weaknesses are the limitations for company. It is a
responsibility of manager to identify the weak areas of employees and also try to over come from
them. Otherwise firm will unable to achieve its targets with in given time period. I need to
understand the weaknesses such as in communication skills, major drawback is hesitation. In
decision making skills, key drawback is indiscipline and in leadership skills, the dominating
behaviour of mine is main drawback that has identified (Fairhurst, and Connaughton, 2014).
Identify New Skills You Want to Learn- Main aim of development plan is to get where
are you and where you want to know. If the goal will be advance then it is necessary to learn the
new skills which will helps in achieve aims. With communication, I can improve my writing
skills that can help in growing as professional. Decision-Making skill can help me in to take
better decisions. On the other hand, leadership skills is assisting for management of workplace in
organisation as well.
Take Action and Measure Your Progress- Under this steps, manager need to measure
that the set objectives are meet with the set deadline. If company achieve its aims on given
period time then it will be beneficial to an organisation. For improving communication skills, I
12

have employed readings and seminars of group discussions. For leadership skills, I have asked
for my mentor's guidance and for developing my decision making, I will use 360 degree
assessment .
Build a Support System- It is a last stage in implementation process and under this, it is
easy that to achieve the goals when all employees are work together. In context to development
plan, surroundings positive working environment is necessary (Men, 2014). Through the help of
above discussed stages, I can accomplish my skills planned in the professional development
plan. Also to build support, I can ask for mentor and peer guidance.
Execution of skills
Decision making skills- IN order to implement this skill, I will start to read the case
studies. On the other hand I will follow my seniors and see how they take decisions in well
manner (Goodwin and Wright, 2014).
Communication - Earlier providing information to employees were not in a proper
manner but after incorporating certain skills, I communicate with my employees in a written
form by using emails (Castells, 2013).
Leadership – I motivate my employees by providing them the easiest way to conduct
their activities in a better manner or given time period.
TASK 3
3.1 Achievement of outcomes of the plan against strategic needs
It is important for individuals to evaluate the achievement of outcomes against strategic
needs. By this leaders can easily measure their overall performance within the organization. As
per above personal development plan, strategic leader needs to manage their productivity level
by improving overall activities at workplace. In this the communication skill of leader is
improved through which they can easily interact with their team members and provide them clear
vision. This will help them in identifying all kind of issues and conflicts as well. For resolving
issues leader needs to determining the actual reason behind the conflicts by communicating with
their team members (Nesbit, 2012). As personal development plan play vital role in providing
the current progress comparison with their past experience and skills.
In addition of this, leader also improve their leadership skills by improving their
motivation skills, critical thinking, communication and many more to build trust among all the
13

staff members. (Peterson, Galvin and Lange, 2012). With the help of this leader can easily make
their skill strong and also tries to improve their weak skills by reviewing and measuring their
overall performance. As the participative work environment of the company, leader can take
initiatives to perform difficult task and at the same time also motivate their team members to find
creative and unique ways to complete the entire task. This will help in making positive relation
with all the team members and also improve their performance as well. With the help of this,
leader may attain various opportunities to enhance their leadership skills at workplace. As it is
also beneficial for leader to take right decision by considering all the aspects present in the
company environment. The undertaking of the plan have helped in the improvement in
formulation of strategy and plans for business through development of strategic behaviour. The
behaviour which has been emphasized is inspiration, it is one of the crucial feature which is to be
possessed by the leader. There can be some improvement seen in this domain also as employees
have been successful in attaining positive results for the business.
Furthermore, by analysing the plan leader may evaluate the strategic needs which may
improving overall skills of the strategic leader. This will help them in making their strong skills
by which leader attain positive results and also improve their strategic position within the
Sainsbury. In addition of this, by getting feedback from the team members leader also evaluate
their performance level. Along with this, self management is also a important and effective way
to develop their skills because it provide the assistance of implementing changes to measure their
time management skills. This will contribute in evaluating the strategic needs and at the same
time also improve their performance level (Phipps, 2012).
3.2 Impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic leadership ambitions
It is important for leader to analyse the impact of achievement of objectives which may
help in attaining strategic leadership ambitions. Mainly, the main objectives of leader in
Sainsbury is to improve their skills such as communication skills, leadership skills, decision
making skills along with enhancing strategic knowledge and inspiring behaviour. With the help
of this, leader can improve their performance level at workplace and assure that leadership
capabilities are developed which helps in growing professionally. If leader easily manage their
leadership skill by leading and motivating their team members thus they can easily enhance their
performance and attain strategic leadership ambitions. This will contribute in making strong
team which may help in developing team performance at workplace. Effective communication
14

skills also may help leader to improve their positive performance and at the same time also
increase the chances of managing entire activities (Reynolds, 2017). By this leader also interact
with their team members and understand their issues and conflicts. It help in maintaining positive
work environment at workplace. For attaining the same, leader needs to communicate with their
team members as per regular basis so that they make their positive relation with them.
In addition of this, decision making skills also beneficial for leader to attain strategic-
leadership ambitions. Under this, all the work are done as per setting plan and time frame. This
will contribute in saving time of the leader and at the same time also reduce the chances of
arising any kind of issues at the time of taking decision. In addition to skills, the focus on
knowledge and behaviour of an individual will definitely helping in overall development
ultimately leading to becoming a strategic leaders for the organisation. All these objectives of
the leader put positive impact on the achievement of strategic-leadership ambitions (Rickards,
2012). As it may help in improving the personal development of the leader within the Sainsbury.
In addition of this, by measuring, analysing, monitoring, evaluating and post-auditing will help
in determining the impact of objectives which support leader to establishing their unique ideas
and opinion for improving their overall performance. Thus, it is important for leader to measure
their entire skills and objectives to evaluate their progress and impact. Mainly, strategic
leadership refer to the creating a clear vision, objectives for business organization to make attain
the ambitions. So that leader needs to evaluate the impact of objectives to attain strategic-
leadership ambitions which may support business organization to attain success.
Gap analysis model consider as an important aspect which help in evaluating the gape by
analysing entire operational system in accurate way. Thus, it is important for leader to make a
strong gap analysis process which help in meeting business goals. Along with this, it include
some aspects such as analyse current state, identify the ideal future state and Bridge that gap.
Mainly, it includes comparison of current performance level of the company which help in
attaining set goals and objectives. As per current performance, leader have to focus on their
communication skills, leadership skills and decision-making skills to become a good leader
within the organization. By focusing on all these skills some improvement is required by the
leader improve their performance at workplace.
15

3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan
A leadership development plan is one of the important tool for business organization as it
guide leader to improve their performance level at workplace. Mainly, it is a detailed plan which
set appropriate goals for enhancing the chances of making better career. Along with this, it is
also important for leader to review and update the leadership development plan with the purpose
of improving existing skills and knowledge. With the assistance of this, Sainsbury can easily
enhance their productivity level and at the same time also tries to make workforce strong by
providing them better guidance (Saint-Onge and Wallace, 2012). For update and review the
leadership development plan, leaders learn and improve their new skills towards their job
activities. Apart from this, leader can build better relationship with their team members by
interacting with them about set goals and objectives. This will help them in enhancing their
performance and skills as well. In addition of this, leader also take time to create plan for
reviewing their skills. For this, they take feedback from their team members to identify their
improvements. In this context, strategic leadership may help in improving leader skills to attain
positive outcomes in appropriate time frame (Shuck and Herd, 2012). As the review and update
the leadership development plan can be understand by following this:
Learning
needs
Priority Developme
nt activities
Resources
needed
Target
deadline
Proof of achievement
Leadership
skills
High
priority
Providing
mentoring
and
coaching is
also help in
developing
leadership
skills of
leader. For
this
conducting
workshop to
Seminars,
workshops,
training
courses and
etc.
07/09/18 By leading team members
as per continuous basis.
16

build team.
Communica
tion skills
High
Priority
Regular
conversation
will help in
sharing
thoughts and
opinions to
other
person.
Group
presentation
and
assignment
also
beneficial
for
improving
communicat
ion skills.
Written
reports,
conversatio
n films,
group
presentation
s.
10/10/18 Group presentation is also
a important aspect for
leader to represent their
views and interact with
staff members to ensure
their communication
skills.
Decision
making
skills
Medium Creating
pros and
cons will be
help in
taking
decisions. It
save lot of
time of
leader for
attaining
their targets.
Mind
games,
brainstormi
ng.
05/09/18 Miner strategic level
decision are beneficial for
company but more
improvement are required
for taking higher level
decisions.
17

Along with,
regular
critical
thinking is
also help in
keeping
mind sharp.
Behaviour
(Inspiring
behaviour)
Low
priority
The
inspiration
can be built
in an
individual
through
carrying out
interaction
with other
people and
sharing
one's
thoughts and
opinion. It is
essential to
adopt
change
which one
wishes to be
adopted by
the
subordinate.
Behaviour
managemen
t plan.
07/08/18 Positive response of team
members and working
according to the guidelines
will be a proof of
achievement.
Knowledge High To build a Training, 03/08/18 Preparing plans and
18

(Strategy
Planning)
priority successful
strategy it is
essential to
hear all the
voice
through
discussion
and
conferences.
Consideratio
n to key
information
will be a key
activity
when it
comes to
building an
ideal
strategy.
online
learning.
working according to the
objectives is effective for
attaining set targets of the
company.
As per above plan, leader needs to update and review the leadership development plan to
make their skills strong and also tries to improve their performance as well (Smith and et. al.,
2012). All these skills are important for leader to improve by this they easily attain set goals and
objectives. In this, they also build a effective team through which all the task will easily
completed. Mainly, this will contribute in improving performance level of the company by
attaining allotted tasks.
19

TASK 4
4.1 Strategic needs of organisations involved in inter organisational strategy are met from current
resources
Organizational strategy is changing long term plan that map route towards realization of
vision and goals of an organisation. Strategy can be developed for long time period and for the
short period of time. With the help of preparing the better strategy, employees can focus on
attaining the goals in systematic manner (Sosik and Jung, 2018). There is evaluation of various
resources and their extent to fulfil the strategic needs:
Human Resource- Under this, knowledge, skills and capacity are necessary in all
individuals which are employed in company (Sotarauta, Horlings and Liddle, 2012). It can be
considered as one of the crucial section in the organisation which assures that goals of business
are met effectively and efficiently. The existing workforce of the organisation is sufficient
however does not match with resources required for developing capable leaders who are
involved in the inter-organisational strategy.
Financial resources- In this, financial capital and cash of company used to conduct the
existing as well as long term activities. Finance stands to be one of the crucial element in the
organisation which assures that requirement of distinct resources for developing capable leader is
fulfilled. Firm does not have efficient financial resources for leadership development so it need
to generate more cash so that requirement relating to fulfilling strategic needs is fulfilled.
Information resources- It consists all types of useful data for better decision making, key
competencies and knowledge of employees so that they can be leader in future. The appropriate
storing and manipulation of data is being helpful in making sure that ideal decisions are being
formulated. Under this, Sainsbury organisation use Nobly POS but it need to make more
improvement in this software so that it is able to match with requirement of strategic resources
essential for leadership development.
Cooperation among employees- Between employees coordination and coordination is
necessary (Steers, Sanchez-Runde and Nardon, 2012). Corporation provides benefits to company
but there is need to make more improvement and bring all employees together.
20

4.2 Formulate proposals to develop the strategic leadership resource
Strategic leadership resources are important for business organization to attain the
success. It also help in building the capacity with the purpose of fulfilling the strategic vision for
business. As it also support leadership development to improve the performance level of the
team and its members as well. Strategic-leadership is occurs in three key aspect within the
organization such as at top level where business formulate strategies to improve the chances of
attaining success. In the middle level, top down strategy is translate in the business to create
goals and objectives. At a department level, where the business strategy goals are evaluate into
group of people for executing business activities in effective manner (Thorn, 2012). Along with
this, strategic leadership provides the scope and better direction which contribute in attaining
success within the organization. In this context, the major part of the success is to effectively
manage all the changes for improving both people and process as well. It has been identified in
the above carried out evaluation that resources which are currently being possessed by the
company are not sufficient in fulfilling needs of building capable leaders in the organisation.
Managing work environment is also important for strategic leaders because it help in providing
direction to the workers while performing activities (Ward, 2016). The various approaches
through which existing resources are developed are as follows:
Human resource: Employees are the major part of the company to improve their
performance level. But as above evaluation, company needs to improve their performance by
providing them training, coaching, mentoring to workers so that they can able to become a good
leader at workplace and also improve their performance level.
Financial resource: Enough fund is also important for business organization to make
their activities appropriate. For increasing their revenue, This organisation can form partnership
and joint ventures with other business performing in the similar field so that more of financial
resource could be availed.
Information resource: It consider various sources to gather relevant information towards
the company and and its services as well. For developing this, firm needs to develop software
and supporting equipments so that it leads to provide assistance in developing strategic
leadership. This will help in improving the performance level of the leader at workplace.
Cooperation among employees: Better coordination between workers is play important
role in performing all the activities of the company. For improving this, It has been proposed
21

that business needs to conduct team working and project work to maintain positive relation with
all the workers. With the help of this leader can easily attain their set targets.
4.3 Effectiveness of strategic leadership development in achieving advancement of professional
leadership practices
Strategic leadership is an ability to influence the other people to make decisions
voluntarily to increase prospects for long term success of company whole maintain the financial
stability of Sainsbury company for long term (Peterson, Galvin and Lange, 2012). The main
focus of strategic leadership development is on the skills of leaders which are necessary to being
manager, team members, executive and supervisor. It is necessary that skills, knowledge and
abilities should be proper and better in leaders. From this they find the new way of doing the
tasks as well as activities in significant manner. It is helpful in increase performance level of
employees and leaders. Through this, Sainsbury company can attain the positive outcomes. In
this context the leader needs implement their skills with the purpose of attaining professional
leadership practices. In this context there are some system which help leader to attain the
practices are as follow:
Strategic leadership development helps in move in to roles of leadership in context to
tackle the particular business related challenges. It helps in influence the team members to take
their own decisions (Men, 2014). Through this, strategic leader can develop and improve the
skills and competencies of team members so that they can able to be good leaders.
In leadership development programme, strategic leader provides the opportunities to all
employees to give their opinions and view points, it develops the positive impact on them.
As per above evaluation, it can be concluded that strategic leadership development is
more effective for professional practice leadership because it is relate with expert practices
which assists an individual to grow personally and professionally. I can say that providing
opportunities to individuals in context of strategic leadership development definitely helps an
individual in becoming more capable and successful in the professional world. In this the
strategic leader maintain positive relation with their workers by using appropriate strategies. As
it directly contribute in developing positive relationship between management and workforce
performing within an organisation. The undertaking of professional leadership practices assures
that a business is able to achieve better performance and output.
22

CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that personal development
consider as a important aspect for individual which help in improving the performance level of
the leader. With the help of this, leader of the company can easily enhance their productivity
level at workplace. In this, strategic leader also play important role in developing effective team
by providing them better guidance towards the job responsibilities. By this workers can easily
improve their work efficiency. Along with this, strategic skills are also required by the leader to
attain competitive advantage. This will contribute in making overall performance of the company
is high at market place. For establishing the same, leader needs to evaluate the opportunities for
attaining strategic leadership development. By determining the strategic needs of the business
organization help in meeting the current resources which contribute in making positive work
environment. In addition of this, achieving advancement of professional leadership practice
business organization may enhance their productivity level. Apart from this, strategic leader of
the company also evaluate their skills which help them in attaining strategic-leadership
ambitions. This will contribute in making positive brand image of the company.
23

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