Personal Leadership Development Plan

The report explores self-development as a leader and reflects critically on leadership theories to develop a personal leadership strategy. It discusses leadership styles, GROW model, intentional change theory, and personal development plan.

Running head: PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Personal Leadership Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Executive Summary:
The dynamic business environment has brought drastic changes in the
managerial responsibilities. Today managers are not only decision makers or
reporting officers to their subordinates, they have to play frontline role of
leaders to lead their subordinates towards adaptation to market conditions.
The managers are facing several leadership challenges to adapt to these
conditions and lead their teams efficiently. As a result they have to undergo
training to sharpen their own competencies. I can finally point out that self-
development is a perpetual method which managers should undergo.

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PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................3
Leadership styles and leadership theories:.....................................................3
Application of leadership style:........................................................................4
Transformational leadership style:...............................................................5
Transactional leadership style:.....................................................................5
Application of transformational and transactional leadership styles:........6
Self-development model and plans:................................................................8
GROW model:...............................................................................................8
Application of GROW model towards personal development:......................9
Intentional change theory:...........................................................................9
Application of Intentional Change theory model:.......................................10
Personal development plan:.......................................................................10
Assumptions:..............................................................................................10
SMART analysis:.........................................................................................12
Conclusion:....................................................................................................12
References:....................................................................................................14

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PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Introduction:
The aim of the report is to explore and reflect on self-development as a
leader and reflect critically on the leadership theories thereby developing a
personal leadership strategy. I belong to India with ten years of experience IT
sector and four years of experience in a leadership role. Prior to coming
Australia for attaining master degree, worked for a company called Cerner
India, a health care provider. I was acting as a team leader for 20 employees
belonging from different fields like developers, system engineers and quality
analysts. Working in a diverse team helped me to cultivate a right spirit
among the team to work towards a definite goal. Further, associating with
Project managers helped me to gain ample knowledge and experience and
develop management skills thus enforcing me to pursue my masters after
ten years of professional experience. Challenging myself in different
situations and inculcate a higher leadership activities in my future
prospectus has been a motivating factor in my professional journey.
Leadership is a process whereby people from different goals and objectives
comes together to pursue a certain defined goal in the organization. It
involves channelizing the energies of different expertise to perform their best
of their abilities. Leadership is not only about managing people but also
motivating them to increase their productivity and incentivizing them to
bring efficiency and quality in their work. Working in the right direction has
helped me to define a detailed five year plan. At this crucial stage of my life
where I have earned enough experience to develop better insights and
objectives to pursue my goals effectively. This five year time period of my
plan will help me to organize my life in the short term of five years and help
me to take the right path of my choice. Being aware of my capabilities I have
realized that this period will help me to understand my abilities at this
current stage of my life and take steps which will help me move in an
organized manner and prioritizing my objectives according to my plan in a
phased manner.

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PERSONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Leadership styles and leadership theories:
The styles of leadership which leaders follow have great impacts on the
organisations they serve and teams they lead. The concept of leadership has
undergone a tremendous transformation in the recent age. This evolution of
leadership can be traced by the theories and their change of focus. While
Great Man leadership theory which evolved in the 1840s considered that
leadership is hereditary, the Trait Theory which was proposed in the 1930-
1940s opposed the pervious theory and opined that leaders can be made
(Raupach et al., 2012). It can be pointed out from an analysis of these two
leadership theories that they were nucleated around the leaders and paid no
need to the subordinates or even situations in which leaders operate. This
approach was interrupted by emergence of behavioural leadership theories
which categorised leaders according to types of leadership behaviours
exhibited by the leaders. Wilkinson and Kupers (2013) alluded that the newly
evolving leadership theories emphasised on the need of the teams and
organisations. The contingency leadership theories evolved around 1960s,
followed by transaction leadership theory and transformation leadership
theories in the successive decades (Nommeraadio.ee., 2018). Bolden (2016)
mentions that modern leadership is closely linked to the requirement of the
organisations as well as the subordinates. Manning and Robertson (2003)
point out that this alignment of leadership with organisational has made
leadership a dynamic and ongoing process. The leaders employed with
organisations require to develop and change their leadership styles to adapt
to the changing business environments. This continuous need to evolve and
embrace changes to adapt to market environment as well as organisational
environment requires leadership to form leadership development plans to
emerge as more competent leaders. They have to take into account the
needs of the clients, subordinates as well their own needs while forming
leadership development plans. The two models would be GROW model and
Boyatzis Intentional Change model. The research on the development

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plan would include figures to attribute the discussion with greater
comprehensiveness.
Application of leadership style:
I can reflect and point out that two leadership theories namely,
transformational and transactional have strong influences on my
leadership style in the capacity of a lead analyst working with Cerner
Healthcare Private Limited. I can point out that I lead a team of ten direct
reporting employees which include developers, support engineers and
quality analysts. The experience of three years working with Cerner was in
turned supported by my previous experience and knowledge of working with
different in various positions. I can reflect on my experience of ten years and
point out that I use these two types of leadership styles namely,
transformational and transactional leadership styles to ensure high team
performance.
Transformational leadership style:
Transformational leadership style is the style of leading a teams of
subordinates towards changes by setting a vision or goal which the changes
aim to achieve. Cohen and Bradford (2007) mention that transformational
leadership style is the leadership style which leaders use to lead the
subordinates towards embraces changes in order to adapt to the future
business requirements. Nielsen and Daniels (2016) in this respect that
transformational leaders play great role in today’s organisations since the
latter requires to adapt to changes taking place in the external market
environmental factors. Fowler, S. (2014) strengthen the opinion of the
previous authors by pointing out that macro environmental change taking
place in the business environments like changing economic conditions
present several risks. For example, the dynamic customer preferences
necessitate the companies to align its operations and products with the
expectations of the former. Agnihotri et al. (2017) point out in this respect
that customer satisfaction is directly proportional to revenue generation. This

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means that incapability to transform accordingly to ensure high level of
customer satisfaction to lead to companies losing customers and facing
revenue risks.
Transactional leadership style:
Transactional leadership style can be referred to as a leadership style
in which leaders and subordinates operate to ensure mutual benefit of each
other. McCleskey (2014) points out that in transactional leadership, the
relationship between leaders and subordinates rests on performance delivery
by the former and employee benefits by the latter. Mintzberg (1994)
contribute to the opinion of the pervious authors by mentioning that leaders
expect good performances and this requires them to train as well as mentor
their subordinates. Similarly, the subordinates expect support, guidance and
motivation from the leaders which motivates them to perform highly. An
analysis of the transactional leadership style clearly points out that it blends
into transformational leadership style. Holten and Brenner (2015) that in
multinational organisations the employees have to perform in the lines of
expectations of the clients. Their ability to satisfy clients by offering
appropriate goods and/or services shows their performance and efficiencies.
Thus, it can be pointed out from this analysis that transactional leaders are
also required to train their employees to enable them to deliver high levels of
performances and transform their methods of operations according to the
requirements of the clients, which forms the important aspects of their
performance parameters. Thus, it can be pointed out that at this point again
transactional leadership moulds into transformation to promote high
departmental and consequently organisational performances
(Nanjundeswaraswamy & Swamy, 2014).
Application of transformational and transactional leadership styles:
I can reflect that I use transformational and transactional
leadership styles while functioning as a lead test analyst employed
with Cerner Healthcare Private Limited, Bangalore, India. I as a lead

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test analyst is responsible for implementation of new testing technologies
and quality analysis processes while leading the team of 10 members.
Gellert et al. (2015) in this respect point out that catering successfully to the
needs of the clients require healthcare companies to embrace new
technological advancements in areas like electronic health records. This
means that testing analysts working with these companies are required to
implement new testing methods. The requirement to implement modern
healthcare technology requires healthcare companies like Cerner to invest
immense financial capital to embrace modern healthcare technology. Newly
emerging developments often render the pervious technology redundant.
Thus, the capital invested towards adoption of the previous technology also
goes to wastage (Williams et al. 2017). I can point out that this requirement
to allocate immense financial capital to acquire modern healthcare
technology and probable loss on the investment towards earlier
advancements creates immense revenue risks before the companies like
Cerner. I can point out that as a systems analyst, However, not implementing
new technology presents technological risks before companies (Ancona et
al., 2007). It can also be pointed out that the Indian healthcare industry is
predicted to grow to attain a value of over $ 139 billion. The presence of
multinational Fortune 500 healthcare companies like Pfizer has already made
the market extremely competitive. The country also house a number of
resident healthcare companies which are fast expanding overseas
(Export.gov, 2018). I can point out that from this analysis that this rising
competition in the healthcare industry in India presents the third risk before
Cerner, market risks.

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Figure 1. Market size of healthcare industry in India
(Source: Pwc.in. 2018)
I can reflect that as a senior manager I use transformational leadership
style to lead my team and ensure that they perform highly to contribute
towards the productivity of Cerner as a whole. I arrange for meetings with
my team members to inform about about the recent changes which are
taking place in the healthcare sector. I point out to them the need to adapt
to the changes and transform their modes of operation. I as the leader of the
testing team set parameters regarding defect acceptance and rejection
limits. I observe the daily performances of the team members and motivate
them. I recognise the staff members who underperform and motivate them
in order to extract more productivity from them. I reward the highly
performing employees, thus awarding them for delivering high level of
performances. Thus, I can point out that here I use transactional
leadership skills. I can point out that while leading the team of 10
reporting analysts, I face certain challenges and suffer from certain
shortcomings. I can point out that I find it extremely challenging to

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keep myself abreast with technological developments. The two
weaknesses of mine are impulsive nature and average diversity
management. These challenges and weaknesses would require me
to make a leadership development plan. I mentor the junior employees
and encourage all the members to participate in the meetings to take
decisions to select appropriate testing methods on receiving client orders. I
also maintain continuous communication with the marketing department to
gain information about the future requirements and expectations of the
clients. Then I offer training to my subordinates according to the future
expectations of the clients which boosts their efficiencies, thus once applying
transformational leadership style. Thus, I can sum up the discussion
by mentioning that using transformational and transactional
leadership style allows me to lead my subordinates towards
transforming their methods of operations in order boost their
performances.
Self-development model and plans:
GROW model:
The GROW model stands for Goal, Reality, Obstacles, Options
and way Forward. The model explores goal setting and dealing challenges
which inhibits achievement of the goal. Amit and Zott (2015) mention that
model is designed to enable organisational leaders identify the goals which
they aim to achieve. The managers of the company recognise the actual
value creation power of the company. The managers also recognise the
obstacles which are inhibiting the company from creating maximum value to
the clients. Then they point out options which consist of ways or steps which
the company can take to remove or at least reduce the obstacles. Finally the
managers choose the most appropriate option which is regarded as the
strategy.

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Figure 2. GROW model
(Source: Amit & Zott, 2015)
Application of GROW model towards personal development:
I can reflect that I can use the GROW model to achieve personal
development as a leader. I can point that my role as lead test analyst
requires me to mentor and coach my juniors. I have to keep myself abreast
with the ever dynamic healthcare technology which I find challenging.
Moreover, I am extremely impulsive and require develop my diversity
management skills. Thus, as far as the application of GROW model in
personal development, the challenges and weaknesses would provide me
with the goals. The three goals which I would aim to achieve through the
performance development plan are, enhancing by technological knowledge,
gaining higher levels of self-control and better my diversity management
skills. I would also sharpen my customer management skills. The obstacles
which have I have recognised are lack of resources and time. The options to
which are available to me would be attending workshops and training
sessions. I can also gain feedback from my partner sources like
peers, superiors and subordinates. I can also attend counselling
courses to enhance concentration and self-control. The way forward
would be forming a leadership development plan which would be covered
below.
Goal Reality
Objectives
and
obstacles
Way
Forward

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Intentional change theory:
The international change theory, the next personal
development model which I would use, is a personal development
theory which consist of five steps. Jackson (2018) mentions that the first
step consists of creating a vision or goal which the person seeking to
achieve using the personal development plan. The second step consist of
analysing the real self which includes both strengths and weaknesses.
Feedback from natural sources like peers, superiors and subordinates enable
the person to realise the strengths and weaknesses he possesses. The third
step as mentioned by Wilson et al. (2014) consist of forming a personal
development plan to enhance strengths and minimise the shortcomings to
the feasible extent. Amit and Zott (2015) can be reiterated here to point out
that here the intentional change theory is merges into the GROW which is
evident from the steps. However, Betz (2016) contradict that the two models
are not similar and in fact intentional change model is a deeper self-
development model. This is evident from the next step which involves
experimentation with the new learned knowledge and skills through the
international change model. It can be clearly alluded that this step is very
similar to the refreezing stage of the Lewin’s organisational change theory
(Goldman, 2007). The next step consists would consist of incorporating the
newly acquired skills or the positive changes with the organisational
structure. Thus, it can again be specified that the final step once again draws
from the organisational change management model of Lewin.
Application of Intentional Change theory model:
I would apply the Intentional Change Theory Model to develop my
leadership skills. First, I will recognise the gaols which I want to achieve like
bettering by technological skills. The next step would be gaining feedback
from peers, superiors, subordinates and even clients to gain in depth
knowledge about by strengths and weaknesses. The next step would consist
of making a personal development plan followed by applying the newly

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developed skills in while leading my team at Cerner. The final step would be
adapting the newly developed skills with the business requirement of Cerner
to be able to deliver higher levels of performances as a senior test analyst
and team, leader.
Personal development plan:
I can reflect upon my leadership qualities and propose a personal
development plan keeping the strengths and weaknesses in view. As I have
already pointed out, my weaknesses are impulsive nature and average
diversity management. The challenges which I face are difficulty in keeping
myself abreast with the modern technological advancements which would
also include Agile. The objective of mine would be dealing with these
weaknesses and challenges outlined above. I would use project management
tool Ms Project to form my personal development plan for a period of 2
years.
Assumptions:
I have made several assumptions while forming the project
development plan. First, I have assumed that the project would start on
December 3, 2018. The development has six parts each of which would
target an area of weakness and challenges ultimately gaining the aimed self-
development. It has been assumed that the personal development training
would take place in India and hence the amount has been calculated in INR.
It would also be assumed besides the pointed out training and counselling, I
would consult secondary resources like books, articles and newspapers. The
resources required to conduct the training would consist of financial
resources (indicated in the activity list), trainers, psychologists, meditation
experts and training rooms.
Personal Development plan
Activity
no. Description
Per
month
cost
Time(months
) Cost(INR)
1 Impulsive nature management 14

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1.1 Impulsive nature counselling
(average) 1200 2 2400
1.2 Meditation classes (average) 1000 12 12000
2 Technological training(including
Agile)(in house) 0 2
3 Diversity management 3
4 Mentoring 2
5
Monitoring and
experimenting(Corresponds to
4th step of Intentional change
theory)
2
6 Taking corrective measures a 1
Total time 24 14400
Self development plan
Impulsive nature
management
Impulsive nature
councelling(average)
Meditation classes
(average)
Technological
training(including
Agile)(in house)
Diversity
management
Mentoring
Monitoring and
experimenting(Corresponds
to 4th step of Intentional
change theory)
Taking corrective
measures a
SMART analysis:
I can reflect that the self-development plan as discussed above of mine
is qualifying according to the SMART objectives. They are specific,
measurable, attainable, realistic and time based. The activities to be taken

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are specific because they are particular and each of the activities aim to deal
with a weakness. The outcome of the training would be measured and
monitored. The task is time bound and stretch over a span of 24 months.
This shows that they are time bound and attainable with help of trainers and
mentors as mentioned above. Thus, it can be pointed out that the self-
development plan is SMART qualifying
Conclusion:
I can conclude by pointing out that the self-development and self-
analysis are two important processes which leaders must undergo. The
business environment is undergoing dynamic changes and the managers
have to act as drivers. This requires them to undergo continuous self-
development to be able to lead their subordinates towards changes. Thus, I
can finally close the discussion by mentioning that I would undergo this
training to sharpen my leadership skills.

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