Developing Strategic Leadership Skills: Characteristics, Analysis, and Plan

This document discusses the essential characteristics of a good leader, analyzes leadership and stakeholder management strengths and weaknesses, and provides a plan for developing leadership skills. It covers topics such as positive attitude, good listening skills, innovation, communication, and empathy. The document also includes an action plan for developing leadership skills.

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Essential characteristics of a good leader........................................................................................1
Analysis of leadership and stakeholder management strengths and weaknesses............................3
Plan for developing leadership skills...............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
Appendices....................................................................................................................................12

1
Introduction
The paper aims to develop a strategic leadership plan that is essential for a leader to gain success.
Strategic leadership is defined to be the ability of a manager to present the strategic vision of the
organization and to persuade and motivate others to achieve the vision. Strategic leadership
utilizes the strategy while managing the employees within the organization. The paper will
demonstrate an understanding of the strategic leadership skills and abilities such as to learn,
align, decide, interpret, challenge, and anticipate. It will discuss the significant characteristics of
a good leader to understand the expectations of the employees and the organization.
To become a strategic leader, it is significant for a leader to encourage, act, and think in a
different way to encourage the long-term success of the organization. The paper will also help in
evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of leadership and stakeholder management. At last, it
will help in creating a leadership development plan to enhance the leadership skills and qualities.
The leadership development plan will help acquire leadership skills that will be helpful in the
future.
Essential characteristics of a good leader
Good leaders help in guiding and making significant decisions that help an organization to
achieve success. A good leader possesses various characteristics such as, positive attitude, good
listening skills, innovative, communicative, empathetic nature and committed and passionate. All
these characteristics will help me in shaping my leadership skills as it will help me in enhancing
my core leadership skills that could be applied in the future to achieve success while working in
an organization. Thus the essential characteristics of a good leader are as follows:
Positive attitude
A positive attitude is determined to be contagious. If the team members within the organization
are enclosed by positive and happy people, they are more likely to be happier and work harder.
There must be a balance between productive and play time, but a leader should do its best to
create a supportive and positive workplace environment (Schermuly & Meyer, 2016). To become
a good leader, it is significant to conduct meetings to review leadership strategies.
Good listening skills

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A major characteristic of a good leader is efficiently communicating the vision and expectations
and listening to the ideas and opinions of the team members. Hearing and speaking are
determined to be the two sides of the same coin, and a leader must do both well. A leader who
listens to the ideas and concerns of others receives the knowledge required to mitigate the
problems, develop a strong organizational culture, and improve services or products (Schuh,
Zhang, Morgeson, Tian & van Dick, 2018).
Committed and Passionate
A leader must involve a commitment to the mix of strategic leadership qualities. Whereas,
commitment refers to the capability to be attentive on the aspects that helps in gaining success.
The best way for a leader in conveying commitment and passion is to lead through example
(Lee, Yang, Hsu & Wang, 2019). When a leader shows that hard work is done towards every
level of the organization, he or she receives respect from the team as a leader by proving its
commitment.
Innovative
To become a good leader, needs realism, practicality, a vision to execute a project, and an eye for
innovation. Adapting and adjusting to existing economic or business environments is considered
to be a significant skill to foster. The leader must motivate the ideas related to innovative
strategies that help them to test or expand the resources (Powell & Butterfield, 2017). The
leaders must allow the team members to innovate to make suggestions for developing future
strategies.
Communicative
Being an efficient and effective communicator is a major attribute of a good leader. A leader
must develop an ability to describe what is to be done that will help in uniting everyone’s efforts.
Communication also leads to practice softer skills like holding regular one-on-one meetings with
the members of the team (Ong, Roberts, Arthur, Woodman & Akehurst, 2016). Therefore, the
team is required to be on-board and allied with its strategic goals as well as objectives to become
successful. As a result, based on this characteristic, a leader must possess the following qualities,
such as an ability to encourage, empathize, and sympathize.

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Empathic nature
Being empathic helps a leader to understand the problems of the team members by observing
things from their perspective. Practicing empathy generates appropriate connections as the
leaders build an awareness of the needs and challenges of a department or team. Empathetic
leaders receive the respect of the employees and are more likely to execute the organizational
strategies effectively (Adams & Webster, 2017).
Analysis of leadership and stakeholder management strengths and weaknesses
It is significant for a leader to control the stakeholders effectively to achieve organizational goals
and objectives. Managing the stakeholders helps a leader to understand the needs and
expectations of the stakeholders (Braun, Hernandez Bark, Kirchner, Stegmann & Van Dick,
2019). With the help of Self-Assessment test- Competing values leadership practices survey and
Competing values self-assessment: Leadership skills, I acknowledged that I have certain
strengths and weaknesses as a leader they are the following:
Strengths
As per the self-assessment test based on competing values leadership practices survey, I got to
know that my significant strength is that I always come up with innovative ideas where my score
is 5. As a leader, I exert upward influence within the organization as well as clarify the
requirements to achieve unit objectives. Moreover, I always search for potential improvements
and innovations that help me in enhancing my performance where I have scored 5. All these
strengths help in identifying the external and internal stakeholders and managing them efficiently
and effectively (Mishra, 2018). On the other hand, as a leader, I try to maintain a well-organized
and highly coordinated unit and treats every person in a caring and sensitive way where I have
scored 6. I possess the quality of motivating the team members to achieve the organizational
goals and always takes various attempt to resolve the issues that arise among the organizational
members. Furthermore, showing concern and empathy helps a leader to deal with the
stakeholders and enhance participative decision-making within the group.
Moreover, based on self-assessment: leadership skills test, I come to know that I am highly
skilled at evaluating reasoning and arguments that help in identifying the differences between
extrinsic and intrinsic where my score is 5. Another strength is that I am skilled at encouraging

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other people and stakeholders. Encouraging others is significant as it helps in understanding the
need of the employees along with the stakeholders. In other words, it helps in achieving
organizational objectives and goals that are not only beneficial for the organization but also the
stakeholders (Shapira, Ketchie & Nehe, 2017). With a score of 6, I acknowledged that while
managing the stakeholders and the organizational activities, I have a better understanding of
specialization and division of labor. To do this, I regularly differentiate between useful data and
information that are inappropriate. However, while communicating with the team members, I
always listen to their ideas in a non-judgmental and open manner.
Meanwhile, I have an understanding of how to utilize a nominal group and brainstorming
techniques where I have scored 6. Using these techniques helps a leader to execute work and
implement innovative strategies (Kaiser, LeBreton & Hogan, 2015). I possess the strength of
advising the employees on significant matters based on their development and growth. I have
gained appropriate knowledge of how to apply an improvement plan process within the
organization. With a score of 6 I got to know that regularly I make use stress management
techniques to identify the organizational situations that help me in designing a job using
motivational criteria and helps in improving my innovation skills. All these strengths will help
me in the future to become a great leader and managing stakeholders effectively as well as
identifying the role of organizational culture.
Weaknesses
Based on competing values leadership practices survey, I gathered knowledge that as a leader, I
possess certain weaknesses that I need to overcome. One of my significant weaknesses is that I
rarely clarify the purpose of the unit that directly puts an impact on the aspects of stakeholder
management where my score is 4. On the other hand, I am not able to maintain strict logistical
control over the organizational employees. Maintaining strict logistic control is significant for
the management of organizational activities and stakeholders (Collis, 2016). With a score of 4, I
realized that my weakness is I seldom examine compliance with the rules and regulations of the
organization. This particular weakness puts a negative impact on the work performance of the
employees. Moreover, I lack in solving the scheduling issues that take place within the unit,
which is significant to fulfill the expected goals and building a result-oriented organization. Most
of the time, I am unable to understand the principles of reengineering process.

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Furthermore, I also lack in understanding the contented scopes of the organizational visions that
are essential for a leader to gain personal power by engaging others. As a leader, it is significant
to understand the scope of the organizational visions to utilize the appropriate planning tools that
help manage stakeholders and projects. With a score of 5 I also realized that I need to use
performance analysis efficiently as I could not remove the unnecessary activities from a
particular project. I lack in recognizing the specific ways where the workplace environment
creates stress for the employees. This enables a leader to instruct the employees regarding the
organizational expectations and involve the employees into a process of goal setting (Gutierrez-
Wirsching, Mayfield, Mayfield & Wang, 2015). Sometimes, I am unable to differentiate between
the market, hierarchy, adhocracy, and clan organizational cultures that is reflected from my low
score that is 4. Understanding and differentiating different organizational cultures plays a vital
role for a leader in making logical organizational decisions.
Moreover, to overcome the weaknesses, I need to make efficient use of reflective listening and
empathy that will help in analyzing the dynamics of the organizational change process where my
score is 4. This will help identify the objectives that are not aligned laterally or vertically and get
timely feedback from the stakeholders (Pitelis & Wagner, 2019).
Figure: Leadership qualities and skills
(Source: Broman & Robèrt, 2017)

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Plan for developing leadership skills
As per the trait leadership theory, good leaders must comprise of a huge range of task-related,
intellective, demographic, and physiological characteristics. Great leaders have abilities,
personality traits, and interests that differentiates themselves from other leaders (Tian & Slocum,
2015). According to my opinion, I possess various qualities and skills that would allow
becoming a good leader in the future. For instance, I can communicate with others and express
my opinions and ideas in a clear and concise manner.
Objectives for developing leadership skills
The objectives presented below are based on developing personal leadership skills:
 To develop my leadership qualities and skills in setting a direction for colleagues by the end
of September 2019
 To enhance my ability to formulate a vision for the organization and realize the vision with
the help of attainable purposes by the end of October 2019
 To extend my understanding of leadership skills to maintain logical control over the
organizational employees
Action plan
The action plans include the strategic leadership development plan based on what, when, where,
why, and how, within the following table:
SR/No. What When (Target
date)
Where Why How
Enhance
leadership
qualities and
skills
30th
September
2019
Training session
and workshops in
the University of
Sydney
To solve
problems,
organize
logistics,
make
proposals,
influence
people and
take
initiatives
By completing
a self-
assessment
survey and
leadership
development
program
Set a vision for
the
31st October Exchange
programs in the
To increase
my ability to
By ensuring
that I have

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organizations 2019 University of
South Australia
execute my
work as a
leadership
team
attended all the
meetings
conducted by
the
organization
Enhance my
understanding
of leadership
skills
31st November
2019
Diversity
awareness
program in the
University of
Sydney
To learn how
to recruit
other
members of a
team
By building a
team of
employees
Table: Leadership development tool
I am planning to attain the following objectives presented above by completing the leadership
development program. I believe that this particular program that will held in the University of
Sydney and University of South Australia will enhance my knowledge regarding leadership and
will be helpful for me in the future to set clear and concise directions for organizational
employees. This program will help in enhancing performance and productivity in the workplace.
It will help in solving the organizational problems by making efficient use of effective logistic
control (Rezvani, Dong & Khosravi, 2017).
On the other hand, I am also planning to monitor the efficiency of the objectives by completing
an assessment survey and providing its results to my subordinates. By completing the assessment
survey, I will be able to apply newly obtained competencies and leadership skills within a
practical setting. The effectiveness of my leadership ability will help in formulating specific
directions for superiors based on informal and formal appraisals of the task (Hacklin, Björkdahl
& Wallin, 2018).
Moreover, to set a vision for the organization I will communicate my objectives and strategic
vision to my superiors to recognize whether I can utilize these skills in practice. It can be seen
that while working in a team, individuals develop a higher level of involvement and commitment
(Covin & Slevin, 2017). Therefore, I am planning to create a team of superiors to communicate
my goals and vision to gain leadership skills and qualities. Building the team will help me in
developing strategic leadership skills efficiently and effectively.

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Furthermore, to extend my understanding of leadership skills, I am planning to observe the great
leaders and learn from their experiences. It will help me in gaining relevant knowledge regarding
leadership skills that will be helpful for me in the future. Sharing knowledge enables for ensuring
that knowledge is accessed and articulated by the organizational members (Bergh et al., 2016).
To enhance my leadership skills, I will be attending training sessions and workshops based on
creating an action plan, fundraising, and decision-making. The workshop will help in solving
long-term problems and would renew commitment and lift morale (Simsek, Jansen, Minichilli &
Escriba‐Esteve, 2015). Concentrating on enhancing own leadership development will help in
making a better leader. To acquire leadership skills and qualities I am also planning to improve
my technical skills, group skills, interpersonal skills, and personal skills. All these skills will help
me in becoming a good leader in the future while working in an organization. Therefore, I will
be doing all these things in the future that are mentioned within the leadership development plan
while working in an organization.

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Conclusion
The paper helped in analyzing strategic leadership plan that will be helpful for a leader to
achieve success in the future. The strategic leadership plan will also help a leader to manage the
stakeholders within the organization. The paper discusses the vital characteristics of a good
leader that helps the leader to achieve success. The characteristics that are discussed within the
paper are a positive attitude, communicative, good listening skills, committed and passionate,
innovative, and empathic nature. All these characteristics help a leader to create and express their
vision as an effective leader. It states the fact that strategic leaders understand their own
emotions and moods that creates an impact on others as well as the stakeholders.
On the other hand, the paper also helped in evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of leadership
style and stakeholder management. Analysis of the strengths and weaknesses helps a leader to
improve his or her leadership skills and qualities. It is significant for a leader to utilize its
strengths to overcome the weaknesses. The strengths and weaknesses are evaluated with the help
of a self-assessment survey that helps to identify the aspects of stakeholder management.
Moreover, the paper also helped in creating a leadership development plan that is needed to
acquire leadership skills. The leadership development plan will be based on completing a self-
assessment program and survey that will be beneficial in obtaining leadership skills that could be
applied in the future.

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Appendices
Appendix A: Competing values leadership practices survey

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Appendix B: Competing Values Self-Assessment: Leadership skills

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