Dynamic Leadership Development: A Two-Year Plan for Skill Enhancement

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This report details a leadership development plan.

DYNAMIC LEADERSHIP
1

Executive summary
This report provided an overview of the leadership development plan. The report initiated with
the brief introduction of me. The report provided planning for leadership development along with
the formulation of a plan. The report has mentioned the model of Boyatzis Intentional Change
with the explanation of all the steps. The conclusion has established for providing the key
findings regarding leadership development planning.
2

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Leadership Development Planning..................................................................................................4
Leadership Development Model......................................................................................................5
Boyatzis Intentional Change Model.............................................................................................5
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15
3

Introduction
Leadership development has become an essential ingredient for success planning in a dynamic
and competitive business environment. Leadership development states as the practice of
enhancing or developing the capabilities and skills possessed by a great leader. Leadership
development planning provides extensive support for leadership development. Usually, the two
primary forms of development named mentoring and coaching utilise to develop leadership skills
and capabilities. Self-directed leadership development approach involves the development plan
on the individual self in which the individual takes the initiative on its own. It is necessary to
consider the plan quality, acceptance from others, and high support level for undertaking a
successful leadership development plan. Leadership development model provides proper
planning and framework to the individual for systematically developing leadership skills. These
models share common characteristics such as vision creation and analysis of current self. There
are differently available for the leadership development on the own that are Whitman GROW
model or Boyatzis Intentional Change model and so on. Boyatzis Intentional Change model
involves the five critical stages including developing a personal vision, analysing the current self,
formulation of a learning agenda and plan, practising the new habits, and getting support from
others. The significance of leadership development using the self-directed approach has been
increasing due to the rapidly changing business environment.
4

Leadership Development Planning
The concept of leadership development planning refers to the practice of a detailed plan for
setting the career development goals in the direction of leadership roles and practices of senior
management. I would get great assistance with the leadership development planning in terms of
strategic guidance throughout the journey of professional growth and career development. The
plan would assist me in attaining career satisfaction as well as developing a more influential
career. I understand the significance of developing a career as a great leader as it is helpful in
professional as well as personal life. I believe that the key elements for the leadership
development plan aligned with the career goals, conversion of learning into practical
applicability, succinct and focused, and most significantly the self-assessment (Frich et al.,
2015). I have developed a leadership development plan using all these elements for more
effective outcomes. I have settled two years for the new development plan due to the following
reasons:
 Suitable for the rapidly changing business environment
 Maintain the viability throughout the plan
 Ability to learn and develop leadership skills with efficiency and effectiveness
 Helps in maintaining the morale and confidence
The main aim of the leadership development plan expresses as to learn the leadership skills
within two years using the leadership development model for attaining a great career as a leader.
I would consider adhering to some of the core values such as creativity, influence, challenge,
loyalty, integrity, personal development, wisdom, responsibility, authority, and competence. For
this plan, I would apply the model of Boyatzis Intentional Change. I would integrate the
organisational needs with my personal needs and use the business context for practising the
learned skills and capabilities (Allen, Shankman, & Miguel, 2012). My superiors, friends, and
family would be the supportive bodies in this plan as their feedback would help me in identifying
the improvement areas. I believe that from this plan, I would be able to measure the outcomes of
the new leadership development plan using the anchor of feedback from the superiors, family,
and friends. Apart from this, the degree to which the objectives have attained would also use as
the evaluation factor for the plan.
5

Leadership Development Model
Boyatzis Intentional Change Model
The Intentional Change Model of leadership development was the invention of a University
Professor named Richard Boyatzis. This model developed in the year 2006 as a crucial part of
research work in organisational as well as personal change. This model is suitable for my
leadership development program since it would provide a long-lasting impact on my leadership
development. This model constitutes the five crucial steps that require strict adherence for
effective outcomes (Slavich, & Zimbardo, 2012). I think that these critical steps comprise the
discovering of ideal self along with the real self, developing a learning agenda, experimentation
and applicability of the new habits, and at last the creation of relationships with other people for
learning.
Figure 1: Brief explanation of Boyatzis Intentional Change Model
(Source: By Dyck, & Lovelace, 2012)
6

I believe that this model would be suitable for the goals and objective of my leadership
development plan. Firstly, this model helps in developing self-awareness which is necessary for
the skills development phase. This model considers effective when it comes to self-directed
leadership development. It includes the participation of other people as well that help in
providing fruitful feedback and identifying the areas where improvements need. Moreover, it
helps in the sustainable development of leadership skills in a dynamic and versatile business
environment. It would help me in recognising what my strengths and weaknesses are? Practical
application of new habits or behaviour provides more effective learning of leadership skills
(Michie, & Johnston, 2012). I believe that this model considers the significance of coaching and
mentoring during leadership development. One of the significant benefits provided by this model
implies as the application in any career phase whether early, mid or late career.
Step 1: Discovering the ideal self
It is evident that if I want to implement a change within my personality, it becomes necessary as
whom I want to be. It is the primary step of this model to define the ideal self which indicates
the image of the person who I want to become. I need to consider the essential elements while
creating an image of ideal self. These elements comprise the attainability of the ideal self,
forward-looking, and identification of the strengths on which the desired future would develop.
This step fulfils the gap pertained between what we are and what we want to be. I admire Steve
Jobs who was the co-founder of Apple Inc. Steve Jobs was a great personality with high vision,
excellent knowledge, intelligence, and huge confidence. Knowing about his leadership skills and
capabilities would assist me in deriving some of his charismatic skills (Parris, & Peachey, 2013).
Being a leader, he used to exhibit certain leadership skills such as empathetic, logical thinking,
emotional intelligence, passion, accepting challenges, strong vision, aiming perfection, and risk-
taking and so on.
Step 2: Discovering the real self
The next step in the Boyatzis Intentional Change Model indicates the discovery of real self. After
developing my ideal self, I would analyse myself and identifying the key strengths and
weaknesses that affect my personality. The term “real” in this step implies as the person with
whom the other people make interactions and to whom they see as a person. This step is
7

significant in the leadership development plan to know where I stand and what in my personality
stops me from being a good leader. This step would involve the identification of “real” me. It can
consider as a challenging task to recognise what real strengths and weaknesses I possess. I think
that in general terms, the already developed self-image specifies as the combination of self-
awareness as well as the feedback and views received from other people about ourselves (Mason,
Griffin, & Parker, 2014). But I believe that this combination somewhere fails to provide the most
accurate and reliable outcomes about myself. For assessing myself, I would first identify my
strengths and weaknesses and then conduct a psychometric test.
Strengths identified
Considering my inner-self, I think that some skills and capabilities of myself would assist in
leadership development. These skills and abilities would facilitate me a strong foundation of
attaining the desired future. I believe myself to be excellent in strategic thinking skills since I can
develop a proper and effective vision for me or another person. Forward-looking capability
helped me mainly in my previous job. I think that I am good at communicating with others and I
am sure about this since I consider the key elements such as clarity, active listening, expression,
verbal communication, conciseness, and undertaking group discussions. I believe that
communication is the best skill that would assist me in my leadership development. I can
confidently say that I attain the skills of motivating myself and others as well in the bad times.
Not only has this, but I can inspire people to go beyond their capabilities and achieve higher
objectives. Trustworthiness and positivity are the symptoms of a good leader. I believe that a
leader must have the ability that can provide the feeling of comfortable to the employees
working under him (De Grez, Valcke, & Roozen, 2012). With positivity, I have developed a
working environment at my previous workplace that exhibits the commitment and desire of the
employees to go miles for the company. I helped many employees to attain positive and good
vibes from the workplace that ultimately enhances their commitment level and performance.
Moreover, as per other views, I have the emotional intelligence factor, and I know very well
where and to what degree I have to use the emotions.
Weakness Identified
8

After assessing my key strengths, I think that there are some of the shortcomings of my
personality and behaviour that can develop barriers to my leadership development. I require
eliminating these weaknesses for leadership development in my career. Although I have
excellent communication skills and emotional intelligence, I am not aware of how to sympathise
with any person. I know this very well that I lack the factor mandates for every career that is
patience. I get panic very quickly due to which I had to deal with many difficulties in my
previous employment. I find complications when it comes to delegating the tasks, responsibility
and authority to other people. In other words, I am not able to consider what responsibility
should be delegated to whom as per his qualifications and capabilities. My previous boss made
me clear few days before my resignation that I lack the critical skill of problem-solving which is
vital for the very high authority job position (Kostons, Van Gog, & Paas, 2012). I also agree to
the same statement as provided by my previous senior because I fail to handle the complex
problems and this makes me panic immediately. I can say that poor planning made my decisions
a failure many times in my previous employment. Therefore, I can say that a lot of skills require
development and improvement in my personality if I want to attain my career as a leader.
Step 3: Creation of a learning agenda and action plan
After realising my key strengths and weaknesses, my next step would be the development of a
learning agenda and action plan. This action plan would involve all the critical learning agenda
questions and the activities used for the development of leadership skills. Many activities are
using which I can develop effective leadership skills for my career. Following are the critical
learning agenda questions for my leadership development plan:
 What are the essential skills for leadership development requires in the dynamic business
environment?
 How can I achieve the development opportunities for the delegation and responsibility
skills?
 What activities would assist me in developing leadership skills?
 How can I strengthen my planning and problem-solving skills in this leadership
development plan?
 What other skills constitute a career gap in my leadership development?
9

Based on these learning agenda questions, I have developed an action plan for the leadership
development plan. This action plan would provide critical information about what activities
would be used for the development of leadership skills. Apart from this, the activities would
mention the actual time when would it undertake. The key components of my leadership
development plan would be the activities, its timeline, and the resources required for the
accomplishment of the activities (Slavich, & Zimbardo, 2012). The key resources for this action
plan would be the online sources, mentor, trainer, tutor, finance, time and others. Essential
activities for the action plan of my leadership development plan are mentioned below:
Self-assessment: This would be the preliminary activity where I would learn about my key
strengths and weaknesses. This action would consume approximately two months in the initial
plan phase.
Mentoring programs: I would participate in formal mentoring programs through online and
offline channels. I believe my mentor to be the senior head of management of my previous and
current organisations. I would participate in such programs contacting them through online
conferencing and personal meetings. This action would be undertaken for seven months.
Training programs: My current organisation provides training programs for the professional
development of the employees. But I would sign up for online training programs conducted by
professional leaders and lecturers. I would attain training for about ten months.
Online reading sources: For this plan, I would read the online sources of information such as
journal articles, latest news, and other sources. These sources would mainly relate to the
experiences and characteristics of global leaders (Caligiuri, & Tarique, 2012). Moreover, I would
read the success stories of the global leaders for attaining the key lessons. This action would be
undertaken throughout the implementation of the action plan.
Challenging events: I would undertake the challenging activities or tasks which are difficult for
me. I would participate in such challenging tasks so that I can fulfil the gaps and grasp the
opportunities. This phase would come after the learning and training of leadership skills and
continue for five months.
Step 4: Practicing new habits and behaviours
10

This step of leadership development plan involves the practical applicability of the leadership
skills learnt from the action plan. It is mainly the implementation of the action plan which
consists of the practice of new behaviour or habits that have been acquired previously. I would
get the opportunity to practice new habits and reflect what actually happened and experiment
further in case it required. I would have the option to practice new behaviour in a real-world
setting along with the controlled learning environment. I would implement the changes in my
habits and behaviours that I have learned in the action plan. I targeted mainly the adoption of
new skills and improvement in the existing skills and integrated them with everyday behaviour
on a personal level. I undertook the new habits and behaviours with colleagues, friends, family,
and superiors (Mabey, 2013). This step would involve assistance in the form of providing
stimulating, new and improved learning ways as well as the opportunity to test my skills and
capabilities. I would consider most importantly the quick wins as these wins would provide
motivation and confidence to me. I believe that quick wins are effective motivational sources
that help in moving forward in the right direction. I would initiate this practice in an environment
where I would feel safe since it provides psychological safety. I believe that such an environment
would be suitable for me to start practice since there would be less risk of getting the feeling of
embarrassment, hesitation, insult or failure consequences. I would try to behave with more
patience with other people and deal with complex problems without panicking. I would make
sure not to ignore the current experiences as they would provide me with the essential lessons. I
would try to analyse the problems entirely and then finding solutions after critical thinking
(Fong, & Snape, 2015). I would make sure that instead of relying solely on the training and
mentoring classes or engaging in new activities, I would go beyond my status quo and involve in
different activities of the current real-life settings.
Step 5: Avail the support from others
This step made me realise that success achievement is not an alone journey. I got help from my
superiors, family, and friends by establishing a trust-based relationship with them. They would
support me by providing feedback on what I learnt, how effectively I have discovered new habits
or behaviours, how successful I was in implementing those habits or behaviours and what are the
improvement areas. With the help of them, I would come to know about my progress as the
leadership development in the situation of desired changes. Not only has this, but they would
11

also support me in providing new ways and ideas for learning leadership skills. I would make
efforts to develop healthy relationships with the colleagues by assisting them in their
complications, problems, development and attaining their objectives (Boyatzis, Smith, &
Beveridge, 2013). I would convince the colleagues, friends, family, and superiors how much I
trust in this leadership development plan. I would ask them as to how much I developed the skills
and what should I improve in my personality. This step made me clear that support from others
can make anyone successful in their field or purpose.
12