Grand Canyon University Leadership Professional Development Plan

This assignment presents a comprehensive professional development plan focused on leadership. The student reflects on their current leadership capabilities, discusses what they've learned from their leadership studies, and articulates a vision for their future as a leader. The plan outlines specific goals and objectives related to self-leadership, leading others, leading an organization, and leadership as a vocation. It includes a detailed plan with activities, a timeline, and methods for self-reflection to assess progress. The student aims to improve communication skills, inspire followers, involve them in decision-making, develop emotional intelligence, and hone self-management skills. The plan also emphasizes the importance of a doctorate degree and professional development to enhance leadership effectiveness. Key references from leadership theorists are included to support the plan's framework.

Professional Development Plan
Leadership as a vocation requires a commitment to professional excellence and integrity, which
can be achieved through establishing habits of self-reflection, life-long learning, and professional
development. The purpose of this assignment is for you to reflect on where you currently are in
your leadership capabilities; define where you want to go; and specify goals, plans, and a
timeframe for achieving your professional objectives. Your professional development plan will
be composed of three parts: Vision, Goals/Objectives, and Plans.
Vision:
The ability to create, communicate, and compel vision is critical to inspiring and effective
leadership. While ultimately many leaders are responsible for developing visions to guide
complex organizations, effective leadership begins on a much more personal level—a vision of
yourself as a leader. Who are you and who do you want to become in your field or sphere of
influence? Once you are clear about that, you can then confidently establish how you will help
others and your organization achieve their visions.
Your leadership vision is based on a number of factors including your attitude, values, personal
beliefs, guiding principles, and how you behave. It may also be influenced by theoretical,
philosophical, or religious frameworks and the leadership traits, values, and behaviors of others.
A leadership vision is also dynamic. No great leader ever "arrived." Those who have adopted
leadership as their vocation can spend a lifetime in self-reflection in order to continue to learn
and more effectively motivate and inspire others.
Spend some time reflecting below on where you currently are in your leadership capabilities,
what you have learned about leadership in the course, and how you want to develop and improve
as you continue your leadership studies and move forward in your field. Review the document
“Essential Leadership Competencies” for an overview of the scope of effective leadership
capabilities.
Reflection:
Leadership is a unique role. When one is in a position of leadership, they can cause immense
positive changes if only they are effective leaders (Fairhurst and Connaughton, 2014). As
opposed to the traditional leadership theory (the great man theory) that stipulated that leaders
can only be born, extensive studies have shown that leaders can be made. An example is the
leadership training we have been undergoing through the course. Through the course, I have
learnt several things about leadership and I believe the course has equipped me to be a better
leader. Through the course, I have learnt to carry out self-reflections severally to manage
myself well. A leader can only be effective in leading others if he has succeeded in leading
himself. In addition to this, I have mastered the art of being emotionally intelligent. Emotional
intelligence is vital for one to be able to interact well with people of different backgrounds and
personalities. It is a quality that contributes to effective leadership since a leader interacts with
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people. Moving forward, I would like to improve my communicational skills. I know that
communication skills are a very important component of effective leadership. A leader should
be able to express himself clearly and confidently. In addition, they should also have proper
listening skills. This way, the followers will have trust in them. The other thing that I intend to
master are the motivation theories that are necessary to convince followers towards a certain
course. I am very passionate about leadership and I will leave no stone unturned to become an
effective leader.
Vision:
Then, in 300-500 words, briefly articulate your vision for yourself as a leader 3-5 years from
now. Where do you want to be? What kind of leader do you want to become?
In the next 3-5 years, I see myself pursuing a doctorate nursing degree. In addition, I also see
myself continuing to pursue my passion in nursing leadership and management. Pursuing a
doctorate degree will give me an advantage of being knowledgeable. Education is a very
important contributor to effective leadership (Antonakis and Day, 2017). As part of my plan of
becoming an effective leader, I will pursue a doctorate degree in nursing. In my mind, I have a
very clear picture of the leader that I want to become. First, I want to be a leader who can
communicate effectively. I am planning to improve my communication skills to best possible
level. One of the methods that I will employ to ensure this is enrolling for a communication
skills class. Effective communication is undoubtedly an important factor in effective
leadership. The second aspect that I intend to develop is that of effective coaching. I aspire to
be a leader who invests in people. This means that I would delight in seeing my
employees/followers become better each day. I would like a situation where I can rely on my
employees to run an organization even in my absence as their leader. The third thing that I
want to ensure is that I respect and appreciate diversity. It is important for a leader to respect
the differences that exist in people and treat them as strength. In the contemporary society, we
interact with people of different races, places, culture and educational backgrounds. To live
harmoniously with people within any environment, it is essential for one to respect and
appreciate diversity. In a nutshell, I am passionate about becoming an effective leader. In the
next 3 to five years, I see myself being one. I have written down my vision and I am very
hopeful that it will come to a reality. The goal is to be the best leader that I can ever be. This
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will only happen if I develop the qualities and behaviors that make one a great leader.
Goals/Objectives:
After you have stated your vision, create five to eight leadership goals/objectives you will strive
to meet in the next 3-5 years. Try to formulate at least one goal/objective related to the four
major leadership competencies included in "Essential Leadership Competencies": self-
leadership, leading others, leading an organization, and leadership as a vocation. Include a brief
justification for each goal/objective to explain how it will help you achieve the qualities of
professional excellence and integrity required of excellent leaders.
There are several goals that I would like to achieve in the next 3-5 years. Achievement of these
goals would be great strides towards becoming an effective leader. The first goal is that I
would like to become an effective communicator. As a leader, it will be important that I can
effectively put across messages to followers. Effective communication also entails the ability
to listen and understand others (Northouse, 2018). A leader who has great communication
skills is therefore more likely to be successful in their endeavors. The second goal is to have
followers and be able to inspire them. I plan to be a leader in the nursing profession. To
motivate my followers towards a certain course, it is important that I be able to inspire them.
The third goal that I have is to become a leader who involves the followers in decision making.
As leader, most of the decisions made affect the followers in some way. Research has also
found out that people are more likely to maintain a decision if they were involved in making it.
The fourth goal is that of being emotionally intelligent. As a leader, one interacts with
different people. It is very important to be able to control emotions always even under tough
circumstances. The fifth and last goal is that I would like to have effectively developed self-
management skills. If a leader has not managed themselves, it is almost impossible to lead
others effectively.
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Plan:
Specify activities you will engage in to achieve your goals/objectives. You may find it helpful to
research professional development activities in your field or organization to determine what
resources are available to you. Be specific about projects you will engage in either as student or
as a professional and identify people in your life who can help you achieve your goals. Be sure to
include a timeline of events.
Finally, include a method for evaluating your professional development plan at regular intervals.
What milestones will you include in your plan to help ensure its success? How will you use
methods of self-reflection to assess your progress as you move towards your goals?
To achieve the goal of effective communication, I am planning to enroll for a communication
skills class before the end of next year. Through the class, there is potential that my skills will
improve. To gauge the success level, I will be visiting a communications expert regularly for
assessment. To ensure that I have inspired followers, I will learn more on motivation theories.
To ensure that I am achieving the goals, I will be constantly reflecting on the progress. I will
be doing this at least two times a week. Self-reflection is an important way of monitoring
progress (DuBrin, 2015). For instance, I will be reflecting on the extent to which I have
achieved the goals set. In addition, I will enroll for a doctorate degree. It is true to say that
professional development is very important for a leader. It makes them more effective by the
virtue of being more knowledgeable and having more expertise. A doctorate degree requires a
high level of commitment and trains one to be an effective leader. In a nutshell, to ensure
achievement of goals, I will enroll for a communication skills class, pursue a doctorate degree,
be keen on my leadership class and engage in self reflection at least twice every week.
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References
Antonakis, J., & Day, D. V. (2017). The nature of leadership. Sage publications.
DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills. Nelson Education.
Fairhurst, G. T., & Connaughton, S. L. (2014). Leadership: A communicative perspective.
Leadership, 10(1), 7-35.
Northouse, P. G. (2018). Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
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