Leadership Plan Paper  

 

Type of Assignment: Individual

 

Total Points:  200

 

Assignment Objective(s):

1. Assess personal strengths and weaknesses related to team leadership
2. Develop plan for growing team leader capabilities

 

Related Course Learning Outcome(s):

CLO-4.   Develop personal capacity for effective team leadership with diverse members.

 

Assignment Description:

This assignment provides a roadmap for students to apply what they’ve learned in the course to their own personal development as a team leader and allows them to put in to action the personal insights gained during the course.

Plan Outline

1. Introduction – write a brief introduction that identifies the goals of team leadership planning and how you anticipate using the plan in professional development.
2. Leadership Biography – Describe up to three leadership experiences you have had in your life and explain how they have influenced your concept of what a leader is and the role of the leader. Reference concepts and theories from the course to shed additional light on the meaning of these experiences. Touch on the following points in your paper:

• What leadership qualities did you exhibit in each situation?
• How did you feel about being looked to for leadership in each situation?
• What did you learn about being a leader from each situation?
• What do you wish you understood about leadership then that you know now?
• How do you think these experiences set you up for future leadership challenges?

3. Internal Analysis – Evaluate your personal readiness to take on leadership roles in your career by completing the following elements:

• Mission/Vision/Values:  This will be an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of your own vision, mission and values relative to leadership, and consider how they relate to your personal and professional goals.  You can use the form below to help develop your thoughts:

 

• Vision: A vision is an articulation of a cherished hope or dream of what you wish to achieve over the course of your life.  It should be bigger and more compelling than material success.   Imagine describing your vision to a future employer or employee and sum it up in one sentence if you can:  My vision (hope or dream) is to: _______________________________________________________________________

 

• Mission: A personal mission statement should describe your unique purpose, who you do it for, and how you do it (philosophy or strategy that drive your mission).   Imagine describing your mission to a future employer or employee and sum it up in one to three sentences if you can:

 

My mission is to (unique purpose)______________________________________________

 

 

For (who)  _________________________________________________________________

 

 

By (philosophy or strategy)  _________________________________________________

 

• Values: Throughout this course, we have discussed the importance of values-driven leadership. What values do you think will be critical to your success as a leader?  How do these values support your mission and vision?  Choose 5 values and describe how you would use them in a leadership situation.  Imagine describing these values to a future employer or employee:

 

 

 

4. Personal SWOT: Referring to the leadership autobiography prepared for Assignment #2, identify your leadership strengths and weaknesses.  What are the opportunities you have to improve your leadership skills?  What are the opportunities you have to practice your leadership skills?  What are the threats if you do not focus on leadership in your career? You can use the chart below to list your findings, but please also discuss them in a short narrative.

 

Strengths	Weaknesses
Opportunities	Threats

 

5. Leadership Development Goals – Students should identify:

• Cognitive Goals: What do I need to learn more about?
• Interpersonal Goals: What skills do I need to develop as I work through this plan with others?
• Intrapersonal Goals: What are some of the personal challenges I will face as I implement this plan?

 

6. Implementation Steps – Students should identify specific actions you will take and resources you will use to achieve your leadership goals. These may include, but are not limited to:

• Professional development activities (funds to attend conferences, workshops, classes, memberships, subscriptions)
• Feedback from significant others (in or outside their organization)
• Opportunities for exposure to executives in their organization or field
• Opportunities for exposure to strategic issues in your organization or field
• Opportunities for cross-functional assignments
• Opportunities for global assignments/engagement in multicultural communication
• Opportunities for additional formal education to enhance your leadership skills
• Opportunities for community service/volunteer assignments
• Opportunities for public speaking opportunities
• Engagement in informal/formal mentoring
• Use of external coaching
• Inspirational/motivational elements (videos, speeches/presentations, quotations, stories, essays, humor) that personally resonate with you

 

You can use this chart to identify what you will do in terms of formal education, networking, mentoring, thought leadership, etc. and how each activity helps achieve a goal.  Attached the completed chart to your paper, but be sure to discuss what is on the chart in the paper as well.

What you will do	How you will do it – specifically!	Goal Fulfilled  (Cognitive, interpersonal, intrapersonal)
Professional Development Activities (attend conferences, workshops, classes, memberships, subscriptions)
Networking (with peers, executives and leaders in your field)
Hands-on experiences (internships, volunteer assignments, community service, student projects, other)
Formal Education (continuing education, degrees, certificates, licenses)
Thought Leadership (contributing to newsletters/magazines, public speaking, organizing leadership activities)
Mentoring/Coaching (from whom? How?)
Books, magazines, articles, assessments, tools

 

6. Conclusion – Wrap up the plan by summarizing your findings, vision/mission, brand statement, goals and the main implementation steps you intend to take to achieve your goals. Include a perspective on where you see your role as a leader developing in the next three to five years.
7. References and Citations – identify any books, articles, videos or other materials used to write your plan.

 

Format Requirements:  The plan will be 10 – 15 pages in length (not including cover page), following the outline above. Paper should adhere to APA guidelines including cover page, introduction, in-paper citations, conclusion and references/citations. The cover page and exhibits do not count in the page count total.

Submission Method:  

Paper should be submitted to the link on D2L by the deadline stated in the syllabus.

 

Grading Rubric:  Standard Assignment Grading Rubric