Define a Career SMART Goal

For this step, think about one long-term career goal. Where would you like to be in your career in three to five years? How will you get there? What resources do you need? What short-term skills do you need to enhance your chances of achieving your career goal? To help you achieve your career goal, complete the following tasks using a leadership development plan (LDP):

· First, download the LDP Template (see below) and save it in local storage using the following file-naming protocol: lastname_firstname_preliminary_LDP.docx

· Second, identify and describe in writing one long-term career goal using the SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely) format. Read SMART goals (see resources) for specific guidelines.

· Third, place this goal in the LDP template section entitled Long-Term Career Goal.

· Fourth, identify and list five to six short-term development skills that you will need to acquire in order to make progress toward your long-term career goal. Place these skills in the Short-Term Skills Development section of the LDP.

When you have completed your preliminary LDP, proceed to Step 2, where you will work on a preliminary skills gap analysis.

Step 2: Complete A Skills Gap Analysis

The preliminary leadership development plan allowed you to identify and develop a plan to help you achieve one long-term career goal. Step 2 will introduce you to a skills gap analysis, which will assess your specific skills as they pertain to each of the four course projects and help you identify the skill areas you want to enhance. You will revisit the skills gap analysis at the end of the term in order to measure the progress you made as a result of completing the four course projects.

Complete your preliminary  skills gap analysis (see attachment) and related  skills gap table  (see attachment). Carefully follow the instructions below:

· The preliminary skills gap analysis has four parts that parallel each of the four course projects. After you complete the preliminary skills gap analysis, select one skill area from each of its four parts where a meaningful gap exists. These should be skill gaps you want to reduce during this term to enhance your leadership skills, bolster your current career, and ultimately achieve your career goals.

· Place each of the four skill area gaps you identified from the skills gap analysis in the skills gap table. The table has a separate space for each of your four gap goals.

· In the skills gap table, list the developmental activities, completion date, resources and costs, and expected outcomes associated with each of the four skills gap goals you identified. The table serves as an action plan that leads to the accomplishment of each of the four skills gap goals. It details the activities you will undertake to reduce each of your four selected skill gaps during the remaining weeks of this term.

· Consider all appropriate activities and resources that would help reduce each of the four skill gaps. These resources might include conferences, books, free online classes, mentorship, coaching, observation, professional associations and groups, networking, volunteering, journaling, and so forth. Select the appropriate activities related to each of your four skill gaps and list them in the skills gap table.

Step 3: Reflect on Your Leadership Development

In this project, you have had the opportunity to create two different, yet complementary, development plans. The first was the leadership development plan, which focused primarily on those behavioral competencies that would enable you to develop skills to achieve your career goals and assume leadership responsibilities as a professional in your field. The second was the skills gap analysis, which focused primarily on specific task-driven skills that you could improve with the intention to meet predetermined goals.

To measure your progress on the skill gaps you identified earlier in this project as being integral to your personal leadership effectiveness, you are encouraged to reflect on your progress in developing those skills. With this in mind, complete the following steps:

· Write a reflection summary of between 500 and 750 words on the lessons you learned and the progress you made toward reducing the gaps identified in your preliminary skills gap analysis. The reflection summary should identify and briefly discuss the skill gaps that require further development and how that development would occur in the MBA program and throughout your career. You may also wish to integrate material from other aspects of the course in your reflection summary.

Remember, career and leadership development is an ongoing process that will continue well beyond receipt of your MBA. You are encouraged to assume responsibility for this process.

 

Leadership Development Plan

This Leadership Development Plan serves as your road map for short-term training and development activities that will enhance your leadership competencies. You will review, revise, and update your plan several times during the course of your MBA degree program at UMGC.

 

Your name: Your current job title:

 

 

Long-Term Career Goal

Make sure your goal is SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.

In 3 to 5 years, my goal is to…

In 3 to 5 years, my goal is to secure a Human Resource Specialist position within a company so that I can apply my Human Resource training and further hone my managerial skills. After a few years I plan to grow into management position- overseeing the HR department. (This is what I have in mind, you can adjust it pls)

 

 

Short-Term Skills Development Needs

What skills will you need to acquire to achieve your long-term career goal?

My leadership skills training and development

 

 

 

Course Resources For Project 1

SMART Goals

At work you have probably been involved in setting, measuring, and evaluating progress in meeting goals. These goals may have been set for your particular position, or perhaps they were established for your unit or organization as a whole.

Our focus for this project is on setting goals designed to help you achieve your professional aspirations. Thus, before creating one or more SMART goals it is important to envision and clarify how you see your career progressing, the career path you wish to take to make this possible, and the personal competencies you believe will be important to get you where you want to be. Begin this process by writing a three- to four-sentence statement that summarizes your career aspirations and priorities.

Next, create and implement SMART goals to help you achieve the future you envision for yourself. The SMART model is described below, followed by an example and an explanation of some of its limitations.

Specific—Your goal should be sufficiently specific, such that you identify what you want to achieve, when, where, and why.

Measurable—You need to be able to measure and verify your progress in achieving your goal.

Achievable—Many of us have experience setting a goal that we eventually realize wasn’t really achievable, and it is important to reduce this risk. One approach is to discuss your goals with a mentor, coach, or someone you trust to give you honest and objective feedback.

Relevant—It should be easy to see the connection between your SMART goals and your longer term career and professional aspirations.

Time-bound (timely)—An important criterion for setting an effective SMART goal is that you indicate when it will be accomplished. Be specific about this and include mileposts and deadlines.

Examples

A broad (longer-term) career goal might be to achieve a position as a senior project leader within the next two years. Competencies needed for this position include advanced knowledge and skills related to creating and sustaining high-performing teams.

To achieve the objective of advanced knowledge, an associated SMART goal might be to read a minimum of six articles (M) by leading team scholars (S) by the end of this semester (T) and create a one-page personal briefing note (A) that captures the main lessons learned, along with follow-up actions (R).

To gain advanced skills, an associated SMART goal might be to practice active listening skills (S) with team members, arrange to obtain feedback on this practice from a team buddy (M), and include results and follow-up actions in a one-page briefing note (A & R) while working with a team to complete a project (T).

Limitations

One criticism of the SMART goal is that this approach may not be useful for those in positions or organizations requiring high levels of flexibility and innovation. Prather (2005) notes that innovation necessitates outside-the-box thinking, and the somewhat inflexible nature of SMART goals makes them less appropriate in settings where major innovations or breakthroughs are needed.

References

Prather, C. W. (2005). The dumb thing about SMART goals for innovation. Research Technology Management, 48(5), 14-15. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=18241690&site=eds-live&scope=site