Personal Leadership Action Plans - Literature review Example

My Personal Leadership Action Plan and Report Student Name Professor’s name Date Executive Summary: Blake & Mouton (1985) say that Personal Leadership Action Plans entail various factors that need consideration before follow-up actions are executed. Firstly, one should decide the starting point is taking into consideration the various components of the plans, the location as well as the responsibilities that relate with action plans. Consequently, documenting the aforementioned factors forms a crucial component of studying the plans. In addition, documenting future plans allows the planner to undertake a comparison through studying the positivities and negativities of the plans. These documentation of the negativities and positivities of future results of the plans enables the planner to determine future course of action and implementing the same courses of action in order to realize the set goals and objectives of the organization.After developing and implementing the plan, a system for monitoring performance and progress is developed to ensure completion and success of the plan. This system encompasses the evaluation process as it compares the level of performance with the set goals and objectives. In the event that there seems to be a deviation from the set targets, corrective measures are initiated to address the deviation. Pre-Planning: My decision of going back to school for my Masters Degree would be an example of this activity. My case is that of motivation by the employer given that he compensates me for costs that relate to my field of study and that has a direct link with my day to day assignment at work. In addition, several considerations need attention. These considerations should focus at the learning abilities, disposable time to attend classes among others. While this is a positive motivation by itself, there are several other factors that must first be considered. These include: Costs associated with class work Work schedule changes Family obligations Travel percentage and availability of computer use Costs associated with class work Failure to consider these factors may lead me to miss my academic target which is to realize a higher overall GPA in my masters degree. On the basis of these considerations, I undertook a comparative analysis in order to determine the right time for me to pursue my dream career.notably, enrolling for a residence program not agood idea due to time and tarvel constraints. It is at this point when I began searching for a program that could match my requirements. Formulating a leadership Development Plan As Quinn & Spreitzer (2006) puts it, individual growth and development is the important component of any plan that seeks to achieve leadership development. Further, personal development should consider the opportunities available at the current occupation as well as the time factoe constraints that come with enrolling for further studies. Although obtaining a masters degree may not necessarily jeopardise my professional prospects, growth towards self-realization may enable me to productively champion continuous growth in the industry; either as the chief executive of the organization, as a consultant to existing or new organizations or as a teacher of future leaders in other organizations. Working in the mentioned fields would require experience and expertise that I can only get through pursuing my dream. In addition, my pursuit of the dream may lead me to enrolling for doctoral studies that in turn will give me the much needed professional skills in manufacturing industry. Moreover, these qualifications are crucial in that they can enable me to reach the self actualization and self realization in pursuit of academic goals. The importance of training, Education & Experience In order to achieve continuous growth, training in relevant line of operation is necessary. This training should take place during workshops and seminars and should emphasize on individual and professional aspects in order to enable the trainees understand the role of training institutions in enhancing skills required in the manufacturing sector. In addition, knowledge in certain disciplines that empasize on lead manufacturing would add my competitive advantage outside my current organization. Furthermore, education and training may open doors for teaching opportunity on retirement from my current occupation. However, this does not take away my working experiences. Moreover, my exposure to all levels of and components of organizational leadership. Additionally, other plants that undertake manufacturing of general commodities in other parts of the world have ousourced my services to be in charge of their operations. Besides, working with other business executives gives me a chance to learn more aspects that relate to my every day work from them. This enables me to identify the areas where I normally make mistakes and in turn I initiate the corrective measures so as to avoid the same mistakes in the future whether in my current organization or in other organizations where I may find myself working in the future. Developing skills: The continuous exposure to the elements of manufacturing industry and educational training enables me to boost my skill growth every day. This is because am able to continuously learn from my mistakes and the desire to always correct my mistakes while avoiding the repetition of errors. This makes me think of my childhood and the teachings of my father that from the worst things that happen, there is something good hidden in them. One day my father saw me at he horse pasture poking a pile of horse manure with a stick. Although my father could see what Iwas doing, he went ahead and asked what Iwas doing and I answered that I was looking for a pony. This childhood experience has grown in me over the years to the realization that ponies are not found in he manure but rather the manure can be used to grow corn and feed the corn to ponies. Evaluation process Obama (2006), says that success defined on the basis of the person’s ability to achieve his goals with positive results. Given that my intentions are to achieve a higher GPA in my masters degree, then the actual obtaining of the degree is paramount. Notably, at times ego and pride may interfere with individual’s ability to complete a specific task. In the event that a lower grade is awarded, it should motivate me to put more effort in order to score higher grade in he next task rather than demolarizing me. Mostly, in the past, taking my career was based on the available opportunities and not on formulated plans but for now, my choices over the past years are based on formulated plans. This is posible taking into consideration various variables at my disposal. This has enabled me to be able to grow both as a person and as a professional. Microsoft Project is a common tool that I use to evaluate my progress. This is a software designed to undertake the identification of objectives and tasks, give a timeline for each task and evaluate how the particular task is progresing with its specific timeline. Futher,the software provides a room for additions of tasks in the list. Although this software helps in the process of evaluating the tasks, it is productive the progress of the plan from time to time in achieving the goals. The allowance for editing of tasks in the software makes it a simple application in adding or deleting some tasks and their matching timelines. Conclusion The many years of experience in the working environment enables me to go through every day’s work with ease. In addition, in pursuit of change and improvement in the organization, I understand that more needs to be done. In a bid to realize the continuous improvement and growth, professional knowledge and training is needed by majority of us in the organization including myself. Furthermore, as the pursuit for growth is underway, I have come to realize that I can use my early experiences to initiate and evaluate action plan. The ability to understand changes in inputs and outputs enables me to come up with new decisions in the process of developing action plans. In addition, this ability enables me to achieve higher success rate and timely accomplishment of tasks for the benefit of the organization. I have learnt that in order to succeed in tasks you must know the following: Understand yourself as in who you are Know your intended position at any given time Know your current position Know the time you reached your current position Know the position you want to be in the future Understand the means to get to the next position in future It does not depend on how you plan it at the end of it all, all that matters is doing it and tracking it. The ability to do what you intend to do and track it matters the most (Kouzes & Posner, 2002). Thus, it is prudent to perform the tasks aimed at achieving the set goals while at the same time keeping a closer look at the progress of what you do and whether it matches with the set goals. References Blake, R. R., & Mouton, J.S. (1985). The managerial grid III. Houston, TX: Gulf Publishing Company. Kouzes, J.M., & Posner, B. Z. (2002). Leadership the challenges (3rd Ed.). San Francisco; Jossey-BASS. Northose, P.G. (2007). Leadership theory and practice (4th Ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Inc. Obama, B. (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. New York: Random House, Inc. Quinn, R. E., & Spreitzer, G. M. (2006). Entering the fundamental state of leadership: A framework for the positive transformation of self and others. In R. J. Burke & C. L. Cooper (Eds.), Inspiring Leaders. London: Routledge. Read More