Reflection Leadership

Reflection Leadership

Summary of Experience

First Assignment

The first assignment was personal developed plan. The assignment entailed self-assessment on leadership competencies.  The competencies included characters such as integrity and honesty. Another aspect of competencies that was addressed was personal capability, and it involves problem-solving, innovation, and resilience. Moreover, the assessment addressed interpersonal skills such as communicating prolifically and powerfully and motivating and inspiring others.  Furthermore, various organizational change competencies were also addressed, and they include developing a strategic perspective and championing change.

In addition, the first assignment addressed my future goals and opportunities. One of the goals is establishing an international organization that cares for all individuals who are incapable of achieving specific goals in society, such as fighting poverty and financial challenges. The second goal is working with a worldwide empowerment organization.  The opportunities presented by the two goals include improving my strength in collaboration, teamwork, and building relationships.

After the assessment of various leadership abilities, the established goals include collaboration and teamwork, improving technical and professional expertise. The action plan for accomplishing the goals entails activities such as participating in class discussion, finding an internship, going for career meeting, and starting career goals.

Furthermore, class participation in the first assignment entailed engaging in discussions that addressed various leadership competencies. Various essential competencies that were highlighted include interpersonal skills, focusing on the results, leading organizational change, character, and personal capability (Zenger & Folkman, 2009). There are several things from the first assignment experience, and one of them is my leadership strengths, including collaboration, teamwork, and building relationships.  Another thing which I have learned pertains to the purpose of the Zenger and Folkman competency model.  The model is helpful in identifying vital skills, behaviors, and competencies, which can leverage the success of a company.

Assignment 2

The second assignment focused on changing the mind of Dave Palmer pertaining to the value of leadership development and how it contributes to organizational success.  The effort of this assignment was providing clear arguments of the need for leadership development and why it is associated with organization’s success. The outcome of the assignment was that I was able to highlight how leadership development could have helped Zendal in accomplishing its three agenda including growing it business through acquisitions, building closer ties between its business units and having a more unified global strategy.

Discussion board participation entailed threaded conversations, which enabled one to participate on numerous topics pertaining to leadership development.  I participated in making a short, clear, and purposeful posting on leadership development.  Some of the issues which I was able to engage in included management competencies, decision making, problem-solving, team building, and ethics.  Furthermore, discussion boards offered the opportunity to learn from my peers.

My coaching experience while engaging in discussion boards entailed engaging classmates and continuing asking for follow-up questions.  In addition, it entailed bringing something unique to the post in order to challenge my classmates. Furthermore, there are several things I have learned from the experiences, and one of them is benefits on leadership development.  They include increased productivity, retaining employees, increasing employee productivity, and enabling leaders to develop better decisions (Zenger & Stinnett, 2009).  Moreover, through discussion boards, I have learned about diverse approaches that can be considered in leadership development. They include coaching programs, corporate career planning, and team engagement.

First Assignment Action Plan

The action plan entailed various goals, including improving technical and professional expertise and collaboration and teamwork.  Implementation of the first goal, which is collaboration and teamwork, involves multiple steps. The first is participating actively in-class discussion and case studies, and the due date is the end of this quarter. The second step is finding an internship which specifically addresses the future goals areas. The due date of this step is before graduating.  The third step is starting a study group and thereby sharing ideas with others.  The due date of the step is summer.

The other goal is improving technical and professional expertise and accomplishing it entails various steps.  The first one is carefully listening to the professor’s questions and being the first one to speak up. The due date of the step is this quarter.  The second step reading professional articles which are related to my interests and due date is summer. The third step is going to meetings specifically for career advice or to seek improvements. The due date to accomplish this step is before graduating.

My plan was effective, considering I have accomplished some of the steps such as participating in class discussion, starting a study group, and reading professional articles.  In addition, I have accomplished one of the goals, which is collaboration and teamwork.  I am able to work with a group of individuals aimed at accomplishing a complete shared goal.  By identifying goals and developing and implementing the action plan, I learned the benefits of technical and professional expertise in a leadership position.  The benefits include creating an empowered workplace, confidence, developing skills, and increased efficiency (Zenger & Stinnett, 2009). Moreover, I have learned why leaders in organizations should embrace collaboration and teamwork.  Some of the reasons include innovative ideas, increased flexibility of the organization, and more productive meetings (Zenger & Stinnett, 2009).  Furthermore, one thing about the process which I will consider repeating in the future is improving my professional and technical expertise, and it will entail reading professional articles and books and going to meetings.

What I Have Learned

By completing the two assignments, there several things I have learned about myself.  By undertaking self-evaluation, I have learned that my strengths include collaboration, focus on results, teamwork, building relationships, and developing others.  In addition, self-evaluation also highlights that one of my weaknesses is getting people to stretch and reach goals beyond original thoughts.  Moreover, class discussions by classmates have highlighted that my strengths, including building the relationship.  Furthermore, by learning more about myself, my goals have not changed.  My thinking has changed such that I am consistently looking for development opportunities and the approach I use in doing things.  I consider turning my weakness to strength in order to ensure I successfully accomplish the goals.

Generally, Zenger and Folkman’s leadership model pertains to a representative of various critical areas of effective leadership. Through the model, they demonstrate that not can leadership developed but also its skills tend to be few in number. Through their research, they highlighted that effective leadership entails five key areas (Zenger & Folkman, 2009).  Typically, character is at the core of all the effectiveness, and it involves displaying high levels of integrity and honesty. Besides, character another critical area is personal capabilities, and it involves various competencies such as technical and professional expertise, innovation, and problem-solving.  The third is focus on the results, and it involves various competencies such as establishing stretch goals and taking responsibilities of the outcomes or initiatives.  The fourth is interpersonal skills, and it entails communicating prolifically and powerfully, building relationships, developing others, teamwork, and collaboration (Zenger & Folkman, 2009). Furthermore, the fifth area are leading organizational change, and it entails developing strategic perspectives, connecting internal groups with the outside world, and championing change.

In self-development, I have utilized the model to highlight my strengths and weaknesses and action plan goals.  One of the goals is teamwork and collaboration, and according to the model, it is one of the competencies essential in the interpersonal skills area.  Another goal included in the action plan is improving professional and technical expertise, and the model highlights it as one of the competencies in personal capability.

Next Steps

There are several steps I am considering in my leadership, career, and personal development path.  Pertaining to leadership development, there are several approaches that I will consider.  One of them is engaging in formal traditional classroom training and the approach can be helpful in providing skills and knowledge in a specific area (Zenger & Folkman, 2009).  Another approach is self-directed leadership and it can involve choosing areas of development, selecting learning avenues and identifying resources.  Furthermore, another approach is coaching and it tends to enhance the effectiveness of leaders along with team and organization.

Moreover, there are certain steps which I will consider in career development.  One of the steps is going to meeting for advice on development of a career development plan.  The plan will entail a list of short and long-term goals regarding current and future jobs and experiences which will be helpful in achieving them (Zenger & Folkman, 2009).  Another step considered in career development is conducting regular self-assessment. Typically, assessments will be helpful in highlighting the problematic areas and effective ways of dealing with them.  Furthermore, career development will entail continuing with education aimed at ensuring that my skills are current and keeping up-to-date with industry related changes.

Furthermore, another key issue is personal development path.  Specific areas of personal development which will be addressed include openness, neuroticism and agreeableness.  The path will entail various steps and the first one is clear out the vision. The second is outlining the strengths and areas which can be improved.  The third step is building a personal development plan and lastly reviewing and adapting.

References

Zenger, J. H., & Folkman, J. R. (2009). The extraordinary leader, turning good managers into great leaders.  McGraw Hill, 2nd edition.

Zenger, J. H., & Stinnett, K. (2009). The extraordinary coach: how the best leaders help others grow. McGraw Hill.