Personal Leader Development PlanMNGT 677: Leadership and Ethics

Nicholas DuffDue: 03/30/2015

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Section 1: Core ValuesIn this section you will briefly (but explicitly) describe and summarize the three to four core values that you believe guide your actions. What are the three to four most important values that guide your life?

For each value, explicitly name AND define the value (e.g., family, hard work, honesty, empathy, fairness, justice, loyalty, etc.). In addition to this you should then present evidence (i.e., examples) that the value guides your decision making and behavior. *Course readings are NOT required to support your responses for this section.

Value 1Name AND define the value:

Determination/Persistence: I define determination as a mindset of never giving up and of always acting with a clear purpose of achieving my goals despite any obstacles that may present themselves along the way.

Present evidence that this value guides your decision-making and behavior.

My biggest passion in life has always been athletics, most specifically baseball. I was fortunate enough to be able to play baseball all the way through college, and therefore competitiveness and personal drive are qualities that have become ingrained in who I am. I was not offered a scholarship to play baseball in college, and so I had to attend try-outs over a month-long span to earn a spot on the team. After making the team, I wasn’t satisfied; I wanted to earn a starting position. So I worked as hard as I could in our practices, in weight training, and in conditioning to prove that I deserved to be an every-day player. Luckily, not only did I become a starter as a sophomore, but I earned all-conference honors my junior season.

Determination also most certainly comes into play from an academic sense for me. As I mentioned, I was a student-athlete during undergrad, so I was tasked with balancing a full-time student course load with the rigors of being a full-time baseball player as well. Being a student-athlete means missing a number of classes throughout the course of the semester, doing a lot of traveling, and getting in very late in the evenings; it can be utterly exhausting at times. But I was on a full academic scholarship and my education was and still remains a priority in my life. So I had to have the self-motivation and drive to excel both in the classroom and on the field, which I was able to do; I was given the student-athlete male scholar of the year award my senior year and graduated with a 3.874 cumulative GPA.

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Value 2Name AND define the value:

Family: In this instance, I’m referring mainly to my immediate family. My immediate family includes my father and mother, my two older brothers, and my two younger sisters.

Present evidence that this value guides your decision-making and behavior.

I was born into a very large and a very close-knit family, a bond that has only strengthened as we’ve gotten older and become more independent. Anytime in my past when I have had a major decision to make, such as where I was going to go to college, whether or not to take a summer job in New York, or the number of times I have changed my mind about potential career paths (which I’m still doing), my parents and siblings are always the first people I seek out. I trust and value their input so very much and I know that they will tell me what I need to hear, so what they have to say carries a lot of weight with me.

Furthermore, my parents always emphasized spending time together and making sure that we took advantage of any spare time we had to be around one another. Whether it was going to Cincinnati Reds baseball games, spending a week at the beach in the summers, or taking a fishing trip to the lake, my family occupied most of my childhood memories. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. If and when I start my own family down the road, I hope to be able to instill this same sort of closeness in my own home.

Value 3Name AND define the value:

Honesty: I tend to define honesty as one of the major components of the moral code that I use to drive my decision-making. It means being truthful and direct about what and how I feel and the corresponding decisions that I make, even when that’s not always the easiest or most pleasurable thing to do.

Present evidence that this value guides your decision-making and behavior.

Telling the truth certainly has its moments when it can make you feel awfully crummy or make you stress about how someone is going to react to it, but I have always believed that

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people will ultimately respect you for it. I would like to think that honesty drives every single decision that I have made and will make in my life, but I’m human, so that certainly isn’t the case. However, I do believe that honesty is a cornerstone of the type of person I want to be in my life. Examples include in previous job interviews when speaking with employers about myself, in group project settings when voicing my opinion of the direction that I think would work best for us, and in my personal relationships and anytime someone comes to me for advice or for my perspective. I don’t want people to ever feel like they have to question my intentions or the validity of what I say; part of being the person that I want to be is being someone on whom people can rely. And in most cases, people rely on the people that they can trust.

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Section 2: Career Goals/VisionIn this section you will briefly (but explicitly) provide an overview of your current career vision. To help make this task more manageable, you will consider two anchor points (5 and 10 years from now). If you have uncertainty about your career goals at this time, identifying these career goals will be an important step to complete this section.

For each anchor point (5 and 10 years from now), describe what your ideal position, leadership roles, work setting, and lifestyle would be. If you plan to remain in the same position for these anchor points, you should indicate how you would like that role to grow, what changes in the way the position is structure you would like to see, and/or how you would hope to improve the way you do your work in that position. You should also indicate how the core values you described in section 1 have influenced these career goals.

*Course readings are NOT required to support your responses for this section.

Five-year GoalsPlease describe your career goals at this point in your career and how your core values have influenced these goals.

At this point in my life, I am 24 years old and finishing up my last semester of the MBA program here at Morehead State. As I mentioned in Section 1, sports and athletics have been a passion of mine since day one and comprised the majority of my childhood and early adult years. Though my original ‘dream’ was to play professional baseball, once my college career ended two years ago, I made the decision that I wanted to work on the business side of the professional baseball industry. As such, five years from now I hope to be working in a full-time position for a major league baseball organization, preferably in a baseball operations, community relations, or marketing role. In such a work setting, I hope to constantly be on the go and in consistent interaction with the front office professionals of the organization. I would expect to assist, if not lead, in planning and promoting fundraising events for local charities, in promoting the baseball team and its players and coaches in the various fan events in which they take part each year, and in learning the administrative and financial responsibilities that go into running a professional baseball franchise.

By this stage in my career, I also hope to be married and preparing to start a family in the semi-near future (if I haven’t already). As expressed in Section 1, family is such a priority to my life, so I would want to be in a position where I was not only financially stable, but also not so consumed with my work to a point where I wouldn’t be able to spend the time with my wife and children that is so much more important to me. With regard to my other core values of determination and honesty, I really believe that those will work in tandem in getting me to the type of position that I want to be in with a baseball franchise. Full time jobs in professional baseball don’t come by every day, and especially not in small, eastern Kentucky towns. So in order to get to where I want to be, I am going to have to relocate and maybe even take some positions that aren’t exactly my ideal role in order to gain the experience and the contacts necessary to realistically be in consideration for employment in major league baseball. In doing this, determination is going to be vital. And as I make connections and interact with more and more professionals along the way, I think my emphasis on honesty and trustworthiness are what will establish my credibility and hopefully set me apart from others when I am applying for positions.

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Ten-fifteen Year GoalsPlease describe your career goals at this point in your career and how your core values have influenced these goals.

Ten to fifteen years down the road, I still hope to be working for a major league baseball franchise, but I also hope that I have moved up the ranks and hold more of a leadership/upper management type of position. Ideally, this would mean heading the community relations or marketing division of the organization, and being the one leading promotional/fundraising events and working with local youth organizations. In order to get to this point, again, it is going to require establishing myself within the organization as a go-getter and as someone who is reliable and consistent; I need to establish strong relationships with my superiors and set a standard for high quality work and effective results. In order to better fulfill my tasks, I really believe that my interpersonal skills are going to be crucial. In a community relations or marketing type of role, everything that I do and how well I do it centers around how well I am able to establish relationships and truly connect with others. Knowing this, it is imperative that I am always working to improve both my verbal and written communication capabilities. The better I become at this, the more others will trust that I have the competence and drive to lead the tasks and responsibilities placed in front of me.

I also hope that by this point in my career, I making even more of a concerted effort to be with my family as often as possible. By this stage, my children will likely be preparing to begin school and participating in sports/other extra-curricular activities, so I want to make sure I am present for as much of that as possible. To take it a step further, not only do I want to be able to spend significant time with my own family, but I also want to be close enough to my parents and siblings that I can spend time with them as well. This might be a little more difficult since there isn’t a professional baseball team in Morehead, Kentucky, but even so, I want them to always be a part of my life and therefore I will make sure I am in a position professionally that I can take a weekend here and there to go for a visit.

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Section 3: Diagnosis of Strengths and WeaknessesFor this section, you will reflect on your capacity for leadership and briefly summarize your strengths and weaknesses as a leader.

You should list at least 4 strengths and 4 weaknesses (and no more than 6 strengths and 6 weaknesses). For each strength and weakness, you should:

Explicitly name, define, and describe the strength or weakness (2-3 sentences is sufficient). You should insert a name after the following headings (e.g., Strength 1: Attention to Detail).

Provide evidence / justification of why you consider this a personal strength or weakness. Provide evidence to support your conclusions (i.e., specific examples). For example, provide a brief concrete example of your behavior that exhibits this strength/weakness. You should not simply state that you have a hard time speaking in public or are easily able to relate to others, but should provide specific examples or other evidence (e.g., self-assessments, feedback received from others) supporting your argument.

Describe the relationship of the strength or weakness to effective leadership and your career goals described in Section 2. Why do you believe these strengths will facilitate your leadership capacity and career goals? Why do you believe these weaknesses will limit your leadership capacity and inhibit your reaching your career goals? You should provide strong support for each of your arguments, including citing course and/or other relevant readings as support (3-5 sentences is sufficient for each strength/weakness).

Strength 1: Time-Management Time-management skills demonstrate an ability to effectively prioritize and

accomplish the tasks required of me in a specified period of time. It requires being well-organized and self-driven so as to ensure that all deadlines are met with high-quality results.

Perhaps the best example that I can provide to demonstrate why I consider my time-management abilities to be a personal strength would have to be my senior year of undergraduate studies. During this school year, I completed 15 semester hours of course work in the fall and 16 hours in the spring; I was a full-time member of Morehead State University baseball team, which required daily commitments to conditioning practice, team practice, individual work-outs, and nightly weightlifting sessions; and I completed two 300-hour internships, respectively. In order to be successful in the classroom, on the field, and in my internship environments, I had to become very disciplined and proactive when it came to planning out my week ahead of time and sticking to my schedule.

Effective time-management skills are crucial for virtually any position that I could hope to take in the professional baseball industry; in fact, valuing and making the most of our limited time is vital to any leadership position. The best leaders are those who are seen as consistently engaged and thereby able to use their intuition to appropriately gauge the timing and course of their actions (Goffee & Jones, 2000). In other words, because they are organized

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and prioritize their time effectively, they are able to interpret the soft data which enables them to make better, more informed decisions. And when leaders make informed decisions, their followers grow to associate competence and respect with their reputations.

Strength 2: Empathy/Relatability to Others Empathy is the ability to truly put oneself in another’s shoes and, as a result,

better connect and develop meaningful relationships with others. It represents a genuine concern for the well-being of those around you, which can lead to feelings of comfortableness and trust.

In one of my previous work experiences, I had a co-worker who was having some issues with his supervisor and it was really starting to have an effect on his job performance and, quite frankly, his happiness. Though we weren’t the closest of friends, I hated seeing him struggling so much and I could tell it was weighing on him, so I asked him if he wanted to grab a bite to eat for lunch one day. He agreed and I was able to talk with him about the job and how things were going for him, and he was actually very willing to talk about his concerns. I didn’t press him to reveal anything, but as a personal introvert, I know how exhausting it can be keeping frustrations bottled up all the time. As it turned out, just being able to get his feelings out in the open to someone who would listen made him feel quite a bit better, and I think it also strengthened our work relationship. Not to mention, in sharing some of my own stories of work-related obstacles in my past, I like to think it helped him see that he wasn’t alone and that things could and would improve. He could see that I genuinely wanted to help, and when someone makes you feel that way, you almost can’t help but develop respect and appreciation for that individual.

In my career setting, whether I am in a management-type position where I delegate to subordinates or whether I am a subordinate myself, I can’t overstate how important genuineness is to developing meaningful relationships. As a leader, I have to understand that with all of the interdependencies that exist within a workplace, the key to getting people to buy into my vision is to gain their respect and trust. In other words, my words have to have credibility behind them, and the only way to establish this credibility is to develop a proven track record of caring for those around me by being consistent in following what I say by what I do (Kotter, 1990). To gain trust, my fellow co-workers, superiors, and subordinates alike have to see from my actions that my intentions are always selfless and that my hope is always to see those around me be successful.

Strength 3: Positive Attitude/Outlook Having a positive outlook means being someone who is always looking for

the good in the bad, and perhaps more importantly, someone who encourages others to find the positives in every situation. It can mean

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something as simple as congratulating others on a job well done, or even having a sense of humor when situations don’t go as we want.

I always try to maintain a positive attitude in everything that I do. I think this trait was ingrained in me from a young age in all of the sportsmanship-type principles that my parents and coaches would emphasize to us. Regardless of how a situation turned out, it was important to handle it with grace and class, and I’ve tried to always live by that. An example that immediately comes to mind took place when I worked as a substitute teacher last school year. On this particular day, I was subbing for a kindergarten class and we were working on a math worksheet. Towards the end of the activity period, one of the children came up to me and she was visibly upset because she didn’t know how to do one of the problems. I felt that it was really important for me to, first and foremost, point out to her how well she had done on the other problems and get her to see how much I appreciated her hard work. It’s amazing how big of a boost in morale this gave her, and I was able to help her through the remaining problem with spirits high.

It is so important to have a positive attitude in my professional setting, especially because I am expecting and hoping to land in a position that requires a lot of interaction with co-workers as well as the public. The attitude that you bring to a conversation with someone absolutely dictates the way that person is going to initially perceive you. I want everyone that comes into contact with me to walk away thinking that I am someone they’d like to come across again in the future. As someone in a leadership position, I want people to want to work with me, and people naturally tend towards easily observable characteristics (like attitude) in determining if someone is worthy of leading the group (Galinsky & Kilduff, 2013). Social hierarchies develop quickly and are generally stable, so those who are able to achieve high status and respect early often will keep it. Knowing this, it is imperative that my attitude reflect the type of mindset I want those working for/with me to have.

Strength 4: Accountability Accountability refers to a willingness/personal obligation to take

responsibility for one’s actions and choices. Whether ramifications are good or bad, an accountable person is someone who owns up to his or her mistakes and puts the good of those with whom he or she works above his or her own.

It is inevitable that leaders are going to make mistakes, but I believe that the true measure of someone’s integrity and merits is how that person handles him or herself when negative outcomes occur; for me, personally, I believe respect and trust is earned when a leader proves to his or her subordinates that he or she will take the hit and the blame when a plan doesn’t work out as hoped. During my junior year of undergrad, we had a group paper that served as our final exam for the class. When discussing the topic and corresponding format for our paper, I came up with a specific outline as far

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as how I thought we should approach putting the paper together. As it turned out, my approach ended up costing our group some points because it didn’t follow the instructor-preferred format as it should have. Though the grade we received was, still, overall quite good, I made it a point to apologize to each person in my group for my error. I can’t say for certain how or if me doing this affected how my group members thought of me, but I am hopeful that at the very least they appreciated my accountability and willingness to admit my mistake.

Accountability is one of those character traits that I believe every leader should want to have, and it is a standard to which I hold myself in everything that I do. Employees are so much more likely to follow in somebody’s vision when they know that their efforts are truly appreciated and that their superior is backing them regardless of the outcome. For me, accountability represents a critical character strength, and people with good character are highly engaged in what they do and find significance beyond themselves in their activities and initiatives. Furthermore, leaders who demonstrate good character are not only satisfied with their own lives, but they make those around them happier, healthier, more resilient, and more productive individuals (Peterson & Park, 2006).

Weakness 1: Self-Confidence Self-confidence refers to one’s belief in one’s own abilities and competence. It

is a character trait often associated with those in power and in those who exert influence over others.

I would definitely have to classify my own self-confidence as a weakness of mine, as I have found that it often keeps me from taking the initiative and making proactive decisions regarding opportunities that have come my way. I wouldn’t say that it’s because I doubt my knowledge or skill levels, but I think my quiet, timid nature combined with being personally hard on myself when I make mistakes make it easy for me to put myself down. An example of this in my life would be when I received my supervisor’s evaluation from one of the internships I completed for my undergraduate degree. As part of the evaluation process, my supervisor had to identify areas in which I could improve, and the one quality she brought up to me was self-confidence. She told me I was a great worker and people really enjoyed having me around, but she just wished I had broken out of my shell and been a little more personable.

It is so important for leaders to carry themselves with confidence and conviction. For myself, in order to get to the position I want to be in and to move my way up, I am going to have to prove to my superiors that I have the personal belief and confidence needed to lead others. The quickest way to lose followers is to carry yourself with a sense of doubt, because this uncertainty almost always exudes itself in body language and in verbal communication. I want to be able to influence people and initiate change

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when necessary, and the best way I can improve organizational performance is by inspiring and motivating others through interpersonal influence (Kaiser, McGinnis, & Overfield, 2012); and the only way I can hope to establish interpersonal influence is by trusting and believing in my own capabilities.

Weakness 2: Uncomfortableness with Delegation This concept essentially can be described as having a tendency to trust

yourself more than your group members/co-workers. It often means that you don’t want to run the risk of somebody else not coming through, so you do the work yourself so that you ensure it gets done and done in the way you want it done.

This is most certainly another weakness of mine, especially when it comes to school projects and presentations. I know that it stems from the perfectionist-type nature that I have, and I have really worked on it over the years, but I still have a tendency to want to do the majority of the work on almost any group assignment. A specific example would be a group project that I helped complete for a strength and conditioning course that I took in undergrad. For this project, my group and I had to design a two-month exercise regimen for an MSU faculty member. The night before the project was due, I took it upon myself to do all of the revising and editing and I also ended up adding sections that I thought would make our project better stand out. The work that my group members did was very, very good, but I still couldn’t help but put my own stamp on the final product.

As a leader in the professional baseball industry, I will, without question, have to delegate responsibilities to those who are a part of my team and be able to trust their work without feeling the need to take over. If I’m unable to do that, then those around me will grow to feel that I am always undermining their work, which establishes an environment where I wouldn’t be empowering anybody. The best managers and leaders are able to create a culture wherein individuals around them are able to thrive, discover their talents, and get the opportunity to use their best selves every day in completing tasks (Buckingham, 2011). This is the type of culture that I hope to establish as a future leader, and it will only happen if I have trust and faith in the competencies of those around me.

Weakness 3: Perfectionism Perfectionism can be described as a feeling of having to complete everything

in an immaculate way, or without flaws or errors. It’s having an idea of how you want things to look or be done in your head and accepting nothing short of that.

I have to admit that I have always had a perfectionist-like nature and, therefore, tend to feel a need to do things on my own and to place more faith in relying on myself rather than allowing others to play bigger roles. This

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weakness and my second weakness of being uncomfortable with delegation sort of go hand-in-hand, but my perfectionism has to be considered a weakness because I know, without question, that it has made me a much more stressed person than I probably need to be. Even when I’m completing housework or yardwork (mowing the grass, painting the fence, etc.), I am rarely one to ask for help and usually prefer to complete the jobs on my own.

Though I think a degree of perfectionism can be an asset in a leadership role, it far more often can rub co-workers the wrong way and discourage others from offering suggestions and ideas openly. Because of this very fact, I want to mitigate the perfectionist in me as much as possible as I work towards my professional future. Perfectionism can easily manifest itself to others as someone trying to emphasize their strength and credentials, which runs the risk of hurting cognitive potential, creativity, and problem solving, which leads to disengagement in the workplace (Cuddy, Kohut, & Neffinger, 2013). The key to leading is to communicate warmth; this openness and attention to others helps leaders to better connect, which instills feelings of trust and mutual understanding.

Weakness 4: Public Speaking Public speaking is fairly self-explanatory, as it describes the act of

presenting/vocally sharing presentations, speeches, etc. to an audience of unknown peers. Typically, it also requires standing at the front of a room, stage, or auditorium of some sort.

Though I have given a number of speeches and presentations throughout my undergraduate years especially, public speaking is still something that I know I can and need to improve upon. In particular, I have a bad tendency to ‘talk with my hands’ the more nervous that I am, so I need to get to a point where my nerves are under control and my confidence is high before beginning any sort of presentation, especially in a professional setting. The first example that comes to mind is a speech that I gave for a nutrition class during my second semester of college. At that point, I was much less experienced in speaking in front of an audience, and I can remember how much my hands were shaking and how frequently my voice was trembling throughout the whole ordeal. Needless to say, it wasn’t one of my stronger performances, and improving my presenting skills very much became a primary focus of mine from that point forward. I like to think that I’ve made a lot of progress since that time, but I have infrequently performed any public speaking over the past couple of years, so I know it is a skill I need to really target as I prepare to enter the working world.

Feeling comfortable speaking in front of others is just an extension of exuding self-confidence. In wanting to be a leader, I have to be able to clearly communicate a vision for what I want to accomplish and I have to be able to do it persuasively. It is ultimately about being able to engage the people around me, appeal to their interests, and push them to be the absolute best versions of themselves that they can be; and a great way to connect with

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people is to be a good communicator on multiple levels. Especially initially, I have to be able to set a standard for effective working relationships. This means investing significant time in getting to know my co-workers and also sharing with them the principles I hold dear (Manzoni & Barsoux, 2009). By doing so, I will better understand what’s important to those around me so that I can more confidently present ideas to them and more effectively appeal to their values.

Section 4: Development Goals and StrategiesYou have now identified major career goals (and values that have influenced these goals), strengths that you can continue to build upon, and weaknesses that you need to address in order to be a more effective leader and achieve the career goals that you have identified.

In this section, you will prioritize your development needs and identify specific actions that you can take to address these needs. Many skills and other development needs are best learned through experience.

For this section you will identify four goals (no more, no less) to help you further grow as a leader AND accomplish the career goals that you have identified. Each of the actions that you identify in this section must explicitly address one or more of the career goals AND strengths or weaknesses that you have identified that you need to address in order to further develop as a leader. Thus, this section should integrate material from multiple sections of this assignment. I encourage you to look for opportunities to address not only your weaknesses, but to identify at least one way of further growing/leveraging a strength as well.

Complete the following table to describe these goals. You should be very specific! I will not accept simply generalities.

Development Goals: What are your four goals? For each goal you should include the following:

o Name and describe the goal.o Clearly identify the strength(s) and/or weakness(es) your goal addresses, AND

the career goal(s) addressed by this goal. Explicitly state why you believe this goal will address these goals and strengths/weaknesses and help you to grow as a leader. Cite and thoroughly discuss appropriate readings to support your conclusions.

o Clearly describe why achieving this goal will help you be a more effective leader. Cite and discuss course readings to support your answer.

Actions: Describe the specific activities/actions that you will complete to achieve your goals

o Be specific; what exact actions will you take (or what things do you plan to stop doing)?

o Many goals will likely require more than one action to achieve; you should include at least two action steps for each goal. You should include as many

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action steps as necessary though! I would rather see a number of short action steps, than two large action steps that are less concrete. Note, you should indicate any resources that these actions will require or barriers that you anticipate (and how you plan to overcome these barriers).

o Note: To the degree possible, I highly encourage you to identify actions that you can complete on the job and as part of your work. These actions should be significant challenges for you. If you can already easily perform the actions that you describe, they are not really going to push you and thus help you develop as a leader.

Time Lineo When will you complete each of your action steps? What are your due dates for

each action step? What are your major milestones? Criteria for Success: Assessment

o How will you know you have successfully completed each action? Provide objective criteria. Simply stating something like, I will be a more effective leader and will be more respected by others will not be considered an appropriate response. Provide objective criteria for each goal and action step identified as part of that goal. What exactly does success look like? Are there specific behaviors that you can measure and/or receive feedback on? How might you obtain this data? How will you get feedback on your performance? How will you measure achievement towards your goal? Be specific and objective!

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Development Goal 1: Goal: Initiate more frequent conversations with my four co-workers: I work as a Graduate Assistant and there are four other graduate students who work within my same department; Because we perform similar work and are working towards similar degrees, I think it could be very beneficial both personally and professionally to establish a closer connection with these four individuals.

How is this goal related to your capacity as a leader? What strengths/weaknesses AND career goals does this goal address? Explicitly refer back to Section 3.This goal is most certainly applicable to my endeavors of being a successful leader. A person in a position of power gets to that position and is able to remain in that position because he or she knows his or her workers and because the workers trust in the intentions of their superior. Trust can only be established by being personable and taking the initiative to get to know those around you; if nothing else, interacting with others establishes better connections, which is always a positive.

This goal is going to address my career goal of working in a management-type position for a major league baseball organization and also focus upon improving my weakness of a lack of self-confidence. The truth is, the more we practice doing something, the better and more comfortable we come to feel towards it. If I hope to advance in major league baseball, I have to become more outgoing, and improving my self-confidence is a crucial factor in making that a reality. By actively seeking out my co-workers in the lounge or by asking them if they’d like to join me for lunch, it gives me an opportunity to work on my interpersonal skills every single day. And these interpersonal skills are going to play a major role in determining how seriously I’m considered by employers within the baseball industry for positions. As Cialdini (2013) explains, effective leaders get in the habit of not just getting to know others, but helping others out. And by doing so, perhaps my co-workers will feel more inclined to return the favor, which significantly elevates my probability of success in the tasks I want to accomplish.

How will accomplishing this goal help you to be a more effective leader?By starting now at placing an emphasis upon developing relationships with my co-workers, it’s going to force me to break out of my shell and allow me to create a name for myself. I want people who work with and around me to enjoy (or at least not dislike) my company and to feel that they can come to me for assistance or advice. And as these relationships develop over time and become stronger, hopefully it will better situate me to effectively be able to motivate others. Motivation and inspiration energize people by satisfying basic human needs for achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, and self-esteem (Kotter, 1990). These are the types of qualities that I want to instill in the people in my work environment, so it all starts with taking the time to foster relationships.

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To achieve this goal I will engage in the following actions (be specific!):

Actions (Who, what, when, how, barriers, etc.) Timeline/Due Dates

I will walk into the lounge around 9:00 AM where and when my co-workers often work on homework.

I will sit down at a table with them and initiate a dialogue. I will be sure to ask individualized questions to each of them (or to

whoever is present on that particular day). I will make a point to ask if there is anything I can do to help them

with their work for the day. Potential barrier: If none of my co-workers happen to be in the

lounge at 9:00 AM on a particular day, I will try to catch them immediately after lunch in our office.

Each day beginning 4/1/15 for two weeks

Each day beginning 4/1/15 for two weeks

Each day beginning 4/1/15 for two weeks

Every other day beginning 4/1/15 for two weeks

Criteria for Success - I know that I will have reached this goal when:A very helpful factor here is that I have a very close friend who works in my building and who often has lunch with my graduate assistant co-workers. After a couple of weeks, I will plan to sit down with her and ask if any of my co-workers have mentioned anything about me making more of an effort to interact with them. Certainly, this isn’t the most concrete measure and there is no guarantee that they will mention anything to her. However, I am hopeful that in spending more time around them, I will be able to notice a greater comfort on both my end and on their end in terms of the flow of conversation and how easily we’re able to transition from one topic to the next. Even more so, if they begin to ask me to join them for lunch or if they seem genuinely interested in hearing about my life, I can also take that as feedback that a relationship is developing. Since this goal centers around helping me with my self-confidence, I think that ultimately I will have to be the one to judge how successful or unsuccessful I am. Even

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if friendships don’t develop from it, if I feel more confident and comfortable about interacting with them, then I feel confident that I would ultimately deem the goal as successfully achieved.

I will complete this goal (including all associated actions) by (date): April 15, 2015

Development Goal 2: Goal: Become a more active member in my two club affiliations: In addition to being a student and working for the university, I am also a member of Rho Epsilon (a student real estate organization) and PRSSA (a student public relations organization). Though I have paid the membership fees and, therefore, am an official member of these clubs, I have not been attending the meetings for either with regularity this semester. I would like to change that and become a more frequent and active participant in these organizations.

How is this goal related to your capacity as a leader? What strengths/weaknesses AND career goals does this goal address? Explicitly refer back to Section 3.One of the most common pieces of advice that I hear is that you can never have too many contacts, so take advantage of every opportunity to meet and interact with people you don’t know. Especially with regard to growing my capacity as a leader, I believe it is vital that I take advantage of opportunities to enhance my network and to, again, work on face-to-face communication skills. By regularly attending meetings and conferences with these groups, it will allow me opportunities to do just that and to receive career advice from professional speakers.

This goal addresses my career goal of working within the professional baseball industry, specifically in a community relations or marketing role that would require consistent interpersonal involvement. It also focuses on building upon my strength of time-management skills. In such a narrow industry as professional baseball, I have to take full advantage of any chances that I get to grow my network and to improve my communication skills. Just as importantly, by becoming a more active participant in these organizations, my time-management skills are going to need to continue to improve. Balancing school, work, and now club obligations will force me to plan out and follow a stricter schedule than I’m used to, but the benefits of being involved in the clubs will make it worth it. By attending meetings regularly and making trips to professional conferences, it will give me a great opportunity to network. And from a potential leadership perspective, networking becomes even more important. It’s advised to start forging deliberate connections within the first 30 to 60 days after a promotion, as this is the period when people are making up their minds about your legitimacy and dependency (Byham, 2009). So if I want to best position myself for consideration for advancement in the baseball industry, I need to make networking a priority right now.

How will accomplishing this goal help you to be a more effective leader?By becoming a more regular participant in club meetings and any club-related events, it’s going to naturally allow me to develop interactions with strangers and/or acquaintances, thus giving me more opportunity to forge relationships and connections. And by establishing these relationships, it could potentially lead to being elected to a position within these clubs (which looks great on a resume, among other things) and it expands my contact list, which could

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ultimately lead to a connection down the road. Also, by working on my interpersonal skills through my involvement with these clubs, it gives me an abundance of chances to work on speaking up, taking the initiative, and expressing confidence, all qualities that suggest leadership potential (Galinsky & Kilduff, 2013).

To achieve this goal I will engage in the following actions (be specific!):

Actions (Who, what, when, how, barriers, etc.) Timeline/Due Dates

I will attend Rho Epsilon meetings (which take place at 3:00 PM every Tuesday).

I will attend PRSSA meetings (which take place at 5:00 PM ever Tuesday).

I will take notes of major points at each meeting for both clubs. I will sit by and introduce myself to at least one other person I do not

know each week. I will run for the position of Fundraising Chair for PRSSA. Potential barrier: Because meetings for both clubs take place on

Tuesday afternoons/evenings, there is the possibility that Rho Epsilon meetings could overlap PRSSA meetings. However, since I am planning on running for a position in PRSSA, I will leave Rho Epsilon early on Tuesdays when this is an issue.

Every Tuesday for one month (starting 3/31/15)

Every Tuesday for one month (starting 3/31/15)

Every Tuesday for two weeks (starting 3/31/15)

Every Tuesday for one month (starting 3/31/15)

On Tuesday, 4/14/15

Criteria for Success - I know that I will have reached this goal when:Assessing my success in achieving this goal is going to be largely based upon my own judgment. Because I am planning to keep notes of each meeting, I can use these notes as a log of my attendance, therefore allowing me to keep myself accountable for being there throughout the

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duration of this goal period (one month). Because I’m also wanting to make a point to introduce myself to others, I can also log any new acquaintances that I make at each meeting, again allowing me to see how successful I am with my goal. I will be able to concretely assess my action step of running for an officer position with PRSSA by being present on the day of the elections and putting my name on the ballot.

I will complete this goal (including all associated actions) by (date): April 28, 2015

Development Goal 3: Goal: Practice and improve upon my interview skills:In finishing up my degree this semester, I am soon to be entering the working world and, therefore, need to be prepared for the interview process as it approaches. I need to make a conscientious effort to know and understand what to expect in an interview, how to best present myself, and have confidence in what I am bringing to the table.

How is this goal related to your capacity as a leader? What strengths/weaknesses AND career goals does this goal address? Explicitly refer back to Section 3.In order to do well in an interview or interview-type setting, I believe that the first step is to be prepared. And being prepared means putting in the effort and time to learn about the company, the position, what it’s going to take to be successful in the position, and how I can best present myself as an ideal candidate for the job. This preparatory work is also crucial for any leader. Before any manager or senior official can hope to instill a vision or enact change, he or she has to be willing to put in the time to truly understand the task in front of him or her and how best to approach it.

This goal will focus upon my career goal of being hired into a position with a major league baseball organization as well as improving upon my weakness in public speaking. Though being in an interview is not exactly the same type of atmosphere as delivering a speech on stage, the principles that it takes to effectively and convincingly express yourself in both settings are very much the same. Both require clear organization, consistent eye contact, strong points, and confidence. Successfully doing so builds credibility and, with it, influence. As a leader, the ability to influence cannot be overstated; once a leader establishes this influence, it becomes so much easier to gain cooperation and commitment because people grow to genuinely trust and respect your intentions (Yukl, 2007).

How will accomplishing this goal help you to be a more effective leader?By improving my interview/public speaking capabilities, it’s going to better equip me to speak with conviction and instill influence on those around me. Effective leaders are able to align the people with whom they work around one common goal, and this only happens if employees trust the capabilities of those in power. By being a better speaker/communicator, it allows me to better achieve a social influence by using interpersonal behaviors that will motivate followers to commit and give their best effort to contribute to the good of the group (Kaiser, McGinnis, & Overfield, 2012).

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To achieve this goal I will engage in the following actions (be specific!):

Actions (Who, what, when, how, barriers, etc.) Timeline/Due Dates

I will visit Morehead State University’s Career Center. I will meet with a career center advisor and set up a practice

interview. I will ask questions and take notes regarding good interview

etiquette. I will attend the practice interview. I will follow-up afterwards to go over critiques and suggestions for

improvement. Potential barrier: If the career center is no longer conducting practice

interviews this semester, I will contact some local professional contacts of mine and ask them if they would be willing to conduct a practice-type interview with me and give me feedback afterwards.

Monday, 4/6/15

Monday, 4/6/15

Monday, 4/6/15

To be determined by career center staff

The day of the practice interview

Criteria for Success - I know that I will have reached this goal when:Evaluating my success with this goal will be primarily based upon the verbal as well as written feedback that I receive from the career center staff who conducts my practice interview. I will be able to further gauge my improvements by scheduling additional practice interviews with different staff members and comparing their suggestions with those I initially receive. I also think that my overall comfortableness and confidence with the whole process will provide a more informal measure to myself of whether or not I am making positive strides.

I will complete this goal (including all associated actions) by (date):May 1, 2015

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Development Goal 4: Goal: Be more trusting in my group members:As I have already explained in previous sections, I have a little bit of a perfectionist nature about myself, which makes it difficult at times for me not to assume a leadership role in group settings. More so, though, it also causes me to have a tendency to want to oversee all of the work and to adjust components that don’t jive with what I have in my mind. I don’t want to undermine or rub my group members the wrong way, so this is something upon which I’d really like to improve.

How is this goal related to your capacity as a leader? What strengths/weaknesses AND career goals does this goal address? Explicitly refer back to Section 3.Good leaders have the ability to empower those around them and to truly make others feel that their input and their skills are valued. From a leadership perspective, I know I will not be working in an industry where I am able to complete everything all on my own; and I wouldn’t want it to be that way. Really, for most positions, it requires a degree of trust and cooperation with others in order to get the job done, so I want to be the kind of leader who exudes that confidence in his team members.

This goal addresses my career goal of working for a major league baseball organization in any of the three department areas that I mentioned (baseball operations, community relations, marketing). It also will help me to improve upon my weakness of being comfortable with delegation. As a leader, I know that I won’t necessarily be 100% satisfied with every piece of work that a co-worker does; and that is alright, but I want to be able to communicate it in the right way and, if changes need to be made, make them together. Employees tend to be more willing to accept critiques when they feel that the person giving the feedback collects all relevant information, allows the subordinate to clarify and explain, considers the subordinate’s opinions, and ultimately supports the subordinate and works with him or her to make improvements (Manzoni, 2002). Knowing this, I want to become a leader who embodies open-mindedness and trust in his team.

How will accomplishing this goal help you to be a more effective leader?By taking steps to let go, so to speak, and to place greater trust and confidence in group members, it will not only better my relations with my team, but also lessen the burden that I feel I have to place upon myself. In a management setting, trust increases information sharing, openness, fluidity, and cooperation. If co-workers feel that they are trusted to live up their commitments and duties, then planning, coordination, and execution become significantly easier (Cuddy, Kohut, & Neffinger, 2013). In other words, the more I instill trust in my team members, the more comfortable they will become in working with me and the more confidently they will generate ideas and accomplish their work.

To achieve this goal I will engage in the following actions (be specific!):

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Actions (Who, what, when, how, barriers, etc.) Timeline/Due Dates

I will contact my group members via e-mail regarding progress we have made on a semester project for another course.

I will be sure to compliment them on all work that they have posted to the group file exchange.

In reviewing our work, I will contact group members individually if there is anything that I’d like to alter and get their input.

I will also encourage my team members to critique my work and offer suggestions for improvements.

I will thank them for their hard work and ask them to review the final product before I submit it.

Potential barrier: In a situation where I am unable to get in contact with a group member regarding potential changes to his or her work, I will confer with my other group members before making any adjustments.

Monday, 3/23/15

From 3/23/15 until 4/20/15

From 3/23/15 until 4/20/15

From 3/23/15 until 4/20/15

By 4/20/15

Criteria for Success - I know that I will have reached this goal when:As part of this project, we are required to fill out a peer evaluation form on which a portion of our grade is based. I will be able to look at the feedback our instructor provides for this particular grade to see how highly my group members rated my teamwork skills. I should also be able to get an idea of how well I am doing with my goal from the nature of the responses I get from my group members throughout the course of putting this project together. My hope is that our correspondences are frequent and positive, which should ultimately result in a complete and well-structured project.

I will complete this goal (including all associated actions) by (date):

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April 20, 2015

ReferencesInsert all references used for Sections 1-4 here. In-text citations are required only for Sections 3-4. All references should be in APA Style (6th Edition).

Buckingham, M. (January 2011). Strong Leadership: Live and lead from strengths. Leadership Excellence. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889549-dt-content-rid-9034780_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Buckingham%20%282011%29%20Strong%20Leadership.pdf

Byham, W. (January 2009). Start Networking Right Away (Even If You Hate It). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889601-dt-content-rid-9034781_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Byham%20%282009%29%20Start%20networking%20right%20away%20%28even%20if%20you%20hate%20it%29.pdf

Cialdini, R. (July-August 2013). The Uses (and Abuses) of Influence. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889585-dt-content-rid-9034787_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Cialdini%20%282013%29%20The%20uses%20%28and%20abuses%29%20of%20influence.pdf

Cuddy, A., Kohut, M., & Neffinger, J. (July-August 2013). Connect, Then Lead. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889571-dt-content-rid-9034792_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Cuddy%20et%20al%20%282013%29%20Connect%2C%20then%20lead.pdf

Galinsky, A., & Kilduff, G. (December 2013). Be Seen as a Leader. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889523-dt-content-rid-9034803_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Galinsky%20%26%20Kilduff%20%282013%29%20Be%20seen%20as%20a%20leader.pdf

Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (September-October 2000). Why Should Anyone Be Led by You? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889525-dt-content-rid-9034808_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Goffee

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%20%26%20Jones%20%282000%29%20Why%20should%20anyone%20be%20led%20by%20you.pdf

Kaiser, R., McGinnis, J., & Overfield, D. (2012). The How and the What of Leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal, Vol. 64, No. 2, pp. 119-135. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889572-dt-content-rid-9034821_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Kaiser%20et%20al%20%282012%29%20The%20how%20and%20the%20what%20of%20leadership.pdf

Kotter, J. (May-June 1990). What Leaders Really Do. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889529-dt-content-rid-9034824_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Kotter%20%281990%29%20What%20leaders%20really%20do.pdf

Manzoni, J. (September 2002). A Better Way to Deliver Bad News. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889573-dt-content-rid-9034834_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Manzoni%20%282002%29%20A%20better%20way%20to%20deliver%20bad%20news.pdf

Manzoni, J., & Barsoux, J. (2009). The Interpersonal Side of Taking Charge. Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 106-116. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889574-dt-content-rid-9034833_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Manzoni%20%26%20Barsoux%20%282009%29%20The%20interpersonal%20side%20of%20taking%20charge.pdf

Peterson, C., & Park, N. (September 2006). Character strengths in organizations. Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 27, pp. 1149-1154. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889550-dt-content-rid-9034844_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Peterson%20%26%20Park%20%282006%29%20Character%20strengths%20in%20organizations.pdf

Yukl, G. (2007). Best Practices in the Use of Proactive Influence Tactics by Leaders. Leadership in Organizations. Retrieved from https://moreheadstate.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1889589-dt-content-rid-9034856_2/courses/60257.MNGT677301.ON.2015SP/Yukl%20%282007%29%20Best%20practices%20in%20the%20use%20of%20proactive%20influence%20tactics%281%29.pdf

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