Leadership Development Plan
Self-Assessment:
One leadership opportunity I had was being a senior leader on my high school baseball team. After reading through the Five Practices of Leadership and Emotional Intelligence I connected what skills I performed well when being a leader and what I could have improved on when I was granted the position I was. It was in this position that myself and four other seniors had to bring the team together and focus on one ultimate goal: winning a league championship. Looking back, I was still young and had little to no experience of what being a leader actually meant so I admit I made some mistakes along the way, but those mistakes is what helped me become a stronger team builder. Being an athlete entails leading by example and I feel playing hard every game modeled the way for the rest of my teammates. If they saw that I was giving it my all every game and setting an example, then my teammates would eventually follow suit. This was one of my strong points as a leader on the baseball field. Although I led by example, I found myself from time to time only thinking about individual stats not the team’s stats. In one of the five practices of leadership it really emphasizes encouraging the heart, or going out of your way to make others feel accomplished by recognizing their contributions. Based off of this practice, I needed to improve tremendously. Only on occasion did I bring the team together to let them know one of my teammates was really working hard to help the team win. I know I could have done more in this department because sometimes I let my individual game take me away from the game everyone knows as being “team-oriented.” As far as emotional intelligence, I was always self-confident mainly to demonstrate that confidence is the key to succeeding on the baseball field. If my teammates saw that I was hesitant in the field or the batter’s box, that attitude would soon began to rub off on my teammates. That is why I always kept a positive attitude while on the field and to let my teammates know they were not going to lose because of my approach to the game. An area of where I could of improved was to dig deeper into my teammates shoes and really have seen if they were struggling or were having a bad day. For example, if a teammate arrived late to practice and was not playing with the same attitude as normal, I failed to take the time to ask if he needed anything or ask if he needed his space for the day. I feel I could have been seen as a more welcoming leader if I took some time to let my teammates know that I would be open and aware to respect if they wanted to talk about their anger or displacement with their role on the team. Today, I realized not every person on the team was happy or satisfied with the structure of the club, and I certainly needed to improve in the area of being aware of my other teammates emotions. Although I was not always aware of everyone on the team’s emotions, I built strong bonds and connections with my team based on what we achieved as a team and the passion we all shared.
Action Plans:
Five Practices of Leadership :
One action plan I want to put in place is improving my actions on “Challenging the Process.”
1.) In Group settings I tend to agree with the task at hand because I don’t want to disrupt the process in which my group is headed. I rarely disagree or look for various ways in which to improve ideas because I feel that our group is communicating smoothly. I have yet to take a huge risk in a group setting due to the fact I don’t want to ruin the progress already made by the group. I feel as if see group work with steps you need to follow and by looking outside those steps is harmful to reaching the team’s final product. It is not that I fear failure, it is that I don’t want to fail in the eyes of my group mates so I tend to stay on the same path instead of experimenting.
2.) I want to be that person who continues to improve ideas and bring in new ideas that help the group succeed, while also learning from my mistakes. I know in order to be successful you need new ideas that will benefit the group but also ideas that will fail. Saying this, I need to be more vocal in my opinions even if most of the ideas I present to the team wont be used. Not only do I want to look for outside ideas to improve the quality of our proposal, but also create innovative ways in which our group works better internally. I know I can accomplish this practice, I just need to take initiative and explore ideas that can help my team advance on a weekly basis.
3.) My plan of action to carry out this practice of Challenging the Process is to be more outspoken and let my ideas be heard instead of keeping them inside. I will also encourage my group mates to express new ideas that they feel can improve the group by challenging them to voice any idea that comes to their mind. I will learn to accept the fact, that failure is inevitable and that learning from these failures will ultimately lead to the groups success. This will help motivate myself t constantly look for ways to improve the overall complexion of the group. Whether that be communication between the group, improving on roles within the group, or just improving the structure of ideas that are presented to the group.
Emotional Intelligence:
The second plan of action I plan on improving is in the area of “Social Awareness.”
1.) My tendency is to think only about my well-being in the group and worry about my personal overall grade. Doing this, I fail to recognize other members of the group when they are struggling or have unexpected circumstances come up. I am capable of being aware of other group members situations, but seeing myself as independent I rarely give them the benefit of the doubt. It may seem as if I only care about my needs, but that is not my true feeling. It has grown more out of habit than anything else. Although I like to be independent, I am a very understanding person even if I don’t always come across in that manner. I am also strong minded so I sometimes miss out on opinions that are of value, but because they don’t appeal to my emotions I look the other way.
2.) I realize the importance of being able to understand and be aware of people’s feelings and people’s schedules inside the group and want to improve on my personable skills. I want to be able to gain trust from my group mates if they are having trouble attending a meeting or just unable to meet because of personal reasons. By gaining trust I mean taking over a role in the group that is missing or being able to understand someone’s situation and adjust accordingly. Being open to their emotions behind certain ideas and understanding where they are coming from can also open my eyes to a perspective I would have rejected beforehand. I want to build connections rather than let them pass so being aware of every aspect of someone’s opinion is crucial to building up my network.
3.) I plan to from now on to accept all viewpoints and emotions in the group because sometimes my emotions are not in the best interest of the group. I will try and promote group discussions to be interactive and invite various viewpoints from all group members so that each angle of a certain idea is looked at and depicted accordingly. When I come to a meeting I plan to come prepared with all my materials and ideas in hand because everyone is busy in the schedules and time can be a constraint. If I fail to come prepared then I am not only wasting my time, but my classmates time as well. I plan to build up strong relationships and friendships with my group members by working hard and being reliable. You never know how far networking can take you, so I will value the opportunity to work closely with my peers in a professional setting.
Self-Assessment Score:
My highest score was Enabling Others to Act and my lowest score was Modeling the Way. Considering I am the type of person in the group that is less vocal, I was not surprised by my scores. By seeing these trends, it tells me I need to lead more by being vocal and not always sitting back without giving my insight. Most of my scores were around the same point total which was interesting except from the one in which I received my highest score.