Introduction

In the present times, the scramble for limited resources such as employment opportunities as well as talented, skilled and experienced workforce have increased more than ever before. As a result, the world has turned to a jungle, where only the individuals who have the innate and acquired mechanisms (competitive skills) are deemed to survive and develop. For decades, education has been hailed as one of the strategies of enhancing the competitive edge of an individual. Though this is encouraging, more needs to be done, in order to enhance personal development. In this relation, I am anticipating of becoming an exceptional leader after school. Leadership does not entail dictating what others (the juniors or the subordinates) should do, but influencing them or guiding them in doing what ought to be done in order to achieve organizational goals and objectives within the set standards, budgetary allocations and timelines. As a leader, I will have a key role of empowering the team members to deliver the best through making better decisions, solving problems, learning new skills and more importantly, progressing in their careers. Though I can become a good leader through formal training, I can also enrich my skills through arming myself with proven techniques, trusting my instincts, and finding opportunities to practice. This paper entails my personal development plan (PDP) of becoming an excellent leader in the next five years.

Leadership Development Planning

I will create a leadership development plan that will be fully implemented in the next five years, and this is due to a number of reasons. First, I am currently pursuing my bachelor’s degree, and there are some aspects that I will need to enrich or be conversant with in order to fully become an excellent leader. Precisely, there are some aspects which requires me to first complete my degree in order to start pursing them. For example, I need to gain a diverse experience in various facets that revolves around effective leadership. I need to work as a subordinate in order to gain first-hand experience of most of the issues that workers go through during their routine operations and learn their perceptions concerning what the top management needs to do in order to address them. In the contemporary business world, majority of the management personnel rarely take time to evaluate or establish what the employees are going through not only in their working stations but also their personal issues. The management personnel do forget that one way of motivating employees is through meeting or satisfying their psychological, safety, love and belonging and self-esteem needs (Soni & Soni, 2016). By allocating time of gaining diverse experience, I will manage to learn the needs of the employees and their perception towards the organizational leadership. Moreover, I need to seek for industrial practicum in order to practically put into practice what I have learnt in class (the theoretical concepts).  Though I can manage to achieve this during the long vocations, I still need to learn more even after graduating. For example, since securing a job opportunity is challenging these days, I will be required to apply for voluntary services in organizations which will help me to enhance my skills in leadership. Consecutively, there might be some short courses that I will be required to take soon after graduating in order to enhance my leadership skills. For example, I might take short courses on critical thinking skills, communication skills, effective decision making among others. I do contemplate that I have a number of both strengths and weaknesses, and the manner in which I work on these two attributes determines the duration that I may take in order to achieve my goal. Precisely, from now henceforth, I have to take time to perfect my strengths as well as carefully working on my weaknesses. After evaluating myself, five years from now is enough for me to perfect my journey of becoming an excellent organization or project leader.

Application of Conceptual Model of Development

I will use the Grow Model of coaching and mentoring in order to achieve leadership development. The GROW model was developed by three business coaches namely Sir John Whitmore, Alan Fine, and Graham Alexander (Chaudhuri, Hirudayaraj & Ardichvili, 2018). The Term is an acronym that stands for the four core steps that an individual can implement in order to achieve a given goal. G-stands for goals and aspirations, R-stands for reality (current situation, internal and external obstacles), O-stands for options (possibilities, strengths and resources) and W-stands for will (actions and accountability).

In-depth analysis of the GROW Model (Steps) and its Application to the Development Plan

1. Establish the Goal

This is the first step of the GROW model and it entails an individual and his or her team member agree on the goal that they want to achieve. The goal selected needs to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound. It is worth noting that the leader or coach my not be familiar with what the team member wants to achieve, or the individual himself may not be clear with what he or she wants to achieve (Marshall, 2018). For this reason, the larger part of the goal setting may entail the coach asking various probing questions concerning what the client intends to improve in his or her job performance or career in order for the former to guide the latter on how to select a goal.

In this case, my goal is becoming an effective or excellent project leader in the next five years from now. Achieving this goal will help me to achieve the set project goals and objectives within the set duration and the allocated budget. It is important to note that poor leadership greatly contributes to the failure of a project, which in the long run increases the cost of the overall budget. Actually, when the project fails, sponsors lose their trust with the project leadership personnel, and it might be challenging for them to fund any other project in future. Additionally, the project may drain most of the financial resources of the organization, making it challenging for such an organization to ever recover from the loss. I also intend to enhance my reputation by meeting project targets, and this will, in the long run, enhance my competitive edge. I also want to empower the project team members or my subordinates, by orienting them to new skills, which they can as well use elsewhere in their lives.

Current Reality

This is the second step of the GROW model, and it entails establishing the current situation of the client in relation to the selected and agreed goal. The step is important since it helps an individual to first understand his or her current situation, the action he or she has already taken towards the achievement of the goal, strengths and barriers that exists (Fluckiger et al., 2017). In most cases, individuals try to reach a goal or solve a problem without first taking time to comprehend their starting point, and the impact of this is that they end up missing some crucial information which they require in order to effectively reach their goal.

For my case, this step has enabled me to take time to evaluate my current situation. I have contemplated that taking time to know my current situation will enable me to know what steps or measures I need to take in order to attain my goal of becoming a project manager five years from now. After assessing my current situation, I have realized that there are a number of actions that I have taken towards my goal. For example, I have enrolled myself to a leadership and management program, which I will graduate as with a bachelor’s degree. This program will equip me with the theoretical concepts and background knowledge concerning organizational management (Bill & Sims, 2007). Additionally, I have started liaising with diverse teams or individuals in order to understand and appreciate diversity in organizations (Ferdman, 2018). For example, most of my classmates comes from different backgrounds, religions, races, age, and gender among other differences. I have been participating in group assignments with most of these diverse individuals, and this have enabled me to understand the power of diversity in as far as problem solving, creativity and appreciating others is concerned (Chin, Desormeaux & Sawyer, 2016). In the present business world, diversity is a rare resource, and the organizations which succeed beyond their borders do recognize and advocate diversity as a pool of creativity (Allen et al., 2017). What is propelling me towards the goal of becoming an excellent organization or project leader is through self-awareness. Through self-awareness, I have managed to understand my capabilities and weaknesses, and one of the major reason for formulating this plan is to clearly devise a mechanism of perfecting my strengths and at the same time improving on my weaknesses (Caldwell & Hayes, 2016). Additionally, my fascination of becoming an iconic leader in the business world have been within me since my childhood days, and this is one of the reasons which pushed me to pursue a business management program.  Despite this I do fear the level of competition that exists in the present times, since even with the right credentials, the probability of securing a job is becoming slim and slim every day. Additionally, the numerous qualities that a leader should have in this dynamic business world is challenging, especially due to the fact that I currently don’t have them. For example, I am poor when it comes to making decisions, especially due to the fear of making wrong decisions which might negatively impact the performance of an organization. Actually, before I proceed to make any decision, I usually embrace the aspect of consulting most of my close peers in order to ensure that I make informed decisions. The most worrying situation is that in this business world, a leader must have the courage of making quick decisions in order to save his or her organization from external pressures such as countering the competitive forces. Additionally, the level of corruption or dishonesty within the business world is worrying, to such an extent that it is challenging to trust individuals entirely.

Exploring the options

This step entails the aspect of establish the options that are available in order for an individuals to achieve the aforementioned goal. This step is best implemented after an individual with his or her coach have developed and agreed on the goal to be achieved and the current reality or situation in as far as the achievement of the stated goal is concerned. Actually, this steps is equivalent to a journey, where an individual is aware of where he or she is heading, his current location and now weighing on the available options (Chmielewska & Matuszak, 2017). The options may be the shortest route to the destination, the means of transport, and the merits and demerits of every available option.

For my case of achieving the goal of being an exceptional organizational or project leader, I had to weigh the available options and the advantages and disadvantages of each of the available option. I had to first list all the available options and then evaluate and rank each option based on its advantages and disadvantages. For example, in order to accomplish the goal, there were a number of short courses that I needed to take, such as decision making, communication skill, and problem solving skills, conflict resolution among others. In addition to this, I need to have an adequate experience in project leadership, especially by practically exercising the concepts that I have learnt in class. I also need to complete my bachelor`s degree, since it’s one of the avenues or steps of reaching my goal. I also need money for paying tuition for my degree, the short courses, maintenance, and other miscellaneous costs. Out of all these options, will enable me to reach the goal, but I need to weigh each options one at a time in order to implement the plan effectively. For example, I may opt to first finish the degree, and seek for a job first, in order to get both the finances of paying the fee for the short causes as well as gaining the experience. However, securing an employment opportunity is a challenging task in present times. Although I might end up gaining experience in managing people in the workplace, chances are very high that I may fail to quit my job (considering it is not easy to get one) in order to go back to class. Additionally, I may decide to finish my bachelor`s degree and the short courses simultaneously. This will require me to enroll for the short courses for the evening and weekend classes, or even pursue them during the long vacations. All in all, time and finances will be a major challenge, especially due to the fact that I need time to relax as well as money for my maintenance. Additionally, deciding to complete the bachelor’s degree together with the other short courses will be highly demanding on my side, and chances are high that I may not be able to balance all the aspects effectively. For example, if I commit myself to pursue the short courses in the evening and during the weekends, I may not be having ample time to research and focus with the main course (the Bachelor`s degree), and this may negatively affect the overall performance.

The way forward

This is the final step of the GROW model, and it entails an individual committing himself or herself to what needs to be done in order for the set goal to be achieved effectively and according to the set duration (Zimmermann & Antoni, 2017). Precisely, an individual needs to buy in both the set goal and the actions that needs to be taken in order for the goal to be achieved. He or she should also be having the confident that he has what it takes to indeed achieve the goal.

For my case, I will focus on completing the bachelor’s degree especially by giving it maximum time it deserves in order to ensure that I perform the best by the time I will be graduating. I do contemplate that if I manage to graduate with a first class honors, I will be more competitive in the job market. Secondly, I will properly utilize my free time effectively, especially by doing something that relates to the achievement of the set goal. For example, during the long vocations, I will be taking the aforementioned short courses one after the other, until they are over. Finances and bad peer influence could be among the barriers that may hinder my path of keeping me focused on the goal. To overcome this, I will seek support from my parents, try to work during the weekends and hang out with peers who have the same vision as mine.

Feedback from others

In my journey of becoming an excellent organizational leader and in order to understand my current situation towards my goal, I had to get results or feedbacks from my friends concerning various aspects that I possess in relation to leadership. To achieve this, I was subjected to a psychometric test which explored my aptitude for the leadership position, my capabilities, and personality fitness. Some of the tests that I was subjected to in relation to psychometric testing were not limited to skills tests, aptitude tests and personality tests (Siegelman, Bogaerts & Frost, 2017). For the aptitude test, the objective was to assess specific and general sets of skills. Some of the categories within this group of test was the numerical testing, the style of leadership that I possess, inductive reasoning, logical reasoning and error checking. In this test, the result was that I am more likely to become a transformational leader, and more importantly, I am god in both inductive and logical reasoning, generally, I scored a distinction in this test.

When it comes to skills test, the major focus was on aspects such as communication skills, problem solving, decision making and collaborating skills (teamwork). The results of this test showed that I am good in communication and working with others (teamwork), but I need extensive improvement on problem solving and decision making skills. This is one of the reasons that have made me to consider taking short courses relating to effective decision making and problem solving. When it comes to personality test, the major focus was first to establish the personality traits that I possess, and relate them with organizational leadership. The personality tests that were conducted include openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (Judge& Zapata, 2015). The results of this test showed that I possess openness, agreeableness, extraversion, and conscientiousness, but I am not possess neuroticism.

Conclusion

It is therefore, evident that this leadership development plan will help me to understand myself and work towards the attainment of the goal. The GROW model has been effective in establishing my current situation, the available options, and more importantly, the way forward or my commitment towards the achievement of the goal. I do contemplate that it is challenging for most individuals to understand what they would like to become in future, to such an extent that most of them seek the help of a career advisor to guide them in selecting the best career that fits them. For my case, I was fortunate enough to understand my passion, and that is why I have been putting all my effort towards the fulfillment of the dream goal. Additionally, with the help of the GROW model, I have managed to understand my strengths, weaknesses and barriers which can impact my motivation of achieving the targeted goal. I have also managed to understand the areas that I need to improve on in order to ensure that the desired goal becomes a reality. The feedback from others, especially my close friends have also enabled me to understand my capabilities, personality traits and more importantly, the style of leadership that I possess. Through these feedbacks together with the guide of the GROW model, I will effectively implement the necessary actions and remain on course until the goal of becoming an exemplary organization or project leader is achieved five years from now.

References

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Chaudhuri, S., Hirudayaraj, M., & Ardichvili, A. (2018). Borrow or Grow: An Overview of Talent Development/Management Practices in Indian IT Organizations. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 20(4), 460-478.

Bill G. & Sims, P. (2007). True north : Discover your authentic leadership (1st ed. ed., The warren bennis signature series). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.laureate.net.au/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=188294&site=ehost-live

Marshall, R.J. (2018). MGT601: Models for Leadership Development [Class Handout]. Torrens University Australia.

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Zimmermann, L., & Antoni, C. H. (2017). Developing a sequential process model of coaching. Zeitschrift für Arbeits-und Organisationspsychologie A&O.

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Ferdman, B. M. (2018). Incorporating Diversity and Inclusion as Core Values in Organization Development Practice. In Enacting Values-Based Change (pp. 157-167). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Chin, J. L., Desormeaux, L., & Sawyer, K. (2016). Making way for paradigms of diversity leadership. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 68(1), 49.

Allen, R. S., Dawson, G., Wheatley, K., & White, C. S. (2017). Perceived diversity and organizational performance. Employee Relations, 30(1), 20-33.

Caldwell, C., & Hayes, L. A. (2016). Self-efficacy and self-awareness: moral insights to increased leader effectiveness. Journal of Management Development, 35(9), 1163-1173.

Siegelman, N., Bogaerts, L., & Frost, R. (2017). Measuring individual differences in statistical learning: Current pitfalls and possible solutions. Behavior research methods, 49(2), 418-432.

Judge, T. A., & Zapata, C. P. (2015). The person–situation debate revisited: Effect of situation strength and trait activation on the validity of the Big Five personality traits in predicting job performance. Academy of Management Journal, 58(4), 1149-1179.

Appendix

Personality test