Improving Leadership Skills and Academic Performance - Assignment Example

 Introduction The aim of this assignment is to present a personal development plan, utilising the knowledge and skills gleaned through DTP. The development plan consists of a retrospective of personal and professional change, a discussion of goals achieved thus far in my study program, as well as a critical reflection of how to improve identified weaknesses whilst building on strengths in key areas which can assist in creating a more competent professional and student. Personal and professional change One of the most fundamental changes I have experienced thus far is improvement in leadership capabilities. Whilst I have always been extroverted in social and professional situations, prior to this study program, my over-confidence in my capabilities and knowledge complicated being a solid team member when working in groups. For instance, I had previously desired to work independently in most situations, both academic and professional, with minor levels of resentment and animosity when forced to work in team environments. It was not an inherent part of my personality in which I believed that team members were not capable, only that trust in my own talents and ability to organise made it difficult for me to build group inter-dependency and rely on others achieving team goals. Hence, I have come to learn that an effective leader is one that gives others opportunities to excel and make positive contributions to a group. Stover (2004) discusses the concept of tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge, in which individuals that maintain a specialised set of talents (tacit knowledge) must convert this knowledge to teach others. Interaction with others, according to Stover, is absolutely necessary for effective knowledge conversion to be achieved. However, as aforementioned, my personal resistance to participative teamwork challenged gaining followership from others as an effective leader. My current study program has given me ample opportunities to work with others and I have made a very competent effort at reducing the internal conflicts that arise when forced to work in groups where all members have a distinct task. Some of these attitudes and resistance to teamwork ideology is likely a product of my cultural background in the Middle East. In my home country, it is common that professional members of an organisation, in politics and even general society to maintain high power distance, defined by Hofstede (2001) as a type of inequality where hierarchies are dominant business, social and political structures. It is commonplace for leaders to be autocratic, a leadership style where decision-making is top-down and organisational members are not given opportunities to make positive contributions or participate in shared decision-making; a command and control methodology of management (Goodnight 2004). However, having many opportunities throughout my academic career to work inter-dependently with diverse team members have radically changed my perspective on leadership and collaborative working. One such example was the group essay assignment where I worked with six individuals that hailed from different countries to work on a project for collecting money for a charity and the methodology for making this project work effectively. In this group, there was often disagreement about how to proceed with the project which ultimately complicated maintaining a positive social environment. I experienced initial culture shock, which is a type of personal disorientation and breakdown of personal comfort levels when one attempts to acclimate to new cultural values and beliefs (Knell 2007). The conflict was that each group member maintained a unique perspective on what actually constituted effective leadership, with some wanting aggressive and ambitious management whilst others thought a more passive approach to the project would be most viable. This, I felt, complicated achieving group goals effectively, making me resistant to being a team member as a result. I believed that my own values and culturally-driven approaches to managing the group were superior. However, upon reflection during the group, I began to recall some of the academic lessons I had learned about effective leadership strategies and the importance of building a cooperative within a team environment. I knew even then that my own personal levels of intolerance and impatience at the values and ideologies of other group members was a product of over-confidence in myself. Rather than attempting to reinforce my own strategies, I tried to adopt a more transformational leadership approach where one is inspirational, visionary, and provides positive reinforcement to others (Fairholm 2009). The end result of this approach was a more positive social situation, more member willingness to follow my direction and approaches, and a group that was able to coordinate tasks effectively. Hence, my most important lesson was to breakdown layers of personal resistance when working with others. As I have limited professional experience, I believe that this learning about positive leadership and team ideology are going to be the most fundamental and most valuable in my future career objectives. In my chosen field of finance and accounting, client services and advisory services are some of the most fundamental which requires the professional to work with diverse team members and customers. I now feel that I have a better understanding of how to function within a collaborative team environment where participation and shared decision-making are crucial factors to achieving organisational goals. I am much less resistant to allowing others to be contributors and have significantly lessened my inherent resistance to this type of team structure. I plan to perform independent study on leadership strategies and review empirical studies in a variety of different journals to understand how best to implement leadership strategies and better understand how to open effective lines of communications with diverse individuals within an organisational context. Communication skills are critical in a team in order to convince all team members about their value and talents when working in groups (Wilcox, Winn and Fyvie-Gauld 2005). In the future, I believe that communications and solid leadership skills will replicate the same outcomes I experienced in the group project in this course and in the professional environment upon entering my chosen career. Constant practice of these strategies will likely reduce group conflict whilst also improving aspects of my personality that were developed (and made ineffective) by my home culture that tolerates high levels of power distance. Yet another personal change I have experienced is better time management. I have, many times in the past, had difficulty prioritising activities (especially in the academic environment). Procrastination has been a personal barrier that I have worked consistently to overcome. Time management is referred to as a type of meta-activity whereby one sets a goal to maximise the holistic benefit of a set of activities whilst considering the boundaries of time and deadline. I have substantially developed my own personal metacognition that has assisted in being successful in better time management. Metacognition is understanding the self, desired goals and the strategies that guide an individual to achieve these goals. It is the degree by which an individual is able to assess their own experiences; knowing about knowing (Coutinho 2007). Whereas I used to maintain an attitude that certain activities only provide short-term benefit, I began a metacognitive exploration of my ambitions and my capability to achieve long-term benefits by being more diligent in avoiding procrastination. I found that by looking at the big picture, a long-run strategy, I found more motivation and enthusiasm for completing tasks that lead to a set goal. Hence, through metacognitive strategies and self-exploration, I found purpose to even mundane tasks, both academic and personal, which provided ambition to achieve deadlines and better manage my time to be a more effective student. This was a key feature of my personal development plan, a goal for more effective management of time. I believe that my student colleagues and even instructors have witnessed this positive change as someone who finds inspiration to achieve deadline goals and as an individual that has developed substantial organisational skills to be more productive. This new ambition and metacognitive ability to be self-reflective has manifested itself in better marks on my student projects. Elements of the PDP It was another fundamental goal of my PDP to improve my confidence in public speaking and in presentations. I recognise that this is going to be a desired and expected talent in the field of finance and accounting, especially when working with clients that rely on my expertise and knowledge to guide their decision-making. I was able to improve some of this confidence by meeting diverse individuals from different countries and cultures which provided me with opportunities to be more outwardly expressive. When it comes to my public speaking apprehensions, I was guided by Ni (2007) who is a professor of communications studies who stated the first step in public speaking confidence is to recognise that I’m not perfect. I mentioned previously in the report about being over-confident in many of my abilities which drives me toward achieving perfection, which is an unrealistic goal. I had, prior to this program, been highly concerned and anxious that presentation audiences will pick up on my mistakes and critique them harshly which is the primary underpinning for my lack of confidence. Ni (2007) enforces that an audience cannot know mistakes unless the speech one is giving is halted or there is a breakdown of communications on behalf of the speaker. The communication coach says to “give yourself permission to not be perfect” in order to reduce anxiety and nervousness (p.3). Hence, I gained confidence by being exposed to more situations that demanded public speaking and presentation. Practice, in this case, I believe, makes perfect. Whilst I still have some reservations about conducting presentations in the professional environment, I have become more self-assured by recognising that I cannot achieve unrealistic levels of perfection. I found that these anxieties were reduced through this recognition, allowing me to focus more on the quality of speeches and presentations instead of being worried about how I am being appraised by the receiving audience. My largest learning lesson is that when it comes to public speaking, one can project more legitimate confidence by making fair evaluations of one’s ability to communicate publicly and trying to stifle anxieties about audience criticism. In the finance and accounting field, I will definitely be expected to perform regular public presentations and the learning I achieved through this DTP will be substantially valuable for success in the workplace. I had also set a goal of achieving better usage and writing of the English language. Though I am bilingual, with proficient capabilities for French and Arabic, English has always been a struggle. Therefore, I set out on an independent study to learn about strategies which are effective for English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students in order to improve my English competency and literacy which are readily available in scholarly journals. I also attended an English course where role playing was fundamental to improving English communication skills and improving the quality of engagement between individuals who are anxious about their English proficiency and performance, which is common with ESL students. This course not only improved my English capabilities, but gave me a new type of empathy for others and increased my confidence in public presentation, which is recognised by Parrish (2004) as outcomes of role play activities. I believe that student colleagues and even educators can witness my improvements in English (especially when writing). When working in the finance and accounting fields, it will be absolutely critical to have fundamental English skills especially when working in a multi-national business where the organisational model is Western in design. The empathy achieved through role play, additionally, will better service my ability to work in teams and be an effective leader that is trusted and respected by others. Kouzes and Posner (2012) reinforce that being an exemplary leader means encouraging others’ hearts to gain their performance improvements. I had also set a goal to improve my academic performance. The first thing I needed to identify was my preferred learning style. Hence, I explored the Internet to find Kolb’s Learning Styles Inventory to better understand how I might be able to improve study capability and gain better comprehension. The results of this Inventory found that I was an accommodator, one that learns best with hands-on experience, one that challenges existing theories, and tends to make decisions based on instinct rather than relying on facts and logic (Kolb 1984). These findings from Kolb’s Inventory were very surprising as I had considered myself a converger, or one that likes to problem solve, work independently, and enjoys testing hypotheses. Having gained an understanding of my learning style, I decided that I would try more experiential (hands-on) learning to see if it would improve my level of comprehension. In an effort to further improve my English comprehension, I began making flash cards with key phrases and then rehearsing these in effective communications strategies. I believe this contributed highly to even better English usage and writing and using English in social communications. By having an understanding of how one best learns and then building an independent curriculum based on these findings, such as with Kolb’s Inventory, my study habits have improved, my English has further improved, and my ability to commit academics to memory has increased. I believe this will have significant value for the rest of my life, both academic and professional, by changing the methodology by which I explore the learning process. SWOT Analysis Having described the most fundamental changes I have experienced and my most important PDP objectives, it is relevant to conduct a personal SWOT analysis to gain even broader perspectives on what needs development and what skills I can draw upon successfully. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths Excellent devotion to service philosophy High levels of personal creativity Superior proficiency in major computer software packages – Microsoft Office Ability to work productively under pressure Highly ambitious Extroverted personality Weaknesses Becomes easily bored with mundane tasks Minimal previous work experience Sometimes over-confident of my knowledge and talents A tendency to procrastinate Easily frustrated over loss of face – social reputation issues Difficulty in analysing and comprehending quantitative statistics. Opportunities Interview real-world business leaders to gain qualitative knowledge about corporate best practice. Engage in more reading of English-based books to improve this language-related competency Join social organisations that emphasise community and volunteerism to improve service ideology. Begin networking with career professionals to assist in career placement and direction. Threats A highly competitive career market due to rising university enrolment. Lack of professional experience which might impact prospective employers’ view of my employability. An uncertain international economic climate which could impact job stability and longevity. A productive SWOT analysis conducted on myself involved recognising ambiguities and inconsistencies related to my talents, personality, the external market, and what opportunities I could explore to make me a more qualified and competent person. As illustrated by the analysis, my high level of ambition can be applied to mundane tasks to stay motivated; as a relevant example. I find this frustration over having to perform monotonous tasks to be a potential hindrance to my future career goals and objectives. In the finance and accounting field, it is necessary to perform these tasks (i.e. routine calculations and documentation) which are an expectation in this industry. Hence, I either need to overcome this weakness or search diligently for a career opportunity that affords more opportunity for creativity and job role innovation. This SWOT Analysis gave me a more well-rounded picture of my talents and what deficiencies I might still need to overcome. Summary reflection DTP has changed my approach to learning, with the most primary and beneficial aspect being more self-reflective and self-critical. Whilst being over-confident about my talents and knowledge would seem to be a positive trait, I learned that this can actually be detrimental since it tends to restrict using more participative leadership strategies which are crucial for gaining trust and respect from others; both socially and professionally. DTP has laid the foundation for understanding the self more productively, being aware of what requires development, and then using strategies and theories to become a better student and employee. It has given me the motivation to engage in independent study in many different domains so as to better understand the requirements expected of an employed professional, which was something that I used to sidestep. DTP has prepared me with fundamental lessons on how to reach the pinnacle of my ability to achieve goals and changed my personality to be more accommodating in team environments. References Coutinho, S.A. (2007). The relationship between goals, metacognition and academic success, Educate, 7(1), pp.39-47. Fairholm, M. (2009). Leadership and organisational strategy, The Public Sector Innovation Journal, 14(1), pp.26-27. Goodnight, R. (2004). Encyclopedia of leadership. London: Sage. Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: comparing values, behaviours, institutions and organisations across nations, 2nd edn. London: Sage. Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Kouzes, J.M. and Posner, B.Z. (2012). The leadership challenge, 5th edn. Jossey Bass. Knell, M. (2007). Burn up or splash down: surviving the culture shock of re-entry. United Kingdom: Authentic. Ni, P. (2007). Ten tips for presentation confidence and reducing nervousness, Preston Ni Communication Coaching. [online] Available at: http://www.nipreston.com/publications/excerpts/Ten_Tips_for_Presentation_Confidence-SAMPLE.pdf (accessed 17 August 2014). Parrish, B. (2004). Teaching Adult ESL: A Practical Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill. Stover, M. (2004). Making tacit knowledge explicit, Reference Services Review, 32(2), pp.164-172. Wilcox, P., Winn, S. and Fyvie-Gauld, M. (2005). It was nothing to do with the university, it was just the people: the role of social support in the first-year experience of higher education, Studies in Higher Education, 30(6), pp.707-722. Read More