Personal Leadership Development Plan - Assignment Example

Personal Leadership Development Plan Introduction One of the best things to have in life is a dream. Dreams are important in everyone’s life because they determine ones destiny. People that do not have a destiny often move into the journey of life without a purpose and do not often achieve anything meaningful. Lacking a purpose is life makes one live an empty life, often falling for anything that comes into ones direction. On the other hand, people have the have dreams, often have a firm vision that they follow with dedication and motivation. Successful leaders in the world of business, politics and other important dimensions are those that are motivated and driven by the beauty of their dreams (Jasper 12). It is important to realize that having dream is one thing and following it is another thing. In this case, the beauty of a dream is not in how good it sounds, but in the steps being taken towards its actualization (Field and Phil 29). In this case, it is always important that a person develop a path upon which he has to follow earnestly in achieving the dream. This calls for the development of assessment strategy and plan in order to use it in the process of achieving excellence in the identified dream, this paper examines the strategies I have developed in order develop a personal leadership plan that will enable me actualize my dream. 2. Background information Currently, I am still a junior taking my undergraduate studies where I am majoring in Pharmacy. My interests remain to excel and get an admission in Purdue University, where I hope to advance my studies and achieve my professional goals. During the summer holiday, I intend to use my time to offer my services, working at the CVS pharmacy until my time of graduation. Additionally, I look forward to working in the Hospital pharmacy as a student intern. This presents my career preference openly, that of being a pharmacist. This arises out of my passion and interest in pharmacy, something that has motivated me to take studies in the same field, in the hope of gaining knowledge and skills as well as experience to discharge my duties effectively upon graduation. One of the things that I admire most in Pharmacy is the duties that pharmacists play towards helping patients regain their health, and advising them on better ways to live successful and healthy lifestyles. Upon graduation and gaining enough knowledge and skills, I look forward to working in a retail pharmacy, where I look forward to have direct communication with people that would like my services and other kinds of consultancy. In the years that will follow, I plan to create, perfect and use my leadership skills to ascend the ladder of leadership. In this case, I plan to become not only the regional manager of the retail pharmacy, but also an authority on the industry, influencing policies and other strategies that will enhance the success of the pharmaceutical industry. 3. My leadership development plan In general, achieving life goals is not often easy; one has to have a proper and effective strategy upon which the dream can be achieved. This is often done through the creation of a leadership plan, which provides direction into the process of setting goals and achieving them appropriately. The plan has six important elements that are vital towards my achievement of effective leadership skills and dreams as according to the way I have outlined them. The six elements spelt out in my leadership plan will become important assessment tools into achievement of the set plans. 4. Leader-Member Exchange This assessment tool in my leadership plan will assist me in developing a proper relationship with my leaders in the course of my work in the retail pharmacy. Previously, I have had good scores in this assessment tool during the time I have been an intern in the previous summer holidays. It is important that when working with someone above you in rank, a proper relationship exists in order to exchange ideas and opinions for the success of the organisations. During my previous internship, I managed to get a score of 5.43, which indicates that I had good leader-Member skills (Sullivan and Phillip 65). I managed to assist my leaders in achieving his set goals in the pharmacy through taking on my assigned roles effectively. I will use the skills and the experience that I have gained in my studies and during my internship in order to excel in my pharmacy career. 5. Motivation to lead This assessment tool is important in outlining an individual’s ability to lead other people effectively. In this assessment, a score of six often indicates that one has a high ability to lead other people in the most effective way. Effective leaders are those that have the ability to give instructions and help their followers in achieving their given tasks in regard to the organisations goals and objectives. Being motivated to lead means that a leader has to be affective, helping followers to manage their tasks according to the work requirements. The leader becomes creative, devising strategies and approaches that can be used in the course. I will use the experiences I have acquired during my previous internship programs to motivate my followers in the retail pharmacy. 6. Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is often an important and essential assessment tool that all leaders are expected to have in the course of their leadership. This leadership skill often calculates the scores of knowledge, thinking, expressions as well as regulations, all of this are in consideration of the leaders emotions (Achua and Robert, 26). It is important to realize that the expression of emotions by a leader demonstrates his ability to appraise those emotions in himself and the people he is leading. Emotional intelligence in a leader is very essential in that it helps him to prioritize his attention to some of the information, which is very important in the course of his people management. The ability to manage people in the most effective and successful manner is a successful ingredient towards success. A good leader should always be better-placed to understand his followers and deal with them in the best ways in order to elicit maximum productivity and motivation (Dive, 41). I look forward to using this assessment tool in understanding my followers when I will be working in the retail pharmacy. 7. Influence Tactics This assessment tool deals with the various ways in which a leader can influence his followers to take instructions and follow the outlines plan for the success of the organisation or system in question. The right scores in this assessment tool indicate that one can effectively rational persuasion in persuading others to do the right thing in a position of leadership. In this assessment tool, a score above six indicates that one can effectively influence others to do the right thing. This assessment will assist me when working as a pharmacist, consultant and an important team member. In this case, I will manage to create work teams that will be essential in complementing the works and efforts of each other towards achieving the goals of the pharmacy institute (Stahl 45). With this tool, I look forward to having a successful and effective team that will make the retail pharmacy and other organisations I will work for successful. 8. Participatory Leadership Participatory leadership involves the ability to work with other people in the most effective way, with regards to their attitudes. This assessment tool puts into consideration the four important attitudes necessary in the course of leadership. They include; attitudes toward people with average skills, sharing information and skills, participation as well as the nature of the supervisory roles in an organisation. A high score of more that 4 in each of the four attitudes indicates a leaders ability to work effectively with his subordinates and other people having varieties of skills. Being an effective leader, I will use this assessment tool in my leadership plan to identify my ability to work with different people (Silva, 36). I will ensure that I score highly, more that four so that I will effectively manage and control my subordinates for the success of the retail pharmacy and all the others that I will work for. It is important as a leader to understand that effective leadership involves one having the ability to coordinate all the people in the team. additionally, the people being led will always be varying in the knowledge, skills and experience (Babler, 17); however, this diversity has to be appreciated since it is an important ingredient to the success of the organisation. With all these assessment tools and skills, my leadership is bound to be excellent, helping me achieve my dreams and life goals as well as those of the institutions that I will work for. 9. Achievement of the plan I have the knowledge that achieving anything in life requires dedication and motivation. For this reason, I look forward to working with accountability partners who will help me in the course of the achievement of the plan. I understand that many people the have risen in their management and leadership positions have done so out of dedication and being motivated (Achua and Robert 87). In this case, I have intrinsically motivated myself so that I will always remain active and dedicated to my plan irrepsestive of the circumstances that will try to hinder me. Besides my intrinsic motivation, I have also set myself mentors from the different places that I have worked before in the course of learning. Most of them are managers in various pharmaceutical institutions. These are people that have mentored and encouraged me in the past; for this reason, I look forward to have a lovely time in the course of achieving my objectives. I can openly say that I have learnt many things from this people, something that has influenced me in the development of my leadership plan. In the same way, I will also look to them for inspiration towards its accomplishment. In conclusion, leadership is something that has to be cultivated. One endeavoring to be successful in a certain position has to to be dedicated towards continous learning and implementation of the steps learnt in the process (Jasper 89). In addition, one has to have the necessary support systems in order to be successful in this process. However, it is important to understand that amidst all these things, all things are always possible to those that believe in the beauty of their dreams (Jasper 92). Works Cited Achua, Christopher and Robert Lussier. Effective Leadership. 4th Ed., International ed. Mason, Ohio: South-Western ;, 2010. Print. Babler, Scott. Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Project Management in a Changing Global Environment. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010. Print. Dive, Brian. The Accountable Leader Developing Effective Leadership through Managerial Accountability. London: Kogan Page, 2008. Print. Field, Kit, and Phil Holden. Effective Subject Leadership. Taylor & Francis E-Library ed. London: Routledge, 2002. Print. Jasper, Melanie. Effective Healthcare Leadership. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Pub., 2005. Print. Silva, Titus. Essential Management Skills for Pharmacy and Business Managers. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis/CRC, 2013. Print. Stahl, Michael. Encyclopedia of Health Care Management. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2004. Print. Sullivan, Eleanor and Phillip Decker. Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. Print. Read More