Creation of Leadership Development Plan - Essay Example

Leadership Development Plan Purpose of the Leadership Development Plan: I am working as a maintenance manager with Chicago transit ity responsible for providing safe and reliable and clean buses for the customers. After acquiring a twenty –one year multi industry experience and having acquired the necessary skills, expertise and industry networks required for the strategic planning level, I am looking ahead to acquiring and working at the highest level of the organization that I am serving. I want to be the Head of the Maintenance Department. For this purpose, I need to exploit the inborn or acquire the traits of a leader to help me in a leadership position. The course “Leadership Development Plan in the 21st Century” has been very insightful and the self-assessment tests are useful in identifying, which leadership styles are suitable in what situations and the traits are found in successful leaders. The role of a Maintenance Manager, the position that I hold, requires not only troubleshooting but also requires relationship management with vendors and most importantly the executers that are either the technical staff, my team members, and other departments within the company. The work environment gets very over bearing and de-motivating after a while for the employees especially given the technical nature of the job. It is also very difficult to acquire new people for the same job roles. Thus to retain the productive technical staff and keep them involved and motivated in their work, I require charismatic leadership skills. The leadership plan can help me identify my weaknesses and overcome them in order for me to achieve the following objectives: 1. Motivating my team members in order to maximize performance and reduce turnover 2. Being remembered as a successful leader 3. Impact of my personality and vision to shape the future of the organization I serve Leadership Theory and Concept of Leadership Classic Vs Contemporary Theories: As defined by Stephen P. Robbins, “Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals”(Organizational Behavior, Stephen P. Robbins). It can be argued that not all managers are necessarily leaders and not all leaders are managers. Leadership theories have evolved over time. According to contemporary leadership theories, leadership abilities are a natural gift. However, modern theories argue that leadership behavior is a result of the traits that certain individuals possess and the behavior that they indulge in as compared to non-leaders. My aim is to be seen as a charismatic leader and to be remembered by peers, colleagues and my boss. I would like to acquire the transformational style of leadership As described by Stephen P. Robbins, “Transformational Leaders are leaders who provide individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation, and who possess charisma”. The transformational leadership style is characterized by the following traits: Charisma Provides vision and sense of mission, instills pride, gains respect and trust Inspiration Communicates high expectations, uses symbols to focus efforts, expresses important purposes in simple ways Intellectual stimulation Promotes intelligence, rationality, and careful problem solving Individualized consideration Gives personal attention, treats each employee individually, coaches, advises -Source-B.M. Bass, “From Transactional to Transformational Leadership; learning to share the vision”, Organizational Dynamics. In the transit industry, especially in the maintenance department, the work conditions can be very difficult. Moreover, the repetitive nature of work makes it very dull and de-motivating for the technical staff. The tendency to quit for a better job opportunity is very high Considering this, my dilemma is to maximize the potential of my workforce by motivating them too achieve the end results. For this purpose, like any other manager I use that transactional style of leadership which focuses primarily on tying rewards to performance, watching out for deviations and try to leave the difficult decisions to the department head rather than making enemies with in my team myself. However, I believe, this leads my boss to think I am not capable of the decision making skills that are required be the Head of the Department. Considering this, I need to inculcate within myself the personality traits of a charismatic leader in order to convince the management of not only my managerial capabilities but also my leadership capabilities. The charismatic theory of leadership is defines as “followers make attribution of heroic or extraordinary leadership abilities when they observe certain behaviors” According to the analysis by J.A. Conger and R.N. Kanungo, the characteristics of Charismatic Leaders are: 1. Self-confidence 2. Vision 3. Ability to articulate the vision 4. Strong convictions 5. Behavior that is out of the ordinary 6. Perceived as being a change agent environment of sensitivity (Source: J.A. Conger and R.N. Kanungo, “Behavioral Dimensions of Charismatic Leadership”) However, even though I do want to be a charismatic transformational leader, and to that end I am ready to develop the above-mentioned characteristics, but I believe that this model of leadership is not applicable in all situations and circumstances. I can apply these under the given circumstances where i.e. am faced with a de-motivated staff. However, in cases in which the whole department is faced with an emergency situation, the work involvement seems to be higher. The reason for this is, that adversity brings the work teams closer. This is a phenomenon, which has not been discussed in detail by the leadership theorists. Charismatic or transformational leadership can only be used to influence followers at an emotional level. At the practical level the research of Ohio State Leadership by Robert House, often known as “the path goal theory”, takes into account the situational aspects of the appropriateness of leadership styles. The path Goal theory is defined as: “The theory that a leader’s behavior is acceptable to subordinates insofar a they view it a source of either immediate of future satisfaction” (Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior) I believe that along with charismatic style of leadership, I need to convince my management that in view of the human nature and their tendency to be attracted by rewards tied to performance, recognition and performance tied to cash rewards, employee stock ownership plans and other piecemeal benefits need to be implemented in order to raise their level of performance. The question of empowerment and leadership sharing In organizational context it can be argued that at what level one can share the power, authority and leadership. A dilemma in this case is where the leadership power is based within an organization. For e.g. I wonder whether the leadership power lies with the CEO of my company or the managers? It has been observed that the maximum influence is yielded by the CEO with the widest range of authority. The manager has comparatively less influence as compared to the CEO and a narrower span of authority. Considering this, I have arrived at the conclusion that leadership abilities also come with the position one hold and due to this only a certain level of authority can be shared or delegated. In layman’s words, the last word should always be of the leader in this case the CEO. Based on this analysis, I would like to be a leader who would like to empower my employees, yet retain the authority to have the last verdict. PERSONAL SITUATION ANALYSIS Life Line Exercise: Set Backs: The greatest setback in at job is the tendency to stick to the routine chores and task and not look ahead in life. From January1997 – July 1999, as a Mechanical Technician I fell into this trap of nine to five drags for twelve years. I believe this phase in which I could have achieved much more, has set e behind on my future plans by five years. Milestones: The major milestones in my life have been the investment I made in developing skills and upgrading myself continuously. The first milestone in my life, the Associate Degree in Mechanical Engineering, set the pace for future growth. I got achieved better career prospects in April 2003 as Reliability Engineer II in RTA. This was a wise career move which finally settled me into the industry where my aptitude and kills are recognized and rewarded in form of career growth. My current job at the Chicago transit Industry is also a result of the career move I made in 2003 to get into the booming transit industry. Instances of Self Discovery (September 2002-April 2003) This was a time when after having invested fourteen precious years of my life and almost half of my career life; I realized that being a Maintenance Technician is not the end. I want to move ahead in like from executing and implementing to strategizing and envisioning. It was time to move ahead and to find a career matching my intrinsic desire to achieve my ambitions. My job as Reliability Engineer in RTA came as a welcome breakthrough in my life as not only did I get a better career but also gained entry into transit industry which has immense growth potential. From then onwards there has been no looking back for me. Lessons of Life: I started of from scratch and worked my way up in twenty one years. I believe I have an edge over other since I have learnt many things in my experience and I have been involved in trouble shooting, repair and maintenance and due to my experience it is difficult for my followers to be dodgy with me. Likewise, I know where the pitfalls lie and can guide my team in a better way. I believe no one can guide better than a person who has been through the process. PERSONAL SWOT ANALYSIS Collection of Data: Amongst the various methods to identify my leadership capabilities, I believe I find leadership tests the most effective. The second best option is feedback from peers and colleagues and lastly, the performance appraisals. The reason why I believe performance appraisals are not a very good way to judge capabilities is that they tend to be biased and my company has a conservative policy regarding performance appraisals, which means I do not always get to know what has been written by my boss and other heads. Leadership Style Test, Suitability in light of Hersey Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory The test that I have found most insightful is by J. Greenberg, in the book “Managing Behavior in Organizations”. This test identifies the New Job Reliability Engineer II in RTA basic leadership style and aligns with Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership theory. According to this test results, my leadership style is “Telling”. As explaining by Stephen P. Robbins while explaining the Hersey Blanchard theory, “Telling, (is a high task-low-relationship) style of leadership whereby the leader defines roles and tells people what, how, when and where to do various tasks”. In other words, I tend to be directive. However, the Hersey Blanchard theory also stresses that all leadership styles are not suitable for all situations. For example, Directive style of leadership is only effective when the nature of task assigned to followers is highly task oriented and requires least relationship management. Also, another limitation is that the degree of suitability of a particular leadership style depends on the readiness of the followers. In my case, my team member tend to be able and unwilling or apprehensive .According to Hershey and Blanchard’s theory, the best leadership style for such apprehensive followers is participative style of leadership. Considering this, my cause of concern is that my leadership style does not match with the readiness of my followers. I need to concentrate in relationship building activities with my followers and have a higher level of supportive behavior towards them. 360 Degree Feedback: I involved in 360 degree feedback during my undergraduate program. We are the group of 5 people among the five except one student all others gave me positive feedback, However, one student mentioned that I am more concerned about delegating and directing and not to answering specific questions on time. The reality was that I called him couple of times to get the job done on time. I believe that delegating eventually leads to greater output and productivity. In my undergraduate program, I had the opportunity to interview the CEO of a company who commented that “the higher you move up the organization chart, the lesser the clutter should be on your table. Thus, as a CEO, my table is clean most of the times.” This was practical advice and I have found it highly useful. I choose to delegate rather than do it all myself. For a leader it is necessary to not get bogged down by day-to day operational issues and should have spare time to strategize. SWOT CATEGORIES Strengths: My greatest strength is my industry knowledge and experience. Moreover my technical skills are hard to find and due to this my degree of indispensability to my organization is high. My other strength is that over the years, I have invested in upgrading my skills and I have acquired professional degrees to further my career. Due to this, it would be easy for me to switch a job and find similar benefits. It is argued by contemporary leadership studies theorists that leadership capabilities are inborn. If that is the case, one of my strengths is my authoritative behavior which is a talent not everyone possesses. People find it difficult to delegate whereas for me it is easy to delegate and focus my own efforts on tasks that are more strategic in nature. I have advanced level computer skills due to which I can service any industry even if it is not transit or technical. Weaknesses: My greatest weakness is a fiery temperament. I tend to lose control and get angry once I do not get the desired results. In organizational settings, noting can harm you more than a temper tantrum. People prone to temper tantrums are perceived by the management as unable to work under high pressure and bad choices in leadership positions Opportunities The transit industry is a booming industry and offers great chances of growth especially since new models of buses are coming up and the demand of technical expertise is expected to rise. Threats: The greatest threat is the job security. I understand that all of my hard work gets wasted if my job is not secure or if my company starts feeling that I am not providing them with the deliverables. DESTINATION PLAN Role Model: My role models as the best leadership figure is Bill Gates.I intend to analyze his personality traits and adopt them in way so as to make them seem like a part of my own personality. For this I will analyze his key traits for e.g. vision and try to see where it has been derived from and what experiences led him to be a visionary. In my own case, I would try to simulate similar environments and situations so that I can acquire a similar vision like Bill Gates. Mentor: Most recently, I stumbled upon the concept of “Mentors” in an academic journal. A mentor is a person who can help you professionally in your career growth believe that besides having a role model, I would greatly benefit by having a “mentor’ guide my career path. For this purpose, I intend to maximize my contact with my current department head. Since I want to be his successor, there would be no one better to guide e about the pitfalls and how to deal with situations than a person who has been through it all. Networking: Leadership is 90% about networking. Considering this, I intend to move in the circle of the manager sof different organizations from the same industry and even other industries. In the job-0market, the names of individuals are also brand names and the better known you are, the better the opportunities that will come your way. The reason for this is that employers are comfortable in recruiting a person who they have received positive feedback from others and knows the background of as compared to a person they do not know anything about. Successor Planning; as pointed out by Hershey-Blanchard theory, leadership is also about the right followers. For this purpose, I intend to build relationships with the people who I believe would be y best successors. The reason for this is, that once I move out, a vacuum would be created in my place. Two situations can arise, either I might have additional responsibilities of two designations, the flip side of it would e that I would not be able to do justice to any of the roles or the other situation might be where I might have a successor who is incapable. Due to this, I would like to fill the gap before it develops by coaching and training the next person in line to take my place and support me once I have moved up. REFERENCES I. Organizational Behaviour, Stephen P. Robbins II. Situational Leadership, Center for leadership Studies III. Substitutes for Leadership, their Meaning & Measurement, S. Kerr and J.M. Jermier IV. Behavioral Dimensions of Charismatic leadership, J.A. Conger and R.N. Kanugo V. From Transactional to Transformational leadership: Learning to Share the Vision, Organizational Dynamics, B.M.Bass VI. Managing Behaviour in Organizations , Greenberg VII. 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