Learning Outcomes
Completing this assignment will help you develop your project leadership skills in the future, using your learning from this unit.
Preparation
Before starting this assignment, you should reflect on Assignment 1, and raise any questions with the lecturer.
Instructions
The plan is an opportunity to identify your development goals for the near future (1-5 years).
First, you are asked to review your learning from this unit in relation to your self-identity, project leadership skills, strengths and development needs, as follows (suggestion only, feel free to personalise it).
i) What is your self-identity? Introduce yourself in a few paragraphs – your strengths, passions, formative influences (eg family, school, previous work or volunteer work…), life goals etc.
ii) What is project leadership to you? What theories of leadership (eg transactional, situational, transformative, authentic, servant etc) guide your personal concept of it? What are the important skills? Are there any role models (in family, work or public life) that guide/inspire you?
iii) Where do you see your career path heading in the near future (say 5 years). What sort of work, in what sort of firm(s)? How does this fit your life goals?
iv) What skills are required in your current job? Which do you most need to develop? (If not working, what do you think you will need for the next job?)
v) What is your leadership mission? An aspirational statement that you can identify with - why does leadership matter to you, why would you want to lead others?
vi) What will be your key work relationships? Do you need to develop important relationships with certain staff, managers, peers, clients etc? What sort of relationships should they be (“we meet regularly over coffee”)? No names!
vii) Review of strengths and development needs. What capabilities do you have now and what do you aspire to have as a leader in, say, 5 years? You can use Assignment 1, but also consider areas we have covered since then. The review could be a table. Consider four levels:
Character: “I am an extrovert but would like to develop my reflective side..” “I am at good at control but would like to learn to be more dependent on others..”
Experience: “ I have 5 years experience at this level / in this industry / in this unit / in Australia / in middle management / as section leader and in five years I would like to have more experience at ….”
Mindsets: “I am good at operational planning / working with people / marketing / crime analysis but would like to develop my mental framework for working people of other cultures / finance / working at executive level …”
Skills or capabilities: “I have good skills in … but would like to develop …”
Where possible, use and reference the textbook’s concepts of skills.
viii) Plan: What formal (eg., training programs) and informal opportunities (eg., mentoring, observing others, work experience, reflection) do you propose for your future development. This is the heart of the assignment.
As a guide, the Review and Plan should be approximately two-thirds of the essay.