Individual Management and Leadership Plan The WritePass Journal

Individual Management and Leadership Plan Introduction Individual Management and Leadership Plan ). This would mean that not only is goal-setting beneficial for the organisation but for the people working on these goals as well. Increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals Since leadership is about leading people, individual work is not the paramount aspect of goal achievement, but teamwork. In a team, people work together towards achieving desired goals, have full and sufficient understanding in the importance of these goals, how these goals may be achieved successfully, and what each one and the whole team may contribute to their successful achievement. If the leader and even the team members are more focused on working individually rather than as a team, the essence of teamwork is lost. (Ricketts and Ricketts (2011) indicate that working as a team is more effective than working individually; thus, the motivation to utilise teamwork and the various literature on the importance of this concept (e.g. Dyer, Dyer, and Dyer, 2007; Morgeson, Reider, and Campion, 2005; Valle and Witt, 2001).   Since the results of my Four Temperaments Personality Test indicate that I have an extraverted temperament, this temperament would help in my ability to build team work.   The result of my Four Temperaments Personality Test on the phlegmatic aspect, specifically self-indulgence, is a good point to consider in my current preference for individual work over team work. On the other hand, since my dominant sanguine and choleric propensities show that I am inclined to being extraverted, this preference is likely to be changed with ease, given such initial knowledge for its imperative change. Heneman and Greenberger (2002) state that the facilitation of team work is through the efforts of some extraverted individuals. Placing the Plan in an Organisational or Industry Context/Strategy Having accomplished the plan, the next step would be to place this in an organisational or industry context, creating clear links to organisational strategies. First of all, leadership is an important concept in the success of an organisation, which is why organisations always gear for effective leadership or management in the workplace. Leadership is different from seniority or one’s position in the hierarchy of his or her organisation. It is an influential relationship that takes place between a leader and his/her followers as they pursue certain changes or objectives that mirror shared meanings, purposes, and strategies (Mills, Mills, Forshaw, et al., 2007). The potential skills and limitations, on which the plan has been established, will eventually add up to my series of strengths identified by the Belbin Test. After implementing the plan, the expected outcomes for me would be above-average interpersonal skills, ability to communicate with others with relative ease, improved team-based problem solving ability, setting many goals for team projects, and increased preference for team work over individual work. These skills are useful in an organisational context; specifically in managing people where the leader/manager needs to unify his/her team towards successful goal attainment. By being able to work in a team and foster good communication skills, problem solving ability, and other skills thus cited as my strengths, I and my team would together work on the necessary aspects of several tasks, which we are responsible to accomplish. The retail industry is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. This industry is characterised by several challenges in attaining competitive advantage because of the presence of new entrants, substitute products, bargaining power of customers and suppliers, and rivalry between existing competitors (Stonehouse, Campbell, Hamill, et al., 2004).   These challenges serve as a factor for my pursuit for effective leadership and team roles, on which the plan is established. My ability to effectively resolve conflict with teammates and to plan and coordinate with them plays a significant role in smooth working relationships within the team. This importance is further seen in the claim that conflict and lack of team coordination serve as a barrier to attaining desired goals (e.g. Lencion, 2012; Rout and Omiko, 2007). Moreover, my improved interpersonal skills will enable me to communicate my ideas more effectively across people and departments. It has been noted that inte rpersonal skills refer to analytical and decision-making skills (Grant et al, 2010), which means that my possession of these skills will aid my team and the organisation in addressing the competition that retail companies commonly experience.   These together with my improved ability to communicate with others with relative ease, improved team-based problem-solving ability, setting many goals, and increased preference for team work over individual work – will help the company develop strategies for competitive advantage. Incorporating Appropriate Professional Reflection at Relevant Intervals This research has enabled me to identify my own strengths, limitations, and potential skills in leadership and team roles. Apparently, I had no prior ideas of these skills and limitations on a systematic basis, but the Belbin Test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test enabled me to find out approximately what these skills are. I certainly have an initial knowledge of myself, but these tests confirmed them and even added some more which I was not very aware of, such as my satisfactory level of my interpersonal skills, a need to communicate with others with relative ease, a need to improve my team-based problem-solving ability, and my inclination to set only a few goals instead of many goals for team projects. Some of the skills that I am already aware of are effective conflict resolution and ability to plan and coordinate with teammates. Moreover, the Four Temperaments Personality Test made me understand the ease that the potential skills and limitations may be improved. This is because of my dominant combination of sanguine, choleric, and melancholic temperaments, which have positive traits for leadership abilities (e.g. extraversion, being a people-person, optimism, and enthusiasm, being task-oriented, being competition-focused, and being success-specific and strong leadership skills). A further realisation that I have derived from this exercise is the importance of knowing oneself – strengths, skills, abilities, potentials, and limitations – since such knowledge serves as a prelude to being able to manage teams and the organisation as a whole. By being able to systematically identify my strengths, I have been personally assured of my abilities. By being able to also systematically identify my potentials and limitations, I have found out the areas that need improvement. These limitations and potentials allow me to better focus on what I must take an effort to improve on, whilst seeing them as a way for constructive criticism. In addition, no effective leader can function without self-realising his own strengths, skills, and limitations since only when he/she has fully realised them can they be able to function more effectively.   Conclusion This paper has provided an investigation of one’s own individual management and leadership plan, using such diagnostic tools as the Belbin test and the Four Temperaments Personality Test. These tools helped identify and own my individual leadership development requirements. Through the Belbin Test, certain strengths were thus identified along with the potential skills and limitations. The Four Temperaments Personality Test also identified the dominant temperaments that helped in the assessment of one’s leadership propensities and abilities. The plan for development of the skills is centered on improving my interpersonal skills from satisfactory level to above-average level; increasing my ability to communicate with others with relative ease; improving team-based problem-solving ability; setting several goals for team projects instead of only a few ones; and increasing my preference for team work over individual work in accomplishing goals. The retail industry is the specific industry context on which the plan is placed. A professional reflection is conducted, focused on how the entire work is done. References Adair, J. (2007) Develop Your Leadership Skills. London: Kogan Page. Banhegyi, s. (2007) Fresh Perspectives: Management. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa (Pty) Ltd. Butterfield, J. (2011) Illustrated Course Guides: Teamwork and Team Building. Mason, OH: Course Technology Cengage Learning. Dyer, W. G., Dyer, W, G., and Dyer, J. H. (2007) Team Building: Proven Strategies for Improving Team Performance. 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