Leadership action plan
To develop your own capacity to actively reflect on your strengths and areas for development as an emerging leader &/or team member. To understand the importance of personal and professional skills development for lifelong learning and to develop a realistic action plan based on reflection of current skills and future skill requirements.
Task & Scope:
You will reflect upon your individual learning from this subject (self-awareness, team work and Ieadership, academic and professional communication) to prepare a Personal Leadership Action Plan. This Personal Leadership Action Plan will identify current strengths and areas for professional and personal development for yourself as leader &/or team member.
Information for this Personal Leadership Action Plan should be gained by you reflecting on your own personal work experiences, enhanced self-awareness through completing various assessment exercises whether undertaken within or outside this subject (such as feedback from the 360 degree questionnaire) and the reference material identified for this subject. A minimum of 4 references must be included in the preparation of the Plan.
The plan will consider and record:
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your career journey to date; where you think you are in your leadership journey;
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your career aspirations; and
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What you think you need to do to move to the next stage in your career.
The Personal Leadership Action Plan will include a plan with set goals; timelines; realistic actions; and measurements of success. Please ensure that all your goals are ‘SMART’ and able to be actioned within a 12 month to 2-year timeframe.
Suggested Format:
This Plan should:
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Be written in the first person;
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Use 11 font (Arial or Times Roman) and 1.5 line spacing;
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Provide major headings to guide the reader;
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Present the Action Plan in a tabular format and have clear headings.
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Include your name and student number in the footer of the plan.
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Include a reference list.
Developing an Action Learning Focus
Source: acknowledgment is given to Dr Janet Fitzell and Swinburne University for the development of this plan
Focus area 1: What I want to work on
What is the area of learning or development that I want to focus on? What do I want to learn to do differently or better?
Focus area 2: Diagnosis – digging deeper on why this is important for me
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Why do I want to work on this part of how I operate or who I think/believe I am?
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What do I know about how good I am at it now? How I usually behave?
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How do others see my capability or behaviour in relation to this issue? What feedback have I had so far?
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Is there other feedback I need to get?
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Is working on this area of my development or learning going to be a stretching and “uncomfortable” experience?
Your diagnosis should succinctly and clearly outline what you are going to focus on for your development and why.
Focus area 3: Learning Goal(s)
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What can I do that will make a difference in the short term?
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What am I hoping to change? What will I be doing differently or better by working on this challenge?
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Develop a learning goal that outlines what it is that you want to work on changing in your mindset, the way you behave and think about things.
A couple of examples:
By the time this unit of study is finished, I will have developed my presentation skills so that people will find my presentations interesting and easy to follow.
By the time this unit of study is finished, I will have sought feedback from my boss, peers and subordinates on any deficits in my performance as a team player and I will have learned to accept any negative feedback without becoming defensive and shutting it out.
Focus area 4: Why would I go to this trouble? Where’s the value?
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How will my learning make me a better leader?
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Is there value for others (boss, colleagues, team)?
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What impact will my learning have on others? Might it change the dynamics of my relationships at work?
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Are there risks for me? For others
Focus area 5: Action Plan – how will I get there?
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How am I going to achieve my learning goal?
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What information do I need? Who do I need to get it from?
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What actions do I need to take? By when? (Start/finish dates for each action)
Focus area 6: How will I know I have achieved what I set out to do?
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Who else apart for just me will be able to assess my level of achievement?
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How will I (and others) tell that I have made a difference/changed? (Remember this is about you and your improved capability not the completion of a project).
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How will I note/gather proof of the changes I make? Who else might notice changes, apart from me?
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Criteria |
A+: Outstanding |
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40% Journey |
Reflection on career journey and goal demonstrates outstanding analysis, evaluation and insights into your strengths and areas for Development. Report show outstanding integration of feedback and insights gained through reflection on all diagnostic tools/discussion undertaken throughout the subject. At this level, every component is expected and all areas must to be outstanding. |
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40% Action Plan |
Outstanding action plan clearly, completely, and convincingly articulates the participant’s career goal and is completely grounded in the previous analysis of strength and areas for development. Actions, timelines and measurements of success are detailed, appropriate, complete, and realistic. Measurements of success are completely aligned to actions. Outstanding in every way |
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20%Construction |
Outstanding structure and sequence are used masterfully to integrate ideas. Document is grammatically correct, free from spelling errors and is accurately referenced using the Harvard referencing method. Powerful, confident and precise use of language, mastery of style and tone. Action plan component well presented in tabular format with the required headings clearly specified |
