Personal Development Plan: Improve Active Listening Skills
Scenario
The organization you work for as a director of leadership and learning is looking to create an adaptive leadership toolkit to help improve employee leadership skills and behaviors over the next two years. To begin this work, you conducted a personal leadership self-assessment to take a leadership inventory of yourself. Now that you know areas that you can improve upon as a leader, you decided to create a personal development plan that will identify actionable steps toward improving these areas you’ve identified. Your intensions are to incorporate your personal development plan into the adaptive leadership toolkit to serve as an exemplar that can be used by all people leaders in the organization.
Prompt
Leadership behavior: Based on the results of your personal leadership self-assessment, describe the leadership behavior you scored lowest in and explain how developing this could have a positive impact on your ability to lead.
SMART Goal: Apply SMART goal setting to create a personal development plan that aligns with the leadership behavior you’re looking to improve. Keep in mind that your personal development plan will be used as an exemplar for the adaptive leadership toolkit in Milestone Two. Your SMART goal should address the following:
“S” Specific: Your goal must be specific.
i) State your personal development goal.
ii) Describe the reason for this goal.
iii) Describe the objective(s) needed to ensure this goal it met.
“M” Measurable: Your goal must be measurable.
i) Describe the metric(s) that will be used to determine if you meet this goal.
ii) Describe the metric(s) that will be used to measure performance of meeting objective(s) along the way.
“A” Achievable: Your goal must be achievable.
i) Describe the tools and skills you will need to achieve this goal.
ii) Describe who needs to be involved to allow you to be successful in achieving this goal.
“R” Relevant: Your goal must be relevant.
i) Explain how this goal can be linked to an overall business objective.
ii) Explain how this goal will increase your knowledge and improve your overall performance as a leader.
“T” Time-Bound: Your goal must be time bound.
i) Provide an overall timeline for the completion of this goal.
ii) Provide tangible deliverable(s) with due dates that support the objective(s) you indicated above.
Guidelines for Submission
Submit your answers by completing the provided template. If references are included in this assignment, cite them in APA format. Consult the Shapiro Library APA Style Guide for more information on citations.
Improve Active Listening Skills.
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Improve Active Listening Skills.
After conducting a personal leadership self-assessment, it became apparent that active listening was the leadership behavior in which I scored the lowest. Recognizing the significance of improving this skill, I aimed to create a personal development plan with a SMART goal in mind. Specifically, I sought to enhance my active listening abilities by actively engaging in conversations, maintaining eye contact, and asking clarifying questions. By doing so, I aimed to foster effective communication, deepen understanding, and cultivate a supportive and inclusive work environment. To achieve this goal, I planned to attend a communication skills workshop, practice reflective listening techniques during meetings, and actively seek feedback from colleagues to ensure that I am truly listening and comprehending their perspectives. The ultimate objective was to build trust, strengthen relationships, and promote collaboration through effective listening (Lejeune, Beausaert, & Raemdonck, 2021).
To create a personal development plan with a measurable goal, my SMART objective is to actively engage in meaningful conversations with team members, dedicating a minimum of 10 minutes each day to practicing empathy. This will be achieved by attentively listening to their concerns and demonstrating understanding through verbal and non-verbal cues. The effectiveness of this goal will be determined by feedback received from team members, assessing their perception of my empathy, their comfort in expressing thoughts and concerns, as well as observing improvements in team cohesion and morale. I will monitor my progress by engaging in self-reflection and self-assessment, documenting positive interactions and strengthened rapport with team members, and seeking feedback from colleagues and superiors on my development of empathy as a leadership behavior (Lejeune, Beausaert, & Raemdonck, 2021).
In addition to creating a personal development plan with an attainable objective, my SMART goal is to effectively manage my time and tasks by utilizing time management tools such as scheduling apps and productivity techniques like the Pomodoro Technique. Furthermore, I aim to develop skills in setting priorities, delegating tasks, and maintaining focus in order to accomplish this goal. To ensure success, I will engage my team members by clearly communicating expectations, appropriately delegating tasks, and seeking their support and cooperation in adhering to set schedules and deadlines. By involving my team, utilizing essential tools and skills, I anticipate significant progress in enhancing my time management abilities as a leader (Lejeune, Beausaert, & Raemdonck, 2021).
Furthermore, based on the outcomes of my personal leadership self-assessment, the leadership behavior in which I received the lowest score is conflict resolution. Enhancing this behavior could have a positive impact on my leadership capabilities b...