Leadership Journal – Final Entries and Summary
For this last week of journaling, you will write a summary of what you have learned over the course of the semester and then create a development/action plan for yourself that identifies the skills and behaviors you would like to work on as you progress through the program. This written assignment should be 4 page in length, double spaced, and address all the aspects of the question below.
As we have stressed this term, reflection is an important component of leadership development. In an applied, experiential learning framework, reflection is tied to action and ultimately learning. That is, leaders take an action, they try something new, and observe and reflect upon the outcome asking themselves questions such as: What went well? What didn’t go well? How were followers impacted? What would I change next time? Therefore, the next step in your leadership development is action planning, action execution, and reflection. Be specific about what you want to accomplish and why you are doing it.
**Summarize what you have learned from the self-assessments you took over the last eight weeks. Be sure to include your thoughts about the adaptive leadership and transactional leadership assessments you took this week. Are you more of a transactional leader, transformational leader or laisse-faire leader?
**What are your leadership strengths? You can leverage these to help you develop in other areas. Be sure you place your strengths within your current context, i.e., your current work or personal situation.
**Using the theories discussed and the self-assessment information, what gaps exist between your current leadership practice and the type of leader you want to be? In other words, what are some of your leadership weaknesses?
**What are two areas of your leadership style that you would like to improve? Be sure you place your areas for development within your current work or personal context—what areas for development will help you right now?
**What actions can you take right now (what behaviors can you try, what books can you read, what modifications can you make to your own attitudes and motives)?
**Are there any things you want to stop doing? These are behaviors and attitudes that hold you back from achieving your leadership goal.
