August 7, 2001Individual Development PlanEach individual is just that: individual. We all have our strengths and weakness. Life is about exploring and improving on those.
Growth never ends. It is expanding our minds and attitudes to make life happy and peaceful. My development depends what I do to accomplish my life goals. My carrier path will depend on how I can grow and develop in my field and management capabilities. I like to think I have many strengths.
After review of my character/ personality test, I can see what they are. I am a task-oriented leader, which drives me to finish a project. I have a strong individual work ethic, which allows me to be responsible and not rely on others. I am good at building and leading a team.
I am not power oriented, so I am not manipulative and scheming. My preferred power types include collaborating, compromising, legitimate. This means I know that a person does not necessarily need to be in management to be a vital employee. I prefer to use collaborating, compromising, and accommodating techniques when dealing with conflict. I also have a strong ability to provide good feedback.
My individual performance style test revealed that I am conscientious, Open to experience, extravert. My Myers-Briggs Type indicator results said that I am extrovert, intuitive, felling and perceptive. I have a high locus of control which means I feel that I can control the situation I am in with my actions and feelings. I have a moderate self-esteem level. My motivations are strong driven with growth, relatedness and existence needs. I have a high standard if ethics.
Though all that may make me to sound like the perfect person, I am far from there. My leadership style lacks concern for people. I can finish a project, but might offend some people on the way. I have a hard time dealing in a team because I rely so much on myself. Management typically uses reward and coercive power, which I do not value highly.
I did not get good scores when it comes to using competing and avoidance skills with conflict. I have poor listening skills and often wait to long to give feedback. I have a low emotional stability. I also have a high amount of neediness, which can me extremely unsatisfied.
Tommy Woods Independent Improvement PlanAugust 2001 – Read Celebration of Discipline- Practice a new discipline each monthAugust 2002 – Review Tools for Teams- Apply one section from book each month January 2003 – Read Bridges Not Walls, a Book About Interpersonal Communication- Try a technique from the book each monthJanuary 2004 – Read The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership Follow Them And People Will Follow You- Apply a law each monthI believe reading is the key to finding success, whether its work or play. I found several resources to improve on my weakness while enhancing my strengths. The four resources are Celebration of Discipline, Tools for Teams: Building Effective Teams in the Workplace, Bridges Not Walls: A book about Interpersonal Communication, and The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership Follow Them And People Will Follow You. It has been said that it takes twenty-eight days to develop a habit, I have decided to pace my self a month for developing each new technique I have researched and determined that these three resources can help find the growth I am looking for. Celebration of Discipline by Richard F.
Foster is a book about the path to spiritual growth. This book will help me train myself to be emotionally stronger while reaffirming my ethics and self-esteem. The book should help me find a source of fulfillment for some of my needs as well as increase my concern for others. This is the first resource I choose for my development because I believe my spiritual growth affects all aspects of my life, not just career and workplace. In looking for ways to strength my team participation skills, a resource that I have already used came to mind.
Tools for Teams: Building Effective Teams in the Workplace was the book for my first class at University of Phoenix. The course I took focused on team building. If I could use what I have already applied in my academic life, then I can improve on my lacking team skills. I remember this book to have great insight to improve the quality and effectiveness of dealing with team. The next resource Bridges Not Walls: A Book about Interpersonal Communication is a book my wife recommended. It was a textbook she used in college communications course.
The book outline ways to better communicate with other. The book has an emphasis in the listening aspect, and understanding body language. This book also shows the best ways to handle different kinds of conflicts. Once again, I think resource will help not only with workplace situations but also in all aspects of life situations.
The last resource is The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership Follow Them And People Will Follow You by John C. Maxwell. This book should help me with my overall management skills. This book can help me learn how to better deal with using reward and coercive power.
I believe this resource rounds my development plan. These four resource applied slowing, yet completely will help me improve on my strengths and weaknesses. These should enhance not only my work style, but also my lifestyle. Improvement is most importantly a day-by-day, minute-by-minute to become more than we were, and more than we are.
The results can be seen in our actions and attitude. ReferenceFoster, Richard J. Celebration of Discipline HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 1998. Maxwell, John C. Developing the Leader Within You 2001.
Stewart, John. Bridges Not Walls: A Book about Interpersonal Communication Mcgraw-Hill Inc. 1995. Thompson, Leigh, Eileen Aranda, Stephen P. Robbins, and others.
Tools for Teams Boston, MA Pearson Custom Publishing, 2000.Words/ Pages : 1,017 / 24
