Development Plan

Order Description

You will be asked to complete a series of assessments or activities to support your learning project. These assessments can be found in a word document packet in Blackboard (located in Week 1 Supporting Materials folder), called your Development Plan. You will need to complete this packet including the assessments and the proposal for your learning project and submit the packet through the Assignment link.

Your Development Plan will include the following:
Please note, that you are required to use the Development Plan template (located in Week 1 Supporting Materials folder) to input all your information for this assignment as it will make it easier to submit so that you have all the information in one area. I suggest that you download the template to your computer, fill out each assigned area, and then submit to Turnitin. The specific directions for each area are located on the Development Plan template.

1. Learning Partner(s) Name(s) – these will be assigned in Week 2.

2. The Future – Think about where you would be sitting and reading this if it were five years from now and you were living your ideal professional life.

3. Learning Style Inventory – Complete the assessment and briefly reflect on the accuracy and meaning of the results.

4. Competency Assessment – Complete and attach a self-assessment of the leadership competencies found on Blackboard. Obtain and attach feedback about your leadership competencies from two other sources e.g. your manager, coworkers, peers (this will provide you with an enhanced understanding of your strengths and development needs). Summarize your feedback using the worksheet on page 5.

5. Commitment Statement– This statement supports your Learning Plan. In this statement you should explain why you selected this development goal for your Learning Plan. The statement should integrate the readings and class learnings covered through Week 2 (1-2 pages, single spaced in the development plan template).

6. Learning Project – Your learning project proposal should include a) your development goal b) a detailed description of the project, including key milestones c) expected outcomes of the project. d) your feedback sources including the name of your learning partner. This is the critical piece of your Development Plan and should be specific and detailed in each of the four areas:

**Your development goal – based on one to two leadership competencies. The reason I suggest limited to 1 – 2 leadership is that you want to be sure to focus on what wil have the most impact at this time and also so that you do not get overwhelmed/spread yourself to thin.If you have multiple competencies that you feel are important, make a list in order of priority and then select the top one or two.

A detailed description of the project, including key milestones. The project should require concrete action on your part (as opposed to just analysis). It is expected that the project will include a series of actions to develop the leadership competency identified in your development goal. Key milestones are sub-goals that when all accomplished will help you achieve your ultimate goal.

Expected outcomes of the project in terms of your development, your team, your department/company, etc.

Your additional feedback sources – two feedback sources outside of class. This could be friends or classmates you worked on a project with, a former or current manager, roommates and or anyone who could provide you feedback in addition to your learning partners on your development plan.

**The information below might help you when selecting your development goal:

Think of what your goal is in respect to leadership
Look at what your strengths and areas for development are to reach that goal (the Competency Assessment you will complete can be helpful in this area).
Look at the areas for development
Assign competencies to each area for development
List them in order of importance (what would have the greatest impact/value to you right now).
Pick the top 1 or 2.