Academic Goal
In the leadership development plan, it is important to set clear goals that should be accomplished within a specified time in order to realize the overall objectives in life. According to Kouzes and Posner (2012), it is always necessary to set specific goals within a short time span in order to work towards the realization of the overall goals within the firm. I decided to set my academic goals within the next twelve months as a way of working towards my overall objective of becoming a leader in the workplace. In order to gain good leadership skills that will help me in the future, it was important to achieve success in my academics.
For this reason, the primary academic goal that I have for the next twelve months is to complete all my classes with an average grade of B or higher grades. I decided to set the goal within my academic capacity. I have the desire to achieve an A in my classes within the next twelve years. However, I have other activities that will consume my time, and this explains why I have set the grades for this year at an average of B. As Collins (2001) notes, it is important to set goals that one can easily achieve, so that they can act as a stepping stone to higher achievements.
I am certain that I can easily achieve the set goal within the next twelve months. This will make me go to the next class as I desire. I want to complete my studies within the time I had planned for so that I could advance to other stages of learning. With a grade of B, I will be assured of advancing to the next stage.
Professional Goal
My professional goal within the next twelve years is in line with my dream of owning an international food market. I have a wide experience in the food industry because my parents owned a large food outlet in North Dakota. I do not have plans of inheriting their business, and therefore, I have been planning on how I could start one of my own. For this reason, I have set my professional goal for the next twelve years on this basis.
I plan to establish my international food market in North Dakota within this period. I understand that this may not be an easy process given the fact that I would need to dedicate enough time to my academic work. However, I believe that I have the basic skills needed to establish this goal within this period. The food industry has experienced massive growth over the years both locally and internationally. Many families are finding it increasingly difficult to prepare their meals at home.
They rely on meals bought from food outlets, especially during working hours. This is a huge market that I can successfully tap into and gain success if I manage the business properly. Within the next twelve months, I believe that the business shall have gained good grounds in the local market. It is within this period that I plan to test the capacity of this business to spread to other markets in the United States and other parts of the world. Although our success locally may not mean that we have the capacity to succeed in other markets, it will be a strong indication that we are on the right path in our quest to expand internationally.
Measuring Accomplishment of the Set Goals
According to Kouzes and Posner (2012), when setting goals, one of the most important factors that should be considered is their measurability. An effective goal should be measurable in specific terms after a given period of time. It is clear that I have two major goals that must be achieved within the next twelve years. The academic goals will be directly measured by the grades that I shall achieve by the end of this academic year. In all the courses that I will be taking, I plan to get an average grade of B in order to progress to the next stage of my academic journey. This means that in some courses, I expect to get a grade A, while in a few others, I may get a grade B or C.
However, success will be based on two main factors. The first factor is that in all the courses that I will take, none of them will be below a passing grade. This means that I will be able to move to the next stage because there will be no retakes. The second factor is that the mean grade for all the courses will be a B. These two factors must be used to measure the accomplishment of this goal.
In my professional goal, accomplishment will be measured from various perspectives. According to Kouzes and Posner (2012), a small or medium business unit should be able to support its own operations after the sixth month without depending on the owner to support its financial needs. This will be one of the main measurements for this goal. After the first seven months of operation, I hope that this business will be able to support its own operations. The second measure of success will be its ability to meet the needs of the customers within the local market. As mentioned previously, I plan to move the operations of this firm to the global market.
However, this can only be achieved if the firm is successful in the local market. This success will depend on how well we are able to meet the needs of the local consumers. To know their level of satisfaction, I will determine the number of repeat customers in our stores. Only the satisfied customers can form a habit of making regular visits to a particular store (Hughes, Ginnett & Curphy, 2012). If the number of repeat customers is high, then it would mean that we are on the right way towards the vision of this firm. I will also conduct a survey to determine the views of our customers about the products we offer.
Capabilities to Be Developed
When setting goals, Collins (2001) says that it is always important to determine the capabilities that one wishes to develop so that he or she can gain skills and knowledge on how to do them better. In my academic goal, I wish to gain knowledge on various facets of management from a theoretical point of view. One area that I would want to develop my capabilities is business ethics. The food industry is one of the most sensitive industries, and a small mistake may bring an entire business down. Ethics is a broad field that involves the business owner, employees, and all other stakeholders.
From my academic courses, I hope to expand my knowledge of how I can maintain ethical behavior within the firm. I want to be very ethical in my conduct, and I also want to know how I can maintain ethical behavior among all the stakeholders within an organization. I also want to learn about leadership skills, especially some of the new models of leadership such as transformational leadership. These new models of leadership emphasize a lot the need to remain ethical as a leader and to embrace servant leadership within an organization. These are skills which will be very important in my business.
In my professional goal, I seek to put into practice some of the skills and knowledge learned at school. I plan to develop my leadership capabilities within my business. I will make an effort to practice leadership skills as defined by the Transformational Leadership Model. I know that the success of this new organization will depend on how effective and motivated employees will be. Their behavior will largely be influenced by the leadership strategies that I will use as a leader.
That is why I am determined to embrace transformational leadership skills. I also want to put into practice ethical behavior in my organization. In order to make employees behave ethically when dealing with the customers or amongst themselves, they need to understand the importance of ethics as an ingredient that would lead to the firm’s success. For this reason, I seek to advance my ability to make my employees understand the relevance of ethical behavior in their work. This way, I will be able to win their trust.
References
Collins, J. C. (2001). Level 5 leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Boston: Harvard Business Review.
Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2012). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Kouzes J.M. & Posner B.Z. (2012). The Leadership Challenge. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.