Introduction
Leadership is an important process in team management. It is always important to understand the characteristic of self and that of team members in order to offer effective leadership. By understanding the personal characteristics and of the other team members, a leader will be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses in order to find a way of achieving success in addressing the specific duties.
In this learning group, there are four members; they include Elizabeth, Jason, Rachel, and I. Each one of us has unique characteristics which make us diversified in our capabilities. Where one of us has weaknesses, the others may have strengths, and this makes it possible to address various challenges as a team.
As a leader, I need to analyze these characteristics in order to determine how we can address different tasks, and how we can help one another overcome some of the personal challenges that may affect our career (Rughani, Franklin & Dixon, 2003). In this assignment, I seek to develop a plan that will address the characteristics of the group and me as the leader of the learning team.
Combined DISC Chart of the Learning Team Members
The group members have taken their time to generate their DISC profile based on the specific questions that were set for them. The following is a combined DISC chart of my Learning Team members.
Figure 1: Combined DISC Chart
The characteristics of the team
The chart above shows the characteristics of the team. It is clear that the four team members have different traits that make each one unique. When describing the characteristics of the team, it would be important to look at the composition of the personality and behavior of the different members. The chart shows that this team has the right composition that it needs in order to succeed.
Each of the four members do not share the personality trait as given by DISC assessment. In each of the four personality traits described in the DISC, there is only one person. This makes the group an all-rounded team with all the four different personalities. This may be advantageous because of the diversity of opinions that may exist in the group.
This means that each of the ideas proposed by the team members will be analyzed from different perspectives, and the final decisions will be based on a clearly informed knowledge that is convincing to the four people with different traits. However, this may also have its own challenges. The difference in personality means that each of the team members has a different reasoning approach.
This may not only delay the process of coming up with a decision, but also may lead to a complete breakdown in communication and decision making processes. What one of the team members finds to be very important may mean very little to another member.
What one member may consider a best course of action may be the complete opposite of the thought of another team member. This means that it would take compromise and support in order to make any progress in some cases.
Development Plan on Characteristics of my Team Members
As a leader of this group, it is important at this stage to create a development plan to address specific characteristics of the team members both individually and as a group (Beers, 2007). This will clearly demonstrate my ability to lead them under various circumstances.
Group professional development plan
This group has four members with varying characteristics. The report we obtained from the personality self-assessment reveals that we are very unique in this group. As a leader, I consider this as the main strength. It is evident that where one of us has a weakness, we find strength in the other person. This makes it easy to develop as a learning team.
The results reveal that each one of us needs some development in specific areas in order to develop into a better person. In this team, we will work together and identify these weaknesses, and find a solution that will help all the team members overcome them in order to advance our careers (Peine & Peine, 2008).
Individual professional development plan
It is vital to start by creating an individual professional development plan based on the results obtained from the DISC assessment of the four members. The four members included Elizabeth, Jason, Rachel, and I.
Elizabeth
The results reveal that Elizabeth is predominantly an interactive style who is sometimes referred to as an enthusiast. It means that she is more direct and less open.
The main goal that that drives her is to influence people around her to act in a given pattern. Some of the key characteristics of Elizabeth include seeking status symbol, slow in pace, dislike of routines, comfortable to delegate duties, an enthusiast, persuasive and inspirational, and very trusting.
Sometimes she may be evasive when under pressure. In her growth opportunities, she focuses more on the big picture and very impulsive. Her personal empowerment pointers show that she needs to improve her ability to deal with substance of the tasks, state her positive views, and learn from the Steadiness. Her main weakness is that she is sometimes careless and disorganized.
Jason
Jason comes out as predominantly a Dominance Style- sometimes referred to as the Producer- based on the results that were obtained from the DISC assessment. Generally, he is less direct in his speech and actions. His primary goal is to accomplish better goals within his organization or group. He dislikes people who he considers to be obstacles to his achievement of the set goals, and prefer working as a team.
Her ability to produce makes him valuable to this learning team because he is always dependable and very efficient. He rarely delegates his duties, strict on working as per the schedule, and can manage pressure. He is always focused and very confident when working with people. However, his weakness is that he dislikes being instructed and is always reluctant to change.
Rachel
Rachel comes out predominantly as a person with Steadiness style traits. She is a go-getter whose main drive in life is the desire for a steady flow of greater achievements in all the tasks that she does. She is a good short-term planner and self-reliant person. She does not rely on others to achieve her goals in life. She is an industrious person who knows how to break work into smaller tasks.
She is less concerned about what other people say about her, but always wary of people who may beat her to the goal or take advantage of her. Rachel’s main weakness is that she is always uncomfortable with multiple or complex tasks. She may also be guarded and rigid when under pressure.
Anita
From the results obtained from the self-assessment report, it is clear that I am predominantly cautious. The results show that I am a perfectionist who is more indirect and less guarded. My main motivation in all that I do is to have predictable outcomes. I pay a lot of attention to details and key processes, and value relationships. I am a thorough and dependable person who prefers methodological approach when handling tasks.
I am always keen to embrace change when it is confirmed that it is attainable. I prefer following established rules other than working without a plan. I also prefer having control over procedures and very keen on details. My main weakness is that I dislike opposition. I may be critical, and sometimes unresponsive to some issues.
My ability to lead them
The above characteristics identify critical personality traits that make me a good leader for this team. It is clear that I am a good planner. This is an important trait in leading a learning team. I will be able to plan and predict the outcomes of our group when handling various academic tasks.
A leader should be someone who is dependable. That is another strength of mine that will make it possible for others to rely on me. I believe I am a problem solver and an industrious person, which makes it easy for me to work with and lead others.
References
Beers, S. (2007). Strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating professional development. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Peine, J., & Peine, J. (2008). The educator’s professional growth plan: A process for developing staff and improving instruction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Rughani, A., Franklin, C., & Dixon, S. (2003). Personal development plans for dentists: The new approach to continuing professional development. Abingdon, Oxon: Radcliffe Medical Press.