Assessment Task : Leadership Development Report

This requires you to use a particular style of writing which involves both the way the report is structured and the way that you acknowledge other people's ideas used in your work.

Your second step should be mastering the art of referencing. There are many styles of referencing in use in different disciplines and geographical locations.

HARVARD REFERENCING is required.

Remember: this current assessment task is a REPORT not an ESSAY.

The critical thinking element

We want you to be very comfortable with questioning everything you read and hear.

Anyone can remember facts and state other people's views but a far more useful skill is to critically review what you read and hear and decide for yourself how reliable, accurate, applicable, contemporary, objective and fair it is.

In this report, your assessor will value the fact that you are able to see both benefits and deficiencies in a particular theory. Make sure you look through the critical thinking exercises in the course site to get a clear understanding of critical thinking!

How many references should I cite?

There is no right answer to this question because it all depends on what you write in your report. Some statements you make in your report will certainly need a reference to support them.

So, to determine how many references you need to cite, first (as described in the report writing tutorial) draw a mind map of ideas to go into your report and for each idea try to link it to a reference source.

How will the report be marked?

Your lecturers have already created a marking rubric that will be used to award you a mark out of 50 as the report comprises 50 of the overall 100 marks available in this course.

The rubric is reproduced over the page and will be used as a way of providing feedback to you on how you performed.

The most important thing about the rubric is that it DEFINES what you will be marked on. If you include additional material that is not mentioned in the rubric it will not attract any marks, if you forget to write about something listed in the rubric, you'll lose marks.

So the rubric is like a "contract" between you and your lecturer. Following the rubric clearly is your best strategy for a good result

THE TASK

1. Explore the Central Michigan University competencies model (5 clusters eg. Self-Management, Leading others, Task management, Innovation and Social Responsibility)

2. Identify your current strengths and weaknesses as a leader (or potential leader) within the context of the CMU (eg. Create a clear vision of yourself in approx. 5-10 years time - only then will you be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses)

3. Review the leadership theories explored in this course and describe how they relate to you and your leadership development (again in the context of the CMU model eg. Blake and Mouton model grid)

4. Create a leadership development plan (*Starting point - Action plan eg. For future job/ self-improving etc.)

5. Seek feedback on your plan from an established leader. This leader can be anyone you know who holds a leadership position in an organisation. (And be anyone even your father or mother)

6. Describe how you have incorporated this leader's feedback into your plan (whether you agree with the advice given or not)

7. Describe how you will achieve the developments set out in your plan (eg. Volunteering to help out with people with disabilities etc.)

8. Describe how you will evaluate whether or not you have reached the level of development set out in your plan (Set a timeline/dateline and a goal - eg. I used to be late on 9 out of 10 times for appointments but after goal should be ON TIME 9 out of 10 times)

Word limit: 2000 words (not including your reference list or any appendices you may wish to attach)

Some important key points:

· Write in First Person's Writing and this assignment includes reflection on the past and must follow up with clear vision!

· Do not explain theory and ‘waste' words - just apply and use them to describe yourself

Can use tables to explain plan - counts in the word count