Assignment: Actions for 'Self-Reflection'

You have already done a lot of self-reflection as part of your assignments this session, but now it is time to "reflect on your reflections." Now that the class is almost over, carefully consider the following issues:

1. What concepts from the class do you think were most useful to your own leadership development goals?

2. After this class what steps are you planning to take to further develop your leadership skills? Any additional concepts you plan on reading up on, or any steps at your current job that you might take?

Course Description

This course provides an overview of the role of leadership training and development within an organization. Topics include how organizations train and develop their leaders, performance management as an evaluative and developmental tool, and the strategic development of leadership.

Significance of the Course within the Program

This course will either implicitly or explicitly address the following program outcomes:

• Apply effective communication skills in a business environment.
• Assess the impact of culture and diversity on business practices.
• Assess the ethical implications of business decisions and actions.
• Apply business theories, models, and concepts to guide analysis of problems and situations.
• Use technology to gather and analyze information.

Course Overview

This course will provide you with an overview of the major concepts involved in leadership development and introduce you to several commonly used leadership development tools. The emphasis of this class is on the application of these tools for your own leadership development goals.

This class starts out with the concept of self-awareness. We start off with this concept because in order to grow and develop as a leader, you need to develop an awareness about your own skills, strengths, and personality to identify areas you should build upon or improve. We then turn to leadership communication and discuss some tools used to help improve information sharing and promote positive communication experiences within the workplace.

Another leadership development tool that will be covered in depth in this class is the 360-degree feedback process. This is a valuable and commonly used tool in which leaders are evaluated not just by their own immediate supervisor but also by colleagues and subordinates. Finally, we will be taking a close look at a technique called action learning which allows leaders to develop their skills through a practical and interactive training process.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to satisfy the following outcomes:

• Module 1

o Identify and explain the importance of self-awareness in leadership development and the major tools used to promote self-awareness.

o Apply concepts of strength identification assessment and emotional intelligence to workplace situations.

• Module 2

o Examine the concept of the Johari Window and apply this concept to your own leadership development.

o Explain the concept of Transactional Analysis and apply this concept to your own leadership development.

• Module 3

o Identify and explain the main traits steps used in a 360-degree feedback process.

o Apply results of a 360-degree survey to yourself as well as others in your organization.

• Module 4

o Identify and explain the key steps involved in an action learning program.

o Identify and explain areas where your own leadership development process could benefit from action learning.