Mind the Gap!

You have spent some time in this unit examining resources that focus on values, principles and goals. As you probably discovered, each of your guiding principles could be realised through any number of goals, and each of your goals could easily lead to another. Imagine the road map of your life with many signposts and mile markers!

For this Individual Assignment, you will create three goals, drawing from your self-assessment of your managerial gaps and an inventory of your strengths. As you work on this Individual Assignment, be sure to reflect on all you have learned on this module and your growing understanding of who you are as a leader. You can use the 'Creating Goals' template found in the unit resources to create your goals and submit them to your Instructor for feedback. Comparing this template to the directions you see below will help you understand the deliverable for this assignment.

By the end of the unit, these three goals you have created will become the first part of your Personal and Professional Development Plan, or PPDP. The PPDP is one part of your Final Project. Because you will be completing activities based on these three goals for the remainder of this module, be sure to think carefully about this Individual Assignment.

To complete your Individual Assignment:

Create your first goal by reviewing your Managerial Roles Gap Analysis from Unit 1. Complete the following elements:

• First, choose one gap from the analysis in which your competency was on the lower end of the scale. This gap should be a competency that you wish to improve upon.
• Next, consider the underlying mentality, skills and approaches that you associate with your identified gap. For example, if your managerial gap occurs in the area of entrepreneurship, you may think about the ways that entrepreneurs are aware of new trends and focused on innovation.
• Then, based on these thoughts, create three values statements that emerge from the managerial competency you wish to improve. For example, if you want to improve your ability to innovate, one values statement might be, 'I value staying informed about emerging trends in my profession'.
• For each of your values statements, write a few explanatory sentences so that your Faculty Member will understand your orientation and thinking.
• For each values statement, create three principles and explain them as well. You will have a total of nine principles. For example, if one of your value statements is about being informed about emerging trends, one of your principles might be, 'It is important to read and research about emerging trends in one's profession'.
• Finally, from among these principles, select one principle and create a goal; for example, 'I will strive to stay informed about emerging trends in my profession through reading and research'.
• Explain why you chose this goal and how it relates to your values and competencies.

Next, repeat this process to create your second goal, again beginning by reviewing your Managerial Gap Analysis.

Finally, create your third goal using the VIA Character Survey as follows:

• Complete the VIA Character Survey located at the link below.

The VIA Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS) character survey (Peterson and Park, 2009; Peterson and Seligman, 2004): http://www.viacharacter.org/Surveys/SurveyCenter.aspx
Please note: The VIA Institute on Character has a strong personal data privacy policy and will not share your information. You can select the language of your choice on this landing page by using the drop-down box on the upper right.
To begin your free survey, follow the link and complete the registration form and login. If you are interrupted while taking a survey, return to this page and log in to resume. Be sure to bookmark this page and save your results when you have completed the survey (by selecting Save-As in your browser.)

You are strongly recommended to use the VIA-IS character survey for this exercise. However, if you experience persistent connectivity issues, you may instead complete an alternative downloadable Personal Values Survey by downloading the document linked in this unit's readings.

• Based on your survey results, list your top three character strengths, and then rephrase them as values that are relevant to your personal and professional life. For instance, if one of your strongest character traits is 'Critical Thinking', your value statement might be, 'I value thinking critically about situations in my life'.
• For each of those three values, develop and list three principles that emanate from each one (again, you will have a total of nine principles). For instance, if your value statement is 'I value thinking critically about situations in my life', your principle might be 'It is important to fully understand a situation before making a decision'.
• Out of the nine principles you have developed, select one principle to use as a basis to create a goal; for example, 'I will strive to ask the right questions and be an active listener in order to fully understand a situation'.
• Explain why you chose this goal and how it relates to your values and strengths.