PS391 Unit 10 Leadership Development Plan Example

Three Gaps, Twelve Months: A PS391 Unit 10 Leadership Development Plan

[Student Name]

Purdue University Global

PS391: Psychology of Leadership

Unit 10 Leadership Development Plan

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

The writer, the warehouse, the crew and every rating are composite and illustrative; the articles cited are real.

Where I Am After One Year

A year ago I had just traded my picking scanner for a clipboard, and I was failing at the new job. This plan reviews what twelve months of supervising showed me and lays out my next year of growth. Day et al. (2014) found that leaders grow slowly and in fits and starts, mostly from hard assignments, from hearing how others see them and from thinking back over what happened. The plan is built around those three ingredients.

Strengths

The evidence from this year points to three strengths. My crew rated me highest on fairness in the multisource feedback survey, and the posted development opportunities have kept that rating steady. I stay steady in emergencies; the battery fire evacuation and the headset rollout both showed that I can keep people organized under pressure. And I have learned to give task-focused feedback, which turned around Trevor's performance and several others.

Gaps

Three gaps are clear.

Listening under pressure: my crew rated me low on listening before deciding. The rating has improved, but I still cut people off when trucks are late.

Handling conflict between crew members: on the night before Thanksgiving, I walked away from an argument between two pickers, and their relationship stayed damaged for a week. I avoid conflict when I am busy.

Influencing upward: when the operations manager pushed to skip forklift inspections, I held the line, but our relationship suffered. I need to raise concerns with managers in ways that keep the relationship working.

My gaps are not about knowing what to do; they are about doing it when I am rushed, tired or facing someone with more power.

Goals

1. Listening: crew rating on "listens fully before making a decision" reaches four out of five by next year's survey.

2. Conflict: address every crew conflict I witness within the same shift, either myself or through a named lead picker.

3. Upward influence: raise at least one operational concern per quarter with the operations manager using data and a proposed solution, and keep his rating of our working relationship at or above its current level.

Development Activities

Experience: I asked my manager for one stretch assignment, leading the planning team for next year's peak season, which will require negotiating with day-shift supervisors and the operations manager. Day and colleagues identify challenging assignments as a central source of development.

Feedback: I will repeat the multisource survey in twelve months and run a short informal version with five crew members every quarter. Smither et al. (2005) found that leaders are more likely to improve after such feedback when they share results, set specific goals and take action, so I will share each round with the crew and update my goals.

Coaching: the company offers six coaching sessions a year for supervisors. Theeboom et al. (2014) found coaching had positive effects on performance, skills and goal-directed self-regulation. I will focus the sessions on conflict conversations and upward influence, practicing real situations.

Reflection: the two-minute end-of-shift notes continue, now tracking one listening moment, any conflict I saw and how I handled it.

How the Activities Fit the Gaps

Each activity targets a specific gap rather than general growth. The peak-season planning assignment will put me in rooms with day-shift supervisors and the operations manager, where upward influence is the whole job, and my mentor has agreed to help me prepare for those meetings and debrief afterward. Coaching sessions will rehearse the conflict conversations I tend to avoid, using real situations from the floor, such as two pickers disputing equipment. The quarterly crew ratings will track listening, and the end-of-shift notes will show whether I handle conflicts the same night or let them slide. Tying every activity to one named gap stops the plan from filling up with workshops that sound useful and alter nothing on the floor. If an activity is not producing evidence of progress on its gap by the six-month review, I will replace it with another rather than keep it out of habit.

Support

My manager has agreed to monthly check-ins on the plan. Rafael will keep telling me when I cut people off. A day-shift supervisor with fifteen years of experience agreed to meet monthly as an informal mentor.

Measures and Review

I will review progress with my manager at three, six and twelve months, using the quarterly crew ratings, my conflict log and the operations manager's feedback. If a goal shows no progress by six months, I will change the activities rather than the goal.

What Could Get in the Way

Peak season will test every goal at once, and the stretch assignment could leave less time for the floor. I will block out the first hour of each shift for walking the floor, no matter what, and ask my manager to protect that hour from meetings. Turnover on the crew could also change the picture; new pickers will not know my history, so the quarterly ratings will include a note on how many raters are new.

References

Day, D. V., Fleenor, J. W., Atwater, L. E., Sturm, R. E., & McKee, R. A. (2014). Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(1), 63-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.004

Smither, J. W., London, M., & Reilly, R. R. (2005). Does performance improve following multisource feedback? A theoretical model, meta-analysis, and review of empirical findings. Personnel Psychology, 58(1), 33-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.2005.514_1.x

Theeboom, T., Beersma, B., & van Vianen, A. E. M. (2014). Does coaching work? A meta-analysis on the effects of coaching on individual level outcomes in an organizational context. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 9(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2013.837499