Lead Your Leadership Development

Developing strong leadership skills is a journey, not a destination. Deciding that you want to become a better leader is a good first step, but merely making the decision to improve your leadership skills will not make you the leader you hope to become. In order to make your desires a reality, you must create a personally unique and specific leadership development plan.

Self assessment is the first step towards creating your personal leadership development plan. Have an integrity-based internal dialogue about yourself. Then write down what you perceive to be your strengths and your weaknesses. In doing so, focus on real life situations, professional or personal, in which you have lead successfully and in which you have failed.

Once you have conducted an honest self-assessment, you must also seek outside information as to your current leadership abilities. Ask people you trust and respect to honestly evaluate your strengths and weakness. If practical, have these individuals offer examples of your past failures and suggestions for improvement.

Now that you are aware of the current level of your leadership skills, you can begin to roadmap your plan. First off, applaud yourself on the areas that you’ve identified as strengths. Your commitment to leadership has allowed you to have these successes. Then focus on the areas you have identified as weaknesses. These are the greatest opportunities where you can grow personally and professionally. Improve upon your weaknesses through actions that can be a part of your leadership development plan. Here are a few tips that can guide you to take action to address your weaknesses:

• Create both Long-Term and Short-Term Goals. Goals help maintain focus. They hold us accountable – especially when we have many competing distractions in our lives. Long-term goals help you view the big picture. They help you envision where you want to be as a leader and what you want your leadership future to look like. Your short-term goals serve as the tactics. The short-term goals help you move along your leadership continuum. When you achieve the short-term goals you find yourself closer to realizing your long-term goals.

• Seek Out Opportunities for Professional Development. Once you understand what your personal weaknesses are, you can seek specific training to address your problem areas. Professional development training is a great tool that you can use to strengthen any area of weakness that you have identified.

• Find a Mentor. The instruction and feedback from a mentor can be an invaluable resource on your path to developing your leadership skills. Once you have established your list of weaknesses, ask yourself, “Who possesses and effectively demonstrates those skills upon which I need to improve?” A mentor can be a professional contact, either within or outside of your workplace, or a personal contact. You can even select several mentors, each who possess a different skill upon which you desire to improve.

• Remain Flexible. It is important to remain flexible enough to adjust your leadership plan as your progress on the path to becoming a better leader. Along your journey, you are going to improve on your current weaknesses and likely discover new ones. When new weaknesses are discovered, it is important to revise your plan to account for this change. And don’t get discouraged. Leadership development takes time.

• Practice your skills daily. Leadership skills are perishable skills. If you do not practice leadership skills daily then you will lose them. Using your list, seek out daily opportunities to improve upon your personal weaknesses. Keep a journal of your daily efforts and the milestones that you have attained.

Congratulations on your decision to improve your leadership skills. Create your personal development plan today and begin your journey.