Personal leadership development plan for Imperial Tobacco Canada

Creating Leadership Development Plan

Leadership Development Plan

In assessing the results of the leadership plan received, my intention is to define a series of personal, professional and leadership strategies for improving based on the plan's feedback. My intention is to significantly improve in all areas of the plan to make a significant, lasting contribution to Imperial Tobacco Canada. This plan will specifically address short, medium, and long-term goals and strategies to accentuate emerging strengths and overcome weaknesses as defined in the plan. In responding to and accentuating the strategies to build on to of the leadership development plan, I have organized my analysis by the five years of its structure. These include self-management, organizational capabilities, team building and teamwork, problem solving, and sustaining the vision. These areas are discussed below from a short, medium, and long-term perspective. Each of these five dimensions of the leadership plan is also assessed in terms of my ability to make significant, long-term contributions to Imperial Tobacco Canada as well. By defining this by area, it is my intention to focus on the core areas where change is most needed and aggressively pursue development plan objectives. Where appropriate I will also discuss how the improvement plans can be used for strengthening my short, medium and long-term contributions to Imperial Tobacco Canada Finance as well.

Assessing the Self-Management Leadership Characteristic

The first characteristic covered in the leadership plan is self-management. Included in the analysis are three dimensions of self-management, including self-awareness, self-control and resilience. Taken together, this assessment of my leadership potentials shows in the short-term what could realistic be expected, and that is an uncertainty and questioning about ones; role in the organization. As the assessment shows my self-awareness is low relative to peers yet my self-control is quite high is explained by the high need for conformity I feel that is essential to perform excellently in the Finance Department today. The resilience score also shows that the demands of learning a new managerial role are quite daunting at times. The combination of these three factors in the short-term needs to be alleviated with more feedback and coaching of how I can be more attuned to self-awareness and also understand better how my high level of self-control, which from the results appear to border on being uptight, influence those around me. All of these factors and the need to excel in a new managerial role have driven down my resilience. The tendency to overcompensate in areas of self-control is also draining my energy and focus over time as well. In the medium-term my goal is to concentrate on having greater self-awareness by working with my peers to get 360 degree feedback of how I am coming across, also to seek out a mentor who can assist me with the areas of self-awareness I am lacking. Once the pressure is off in the medium-term with regard to how tightly and rigorously I manage myself my resiliency will increase. It is just the pressure and stress to excel in a managerial role that is taking its tool on my ability to be resilient. In the long-term the objective is to create a more harmonized statue of my own self-awareness to that of my co-workers, peers and superiors, in addition to being more confident so that the level of self-control I have to exercise is not so incredibly high. In many respects this first leadership characteristic is symptomatic of the stress I have been feeling about how to fit into the company and make the greatest contribution possible. The fear of making mistakes is seen in the exceptionally high levels of self-control and the low self-awareness is a paradox. I am continually being critical of myself and my ability to fit in and yet the self-awareness from the leadership plan says the opposite. Finally the resilience factor is understandable given the exceptional level of pressure I am putting myself under and the stress to excel at my job at Imperial Canada Tobacco.

Assessing the Team Building and Teamwork Characteristic

Included in this section of the leadership plain is assessment of interpersonal skill, understanding others, capacity for collaboration, and working with and through others. Of these, the one area that I need to work on immediately is interpersonal skills. In the short-term the approach to turn the other areas of understanding others, capacity for collaboration, and working with and through others will be strengthened by the assertiveness training related to self-management characteristics and dimensions. Each of these areas will also specifically be strengthened by the reliance on 360 degree feedback from others in my work teams and also throughout the organization. In addition, the development of better collaboration skills through development programs at local universities coordinated with Imperial Tobacco Canada Human Resources will also be extremely useful as well. Finally the development of mentoring partnerships which has been mentioned on previous leadership characteristics will also be invaluable. All of these elements in the medium-term will also assist in getting more effective at working with others. The fact that the role of being a manager in Finance requires intensive focus on details shows also that through management training the ability to create more effective alliances with peers and subordinates, I will be able to balance my focus and perspective overall. In the long-term the need for better managing working relationships will be improved through the assertiveness training and also having a more open line of communication with other managers and with subordinates as well. The concentration on collaboration needs to become the focal point of all activity.

Assessing the Problem Solving Characteristic

Given the tentativeness I sense in the role in Finance, these areas of problem solving including creativity, handling sensitive problems, and action orientation also emanate from the need I feel to be more confident and stronger in my leadership within this position. The need in the short-term to create greater confidence in managing the uncertainty of the role is critical. As is the need for creating more opportunities for shared risk with subordinates. The development of this skill however will need to be medium-term as taking extension courses at a local university to make my ability to analyze and solve complex problems and build a more consistent action strategy is critical. In the medium-tern the need for also managing time as it relates to all of these factors in the problem solving characteristic is also critically important. In summary, over the long-term the need for more focus on creativity and its role in managing needs to be focused on through additional training and also through mentoring to understand how to better analyze and solve problems over time.

Assessing the Sustaining the Vision Characteristic

The dimensions included in this leadership characteristic are really the basis of much of the other areas of improvement in the short, medium and long-term. These dimensions include self-confidence, managing change, influence, and comfort with visibility. Honestly self-confidence is the most critical short-term challenge as it impacts many of the other leadership characteristics in this plan. The combining of assertiveness training, development of new skill sets for better managing subordinates and also seeking their feedback is critical. In the medium term being able to manage change and influence will be learned fro a mentor and also through continued training programs and reliance on 360 degree feedback from peers and subordinates. Comfort with visibility is critical in a managerial role and working with a mentor, I hope to understand how to continually strengthen this aspect of my position so I can contribute significantly to Imperial Tobacco Canada. In conclusion this last leadership characteristic is the most critical and one where mentoring and continual programs will be focused on.