Transformational Leadership and SMART Goals

Action and Development Plan:

SMART Goals and Transformational Leadership

An action plan consists of SMART goals that are specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and timely. It is important to note that some goals may be SMART if they are phrased as long-term, such as my desire to pursue a master’s degree and to eventually work for FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), but are not so SMART if they are given too short a framework of time to be realized. Still, short-term small SMART goals that are rigorously performed eventually can be used to add up to large SMART objectives. For example, on day one, I can begin to research the types of things I will need to do to complete my degree, reviewing the types of courses required for my major, and the requirements for entry into the graduate program I desire.

Within a week, I can also review the type of background required for the managerial position I desire, which can help guide my choice of electives. Over the course of the next thirty days, I can begin to bolster my knowledge of managerial literature on the web, including reading free articles in major business publications, and journal and reputable newspaper articles geared to individuals who work in the government and in emergency management.

Within the next 30 days, I also plan to study various time management techniques and find one which works for me in prioritizing my own work schedule. Time management is obviously a critical component of studying and working in conjunction, and even after I have left school and military service and am working only a fulltime job, juggling the demands of personal and social life with a demanding leadership position will be critical. As noted by Jackson (2009) it is critical to divide tasks into urgent and non-urgent, but to also leave time every day to devote to tasks that may not technically be of highest priority in an immediate sense but must be done, such as homework.

Learning how to prioritize email, text, and other communications and keep them in order, as well as organize the research, reading, and communications I will be deploying as part of my work and study is likewise critical to my development as a professional. I hope to create a systematic program to cope with both physical and virtual clutter. For example, a good system to use with email is: “The 4 Ds for all types of mail are do now, dump, delegate, and delay. Most e-mail can be read and handled immediately by a brief response, forwarding to an appropriate individual, or deletion. Only a minority of items should be delayed” (Jackson, 2009, par.7).

Over the next 90 days, I also hope to reach out and begin networking in the field, ideally locating a mentor. This might include joining a professional association or simply an online community devoted to people with similar interests, studies, and career ambitions as myself. I also plan to start researching the department for which I hope to attempt to work in a more meaningful way, and hopefully send out emails to establish contacts there. I will continue to update and refine my resume, and, if necessary, hire a professional to look it over and edit it. Over the next year, my ultimate aim is to get top marks in all of my classes, to continue to perform at a high level in my job, and secure agreement from professors and supervisors who will feel comfortable serving as references.

The Five Is of Transformational Leadership

One ideal that has been established for me which I wish to follow is the need to offer transformational rather than purely transactional leadership. While there may be some degree of transactional exchange in all employment situations (in other words, an exchange of salary or promotion for high levels of performance, or a sanction for poor performance), to motivate followers in challenging situations, whether in the military or working for the government, there must be some sense of a higher motivation and mission. I hope that I will always be the type of leader who takes the time to speak to his employees, and has the necessary willingness to take the time to engage in empathetic listening. I am well aware of the fact I may not always be able to embody the ideal, but I can at least make my followers aware of the fact that I have the ideal in my mind of embodying the attributes and behaviors of a leader who is willing to go into the trenches (literal and metaphorical) to fight for what he believes in, to offer inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation, along with individualized consideration.

A good example of this is taking a genuine interest as a mentor in new organizational members, talking about where others see themselves advancing within an organization, and offering commiseration and support, while still showing subordinates how their actions fit in with a larger organizational vision. There is a personal component of leadership that cannot be denied: “employees are more engaged when their managers are open and approachable and not focused solely on work-related items. This recognizes that we bring our whole selves to work” (“The Five Dimensions,” 2020, par.6). When a good employee is struggling, taking the time to find out why and pointing him or her in the right professional direction (suggesting additional training, for example, or getting to the bottom of a personal conflict) is the heart of being a transformational leader. A transformational leader wants to make employees want to perform at their best, motivates to do so, and offers a pragmatic, practical plan.

Strengths in Leadership

I am by nature a practical and goal-oriented person. I think I work well within the context of institutions. I also think that I have engaged in the necessary self-analysis to understand how and why other people may think differently from me, and am working to learn how to encourage greater unity of purpose on an organizational level. I think I am both a good leader and a good manager, and can show how various leadership goals and visions can be realized in a hands-on, directed, and SMART fashion. I agree that leadership is a combination of “motivating achievable tasks, creating a sense of history and hope, and leading to a collective vision for the future” (Khoshhal & Guraya, 2016, par.2). However, sometimes I can become so focused on my goal, I can be frustrated when others do not regard it as equally important, or when others show less follow-through in doing what needs to be done after I have specifically laid out such plans. Again, this is where empathy and psychological insight into others’ differences is necessary.

I intend to maximize the value of communicating and checking in with subordinates, to ensure that tasks are being completed on time, and employees are doing what needs to be done. There is often a delicate balance between not micromanaging on one hand, but on the other hand not becoming so detached from everyday tasks that the daily requirements of a project start to lose their urgency.