Kaplan University School of Business and Management

SELF DIRECTED LEARNING PLAN

Your Name: Challa Fletcher / Date: September 6, 2011
October 11, 2011
Course Title: Managers As Leaders GM500
Professional Goal (3-5 years from now):
Working with the State of Arkansas in the IT Department. I would like to be the agent responsible for going to the various county offices to install new software and hardware. I would also be one of the techs who come out to the offices to correct system errors.
Another career goal would be to be in the position to decide what new software or hardware the county office needs. I would assess the system and determine if a particular hardware or software would work in the county office for the purpose it is ended to.
I would also like to work in a position where I design new policies and forms to be used in the county offices. I would edit forms to correct wording, add new sections, or revise form to suit the needs of the county office.
What do you expect to learn from this course that will help you leverage your strengths?
I expect to learn how to work better in teams and learn that others can contribute. I don’t like working in teams because I do not like relying on others or want to urge and motivate people to work. I would much rather complete the job myself. I expect this class to teach me how to see past this; working on my inspiring technique. The remaining team members have something to share and their ideas and suggestions are just as important as mine. Having to do things my way is not always the correct way.

SECTION I: STRENGTHS TO LEVERAGE

1a: Strength 1
Analytical and Organized
1b: Course Learning Goal
Learn how to analyze raw data to organize it into new software or forms to answer questions for the agency. The organization should make the form simpler to use for both worker and client.
1c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
This course showed through the FYI text book that organization is in important skill especially for leadership and managers. My analytical nature is a strength, but must be monitored. Too much analyzing can slow or stop progress forward.
1a: Strength 2
Adapt Well
1b: Course Learning Goal
I expect this course to show me how to change my “adapt well” into active and openly participating with a team. The goal is to work with all personalities.
1c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
During Manager as Leaders I had to immediately adjust to personalities due to the various team work assignments. This course did prove that all teams will not work effectively if the team members do not want to work well together. However it also showed that you can have very dedicated people on your team who will work as hard as you do personally, even when the chips are stacked against the team. I liked stepping in the for front of the team, though I still don’t want to be in the front unless necessary.
1a: Strength 3
Understand Technical Subjects
1b: Course Learning Goal
I want to learn how the actual software works. Understanding how a program or hardware works with each other will help understand and determine how to fix any problems.
1c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
This class did not focus on improving the strength. The FYI textbook expresses the need to improve this strength through additional classes, and experimentation. I believe this skill will be address fully once I begin my concentration Classes. This class did however team that learning how people think and work can be useful in solving any problem amongst a team (nice metaphor).

SECTION II: AREAS TO DEVELOP

2a: Areas to Develop 1
Knowledge in System design
2b: Course Learning Goal
This area of development may not be address with Managers as Leaders. As I continue through my grad studies I will need to play close attention to news about changing technology and perfect classes about programing.
2c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
This area was not addressed with this Manager As Leaders class however functional and technical skills was discussed as an important competency to maintain.
2a: Areas to Develop 2
Addressing issues to group
2b: Course Learning Goal
My communication in a group sitting needs to improve. I fade into the background of the group, hidden behind my quietness. I expect this class to develop my assertiveness.
2c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
In this course I had firsthand experience in addressing a concern with my group due to the removal of two of the team members. I purposely place myself in the front of the group this term. Keeping cool, and giving the team a chances to show they were serious about the assignment proved to be the best approach. We had to address the issue of team size changing but there was nothing I could do to change that.
2a: Areas to Develop 3
Seeing the bigger picture
2b: Course Learning Goal
I can sometimes be short sighted, only solving the visible problem. I need to learn to extend decisions to see things further out than the current problem and staff to handle the problem.
2c: Course Outcomes & Assessments
The course was a reminder of how the bigger picture is usually the only thing that mattered. End results, disagreement of the team, and the solution process should all focus on the big picture. The team cannot afford to be short sighted as it effects the team and the organization. The big picture is the best approach to maintain consistent productivity.

SECTION III: JOURNAL ENTRIES

DATE: September 6, 2011 Unit 1: Developing a Leader
Completing the Insight Evaluator was exciting, especially to see how accurate the results were. I was listed a Coordinator both as Conscious and personal areas. The only thing that was not accurate was that the evaluator stated that I would not speak up or speak my mind. As I have grown older I have begun to speak up a lot more than I used to. I think the Evaluator was a good first step to see where my leadership style would be.
DATE: September 13, 2011: Unit 2 Leadership Competency
I enjoyed the FYI book. It was beneficial to see not only the type of competencies that a leader need but also ways to obtain those competencies and improve your skills. I learned that my strength in Learning on the Fly and Technical skills is going to fair well with my career goals but I need to work on my managing of vision and purpose. I still have a lot to work on when it comes to working in a group.
DATE: September 20, 2011 Unit 3: Leadership Theory
This unit was one of the hardest units because there are so many leadership theories. Some overlapping in how they worked. The Focus Paper on my own leadership experience was a bit of any eye opener. I realized that in my role of supervisor I was less of a “leader” and more of a “manager” per the break down offered by What Leaders Really do by Knotter (1990). Initially this discovery was a surprised but when compared with my Insight Evaluator it made sense: my desire to organize and be more in the background leans more on the side of a manager than leader. These two terms are often times used interchangeably but they each have a distinct meaning.
DATE: September 27, 2011 Unit 4: Managerial Effectiveness
Understanding my own level of Advocacy and Inquiry was important to understand my behavior during team during team meetings and responses to other ideas. At the start of this course I believe I was low advocacy and low inquiry; give few ideas and suggestions and ask few questions. After working with my team this term and being forced to really communicate due to our team size decresing I see the importance of both high advocacy and inquiry. Giving ideas and asking questions does not automatically mean you are slowing the progress of the team but rather helping yourself and others see the big picture.
DATE: October 4, 2011 Unit 5: Issue Analysis
Finally there is a name for the way life works: Polarity Management. I think people would be surprise to know how they work each day in their personal lives is a very important management tool. It would be interesting to map out the polarities’ of work and school. The concept is still difficult however because you are tempted to try and solve the problem rather than manage it. This will become a useful tool in my degree because with IT there are always multiple issues with all correct pros and cons. I will continue to work on this skill. (Polarity Management Paper added to Career Portfolio)
DATE: October 11, 2011 Unit 6: Managing Oneself within the Business System
Combining the entire terms lesson into one assignment was challenging. Henry Tam and the MGI Team is a very regular situation to run into, however. It was interesting to see things from outside of the team; how they look, how others sound, and things such as that. I am proud that I was able to identify the poor communication, polarities, and the various levels of inquiries.
This class has proven a challenge in keeping the various theories straight but I like the real life application. I don’t really have to wait to get my degree to start using these tools.