Leadership Development Action Plan Template – Leadership Plan (govleaders.org)
Master Core Skills: Are there any core supervisory skills that you have not yet mastered (e.g. giving feedback, delegating, leading meetings, or hiring/firing)? If so, which would be the most useful to learn about and practice this year given the goals and challenges you have with your current team?- When (and with whom) will you practice this skill in the coming month?
- Find resources for learning to give feedback, delegate, motivate, lead meetings, or hire/fire employees.
- Identify Exemplars: Choose two leaders to learn from, e.g. a famous leader and an effective leader you have worked with.
- Find a Mentor: If your agency has a formal mentoring program, sign up for it. If your agency doesn’t have a program–or if you already have a potential mentor in mind–reach out to a more senior officer who you think would be a good fit for you. Ask them if they would be willing to meet with you for a mentoring session. (At this stage they would not be commiting to a long-term mentoring relationship.)
- Before the first meeting develop a list of your objectives and questions you would like to ask.
- If there is chemistry between the two of you at that initial meeting, ask if they would be willing to mentor you while you work through this Leadership Development Action Plan.
- Seek Challenging and Varied Experiences: What kind of jobs/tasks do you have the least experience with?
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- __ Turnarounds
- __ Start-Ups
- __ Big Leaps in Scope/Scale
- __ Projects/Task Forces
- __ Switches between staffer and line manager
- __ Managing in a Crisis
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- Select one of these experience gaps and seek an opportunity to gain that experience.
- Suggested reading: “Making the Most of Developmental Assignments” and “Twenty-Two Ways to Develop Leadership in Staff Managers.”
- Sign Up for Training: Investigate leadership training opportunities in your agency. If resources are available, sign up for an appropriate course.
- Find leadership programs for U.S. Federal Government Agencies or State Government.
- Seek Feedback: Develop a plan for seeking feedback from your subordinates (or peers if you are not a supervisor)
- Who will you ask?
- When do you plan to do it?
- Find resources for learning to receive constructive feedback.