Guidelines for Leadership Philosophy and Presentation MGMT 414 – Spring 2015 Overview This assignment has two parts. First, you will develop your own leadership philosophy. Second, you will share that philosophy with the class in a brief presentation. Both the philosophy and presentation are due on April 15th, 2015. More details are provided below: Leadership Philosophy Many leadership enhancement programs consider the development of a leadership philosophy to be so critical that they require all participants to go through the process of preparing one prior to any leadership training. A person’s leadership philosophy is dynamic, and will change as a leader matures and gains experience. However, the act of writing the philosophy can make a leader’s development planning much more effective. As the Academy Leadership Program (the highest-level program for leaders in the US Military) states: “You have seen leaders come and go and you've seen some succeed and others fail. Have you ever wondered what explains this? The U.S. Army and U.S. Navy have researched the leadership phenomena for years. Both have produced excellent summaries - The U.S. Army's Excellence in the Combat Arms and the Navy's Command Excellence. What those summaries indicate is that a widely communicated leadership philosophy and a vision of what the leader wants an organization to be are essential to being an effective leader. One of the key first steps in becoming a leader is to develop and articulate this personal leadership philosophy statement. “ 1 Within your leadership philosophy, it is important to reflect and articulate such things as:       Personal values (i.e. integrity, social responsibility, respect) Your responsibility to other people you work with Your attitude and approach to tasks Your priorities Your expectations of others What people can expect of you Writing a philosophy is a very personal exercise and must begin with answering some serious questions about who you are, what you believe in, what you value, your priorities and your expectations of yourself and others. Developing a Personal Mission Statement will be extremely useful in creating your leadership philosophy. Again quoting the Academy Leadership Program: 1 Academy Leadership Website, http://www.academyleadership.com/ “Followers expect leaders to show them the standard and train them to reach it. They expect leaders to lead by example. Additionally, they expect leaders to keep them informed and to care for them. Leaders may have to ask others to make extraordinary sacrifices to achieve goals. Leaders may have to call on them to do things that seem impossible. If leaders have trained their people to standard, inspired their willingness, and consistently looked after their interests, they will be prepared to accomplish any goal, anytime, anywhere. Publishing a leadership philosophy helps create an environment for these things to happen. It enables leaders to discover what they stand for, what's important to them, and articulate this to followers. Followers know the leader's expectations and how the leader is most likely to act. This process leads to mutual trust and confidence and builds a stable foundation upon which long-term relations can be built and organizational effectiveness achieved. “2 Task #1: Given these outlines, write your personal leadership philosophy. A good leadership philosophy should incorporate your values and your personal mission statement, but go beyond that to include the elements outlined above. It should focus on how you want to lead now and in the future. The written leadership philosophy is due April 15th, 2015. Leadership Philosophy Visual Presentation Often a leader must use creative methods to communicate complex, as well as simple, concepts in a brief period of time. For this assignment, please prepare a brief 1 minute presentation of your leadership philosophy for the class. Imagine that you must communicate your leadership philosophy briefly, when given an opportunity that you might not have seen coming. This is often referred to as the “elevator speech.” Communicating your leadership philosophy in such a way is something that requires concise and clear communication. For this assignment, think about your leadership philosophy and what it means to you. If it helps you, develop a list of words or phrases that are part of your conception of leadership. Think of how you can communicate your leadership philosophy in an enthusiastic, clear way so that others understand your approach to leadership. Think creatively – this is something effective leaders do to engage and inspire others as they communicate. Task #2: Prepare a 1-minute summary of your Leadership Philosophy. You will make this presentation to the class on April 15th, 2015. Evaluation: Evaluation criteria for your leadership philosophy are available on the course website. 2 Ibid