Individual Development Plan

August 7, 2001

Individual Development Plan

Each individual is just that: individual. We all have our strengths and weakness. Life is about exploring and improving on those. Growth never ends. It is expanding our minds and attitudes to make life happy and peaceful. My development depends what I do to accomplish my life goals. My carrier path will depend on how I can grow and develop in my field and management capabilities.

I like to think I have many strengths. After review of my character/ personality test, I can see what they are. I am a task-oriented leader, which drives me to finish a project. I have a strong individual work ethic, which allows me to be responsible and not rely on others. I am good at building and leading a team. I am not power oriented, so I am not manipulative and scheming. My preferred power types include collaborating, compromising, legitimate. This means I know that a person does not necessarily need to be in management to be a vital employee. I prefer to use collaborating, compromising, and accommodating techniques when dealing with conflict. I also have a strong ability to provide good feedback.

My individual performance style test revealed that I am conscientious, Open to experience, extravert. My Myers-Briggs Type indicator results said that I am extrovert, intuitive, felling and perceptive. I have a high locus of control which means I feel that I can control the situation I am in with my actions and feelings. I have a moderate self-esteem level. My motivations are strong driven with growth, relatedness and existence needs. I have a high standard if ethics.

Though all that may make me to sound like the perfect person, I am far from there. My leadership style lacks concern for people. I can finish a project, but might offend some people on the way. I have a hard time dealing in a team because I rely so much on myself. Management typically uses reward and coercive power, which I do not value highly. I did not get good scores when it comes to using competing and avoidance skills with conflict. I have poor listening skills and often wait to long to give feedback. I have a low emotional stability. I also have a high amount of neediness, which can me extremely unsatisfied.

Tommy Wood's Independent Improvement Plan

August 2001 - Read Celebration of Discipline

- Practice a new discipline each month

August 2002 - Review Tools for Teams

- Apply one section from book each month

January 2003 - Read Bridges Not Walls, a Book About Interpersonal Communication

- Try a technique from the book each month

January 2004 - Read The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership Follow Them And People Will Follow You

- Apply a law each month

I believe reading is the key to finding success, whether it's work or play. I found several resources to improve on my weakness while enhancing my strengths. The four resources are Celebration of Discipline, Tools for Teams: Building Effective Teams in the Workplace, Bridges Not Walls: A book about Interpersonal Communication, and The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership Follow Them And People Will Follow You. It has been said that it takes twenty-eight days to develop a habit, I have decided to pace my self a month for developing each new technique I have researched and determined that these three resources can help find the growth I am looking for.

Celebration of Discipline by Richard F. Foster is a book about the path to spiritual growth. This book will help me train