LDR/531: Professional Development Plan

Professional Development Plan
Sa’eed Abdul-Karim
LDR/531
January 26, 2015

Professional Development Plan The goal of this essay is to create an effective development plan that will determine the characteristics of “Learning Team A” to including myself as the team manager. During the first week of class all of the members of the learning team took the DISC Platinum rule; a behavioral style assessment that breaks down the individuals predominant behavioral styles; dominance, interactive, steadiness, and cautious. There are sixteen sub-styles that further attempt to explain the results. My learning team is comprised of five members including myself. Our team includes three of the four behavioral styles previously listed. The plan
can be used to determine the needs of my team and is a tool for members to assess their skills, strengths, areas in need of improvement, and the resources needed to reach individual career goals. I will discuss each individual team member’s behavior style, personality and the best professional development plan for them, based on the theories of leadership. The output can be used as a tool for members to advance on their career path.

Breadee, Richard and Scott Team members Brandee, Richard and Scott were all rated as interactive style individuals on the assessment test. They has an interactive style which exhibit characteristics such as animation and intuitiveness. An interactive style person can also be viewed as manipulative and excitable ones, playing behavior inappropriate to the situation. These type people are spontaneous, do not like to be alone, attempt to dream and get others caught up in their dreams. Co-worker with this rating tend to have good persuasive skills, like to get credit for work they have and enjoy working in a quick pace environment for stimulation and excitement. To control the behavioral aspect of the interactive styled people I will need to control their time and emotions. There are several ways to logically manage the characteristics of the inactive person. First, is to have a personal development plan for that person. Another idea would be to show them admiration and appreciation for their efforts, by openly supporting their feelings, whenever possible. Inactive people love it when they are allowed to interact and participate with others. The purposed development plan will include a change in common routines, such as avoid having them do long-term repetition. Also, support the ideas of the interactive team member by putting a subjective, positive spin it without taking credit for the idea. With these few interactive tasks and some positive feedback we would get a lot out of these interactive personal.
Bryan
The assessment scored Bryan as a dominant style person.
A dominant style person is very guarded, direct and firm in their relationship with others; they are driven by productivity and to the bottom line. These individuals are willing to accept any challenge and dive headfirst into solving the problem. The dominant style member takes control while remaining decisive with their actions and decisions. Most, enjoy working independently, have a competitive spirit and remain cool in stressful situations. Dominant people like to get the job done quickly. Other may view these people as, high strung because they may sometimes appear restless, critical, blunt and aggressive and come out as pushy. Dominant style need to control the situation and themselves. Some behavioral adaptability a dominant stylist may need to practice is active listening, patience, sensitivity and empathy. Though they enjoy to work alone this will limit their ability to identify with a group, in a team environment. Like a dominant style person, an interactive person may require compliments or other forms of recognition for their work. I would infuse them in a leadership position when possible, with some guidelines in
place. Of the four different styles in the assessment test one scored dominant, three scored interactive and one as a cautious style people. We have given you an overview of the different styles between dominance and interactive. As you can see there are much different from each other. Interactive likes to work with others as dominance like to work alone but they both need positive feedback about their work. Even though it is difficult to have two different styles working together it is very much possible and it is done every day. In every job there are many people with different styles; dominance, interactive, steadiness and cautious. “When managers use collective work situations to enhance morale and teamwork, they must also be able to identify individual efforts. Otherwise, they must weigh the potential losses in productivity from using groups against the possible gains in worker satisfaction” (Robins & Judge, 2013).
Conclusion
This assessment was great at explaining what the team as a whole is like on the surface.
My team seems to be pretty realistic in what is expected of them, as far as getting training that will father help them move forward. The ultimate goal will require more research to learn about how the team will be able to work together. The recommendation after reviewing all this information is that the team seems to be well rounded, dominate, yet focused, critical thinkers, and socially compatible members. We also came up with professional development plan for team members to reach their goals and still be happy in the work place. Before starting this assignment we all thought it would be difficult to keep every individual happy within the workplace. It would be in the team’s best interest to play to the members strengths and develop the weaknesses. Allowing the cautious member to lead the projects that were extremely detailed oriented and can be completed without much group interaction. The dominate member should be allowed to help with the structure and delegation of the tasks. They have strength in getting deadlines completed on time and are charismatic enough to lead. Anything that needs to be bid on or presented would be perfect for the interactive member. Using this type of formula allows everyone the opportunity to play to their strengths and in addition creates a strong potential for
success.

The Cautious Styles are logical, tenacious, methodical individuals who appreciate problem solving. Cautious style people take their time, assess a situation and proceed with a solid game plan in mind. The sub-styles are enthusiast, adventurer, producer, pioneer, and master-mind. The enthusiast is less open and more direct. This particular individual is driven by swaying people. They enjoy symbols of authority and prestige. The adventurer is less guarded and more direct. The individual is driven by dominance and independence. They have a results-oriented nature. The producer is less guarded and less direct. Their primarily driven by personal goals set to an internal timetable that requires them to accomplish bigger and better goals. The pioneer is more guarded and less direct. This person is driven by being in a position to direct and redirect task accomplishments. They often pursue unique accomplishments. The master-minder is more guarded and less indirect. They are driven by opportunities for unique and significant personal accomplishments. Often this person allows actions to speak for them more than their words.

Reference
Robbins & Judge (2013), Organizational Behavior, Fifteenth Edition, eBook Collection, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Published by Prentice Hall