Running Head: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Leadership Development Plan

Caitlin Leffingwell
Eastern University

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Introduction
Although my third grade teacher had a knack for pushing introverted and task-oriented
individuals like me into simple leadership roles, my first real experience with explicit leadership
training came in the form of an eighth grade leadership retreat many years ago. After a long day
of group activities and long pep talks by very well-intentioned teachers, I had concluded that
leadership was truly a foreignif not completely unappealingconcept really best left to those
with more dynamic and gregarious personalities. Yet despite my outspoken aversion to roles that
held me responsible for the wellbeing of an entire group, I also left that retreat virtually forced
into our ensuing Leadership Council by the near unanimous nomination of my classmates. Of the
many important lessons that I learned that day, perhaps most poignant was the idea that
sometimes the most reluctant leaders are those seen as best qualified for the job. In light of that
day and the minor leadership roles I have since assumed (mostly under similar circumstances), I
took the Leadership Potential Indicator (LPI) assessment designed by My Skills Profile fully
expecting to score quite low overall. This expectation proved to be quite true in areas that
reflected dominant traits and aspirations that the assessment associated with leadership, while
proving surprisingly untrue in areas associated with organizational and task-orientated
mentalities. Beginning with a thorough description and analysis of this resulting Leadership
Profile, this paper will analyze my strengths and weaknesses and ultimately conclude with
specific development goals aimed to improve both my leadership ability and mentality.
Description of Leadership Profile and Results
According to the LPI report, I am at Leadership Level 1-2 due to very little management
experience and an overall average leadership score. Of the five key factors used in the
assessment, I scored relatively high (about 7 out of 10) on Managing Change, Planning and

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Organizing, and Results Orientation, while scoring relatively low (about 4 out of 10) on
Interpersonal Skills and Leadership. These combinations then categorized me within four
indicator groups as a Modernizer, Follower, Explorer, and Corporate Managerof which only
the Follower category seemed slightly amiss, as I will explain later in further detail.
The Modernizer label, which reflects ones knack for Developing the Vision, derived
from a combination of high scores on both Managing Change and Planning and Organizing.
Within these two key factors, my highest competencies were adapting to change, analyzing and
interpreting, planning and prioritizing, and especially monitoring quality. As a self-identified
perfectionist who naturally enjoys focusing on details and making specific plans (but not
necessarily sticking to them), I can definitely see ways in which these traits spill over into
creating a specific vision for organizational change along with a plan with milestones for
implementation (My Skills Profile, 2009, p.6). In contrast to these relatively high scores, I
scored quite low on the making decisions competency, which is also very accurate. I tend to
take a very long time to make decisions due to my desire to first acquire as much information as
possiblethereby also exuding great lack of confidence in my decisions even after making them,
since acquiring a complete foundation of information is generally impossible.
When this high Planning and Organizing score combined with relatively high scores in
the Results Orientation factor, I also ended up in the Corporate Manager category of the
Delivering Success indicator. I particularly liked the idea of presenting myself as a safe pair
of hands, because this mentality tends to permeate my work regardless of what role I am
technically filling in the moment (My Skills Profile, 2009, p.9). However, I actually resonated
more with the Individual Contributor category, because I tend to work best on my own when
given the freedom to create and make decisions as an individual rather than within a group. I

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enjoy serving groups without fully being a part of them, in large part because I relish autonomy
and struggle immensely with what feels like the bureaucratic inefficiency of group decisions. As
I will discuss later, however, I believe that a great deal of this mentality stems from pride and
therefore stands to change quite a bit.
Along these lines, my low Interpersonal Skills put me in the Explorer category when
combined with high scores in Managing Change. As an Explorer, which relates to the Gaining
Support indicator, I am definitely independent-minded and thrive on change and enjoying
venturing into new territories, but these traits do not necessarily resultas the report suggests
in expecting people to see things my way (My Skills Profile, 2009, p.8). In general, others have
described me as someone who leads by example, and I would say that I certainly tend to do my
own thing without necessarily expecting or prompting people to follow. However, I try to be as
intentional as possible about my decisions and can enthusiastically advocate for my reasoning if
another person shows interest in my way.
As such, I felt that the final Follower categorya combination of low scores in
Interpersonal Skills and Leadershipcorrectly assessed my strengths and weaknesses (marked
by incredibly low scores in all things to do with persuading, influencing, motivating, and
empowering) but applied these to a dichotomy that defines leadership differently than how I have
experienced it. Because I tend to lead by example, with what the LPI determines a natural
reserve and unwillingness to exercise leadership and control, I have actually found myself as an
emergent leader more often than notgiven leadership roles by people who trust me simply
because of my aversion to persuasion and control (My Skills Profile, 2009, p.7). Due to these
experiences, I am glad that this assessment takes into account other competencies in its
leadership factor (the ability to coach others or cope under pressure, for example), but I would

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still argue that its emphasis on traits like authoritative presence and the joy of taking charge
disregard equally strong forms of leadership that actually reverse these traits. Nonetheless,
beyond this slight disagreement with how these indicators correlate to leadership, I felt that the
results accurately reflected my levels of competency (or lack thereof) within each of the five
factors and four indicators.
Analysis
Strengths
Of the five key factors, my strongest were definitely Managing Change, Planning and
Organizing, and Results Orientation. Within these factors, my strongest competencies (scoring 8
or above) included adapting to change, analyzing and interpreting, planning and prioritizing, and
monitoring quality. This last competency, which reflected taking pride in work, doing a job well,
and getting details correct, was by far my highestan accurate assessment of perfectionist
tendencies that stem partially from hereditary traits and partially from an upbringing surrounded
by adults who emphasized excellence. In fact, my penchant for monitoring quality both aids
and is aided by my organizational strengths. As a very future-oriented planner, I have a mild
addiction to calendars, spreadsheets, and detailed budgetsall of which I view as tools to assist
me on my quest for accomplishing tasks as effectively and efficiently as possible. In light of
these very type-A traits, I found the adapting to change strength to be a very clear testimony
to the fact that God actively balances our extremes through the people and situations around us.
In my case, the last few years have been marked by circumstances that border on chaos more
often than nota variety of jobs that shift constantly, a diverse array of roommates with very
different personalities, and even co-workers and students who differ from me in what seems like
every possible way. God has used these situations to truly relax my grip on rigid order and

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predictability, such that my planning abilities have become increasingly balanced by flexibility
and an acceptanceeven enjoymentof times when things do not go according to plan.
Areas for Growth
In contrast to these areas of strength, I scored lowest on Interpersonal Skills and
Leadership, with my weakest competencies (scoring 3 or below) including making decisions,
communicating, teamworking, persuading and influencing, and motivating and empowering. My
ability to communicate (defined by expressing views clearly and making an impact with
presentations) and to persuade and influence (defined as having presence and authority, enjoying
being in charge, and taking the lead) were by far the lowestalmost off the chart! Considering
my task-oriented mentality and introverted aversion to groups, not to mention leadership roles,
this evaluation did not surprise me. In fact, I have been grumbling about not liking people since
middle school (to which my parents always tease, So why are you always around them?).
Truthfully, people bring a messy complexity to life that I naturally want to resist, yet know with
begrudging certainty that I need to embrace. As mentioned above, God has been hard at work
softening my heart in many ways since beginning my journey with Him, and learning to truly
enjoy peoplein all of our messinesshas been a big part of that work. Although I still have
some qualms with the value that this assessment placed on dominant leadership qualities like
persuasion and authority, I recognize my need to become more willing and more competent in
terms of communicating with people, because I also recognize that people are the most important
part of anything we do in this world.
Development Goals
In light of these strengths and weaknesses, one of my goals is to begin applying concrete
ways in which the Gospel influences leadership. Though this process really takes a lifetime, it

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begins with prayerfully examining Scripture and related resources such as those found in Tim
Kellers Leadership Journal (2015). It also could entail starting my own ongoing Leadership
Journal that includes very intentional observations of the leaders currently in my life. Along
those lines, I also plan to use the readings and discussions in this class as resources for improving
in this area, even as I use its assignments to measure my growth throughout the semester.
Moreover, my second goal is to find real-life avenues for processing and practicing such new
knowledge through both official trainings and actual leadership roles. By actively seeking these
opportunities at work and in my community, I hope to attain at least three diverse leadership
roles by the end of the school yearalmost a 300% increase in leadership experience! At that
point, I plan to reevaluate my skillset in order to determine areas in which I have grown and
areas that need continued improvement. Ultimately, however, my overall hope is that pursuing
these large goals and their more manageable components changes my mentality from prideful
aversion to joyful acceptance when faced with opportunities to serve others through Gospelcentered leadership.

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References
My Skills Profile: Global Online Assessment. (2009). Leadership Potential Indicator (LPI).
Retrieved from http://www.myskillsprofile.com/tests/lpi
Keller, T. (2015). Leadership Journal: Real Ministry in a Complex World. Christianity Today.
Retrieved from http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/contributors/tim-keller.html