2 and half page paper
Personal Development and Strategic Plan

You are tasked with leveraging your critical thinking skills and applying new knowledge and insight gained in the course concepts to write a 3-page personal development and strategic plan. The goal is to help you reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and establish and achieve your life goals by understanding who you are, where you are going, and why and how you will do it.

Formatting requirements: Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman, 1-inch margins, 3 pages MAX, correct grammar (punctuation, spelling, clearly written, etc.). Answer each question in paragraph form (you do not need an introduction or to connect your responses).

The FIRST step in creating a strategic plan requires introspection and thinking critically about you and the future. Before starting, spend some time thinking about the following questions, jotting down things that come to mind:

· Who am I, and why am I here? What do I want to contribute?

· What did I dream of becoming?

· Who do I want to be in the future … in 5 years… in 10 years?

· What do I value that gives real happiness? What am I doing when I feel my best?

· What am I passionate about that gives meaning to life?

· What is important to me in life, both personally and professionally? With regard to money, how much is enough?

· What kind of impact do I have on people now? What kind of leader do I want to be?

· What are my strengths and weaknesses? What can I do better than others?

Your personal strategic plan should include:

1. Strengths & Weaknesses (about 1 page)

a) Identify strengths and weaknesses (2-3 each- no more) by reflecting on insights you had into better understanding and managing yourself and others, can draw on self-assessments or lecture material (e.g., individual differences, such as specific personality characteristics, emotional or cultural intelligence, mindfulness, team or leadership skills, etc.)

b) What did you learn about yourself during this course that you found particularly valuable?

2. Values: Identify and discuss 2-3 (no more) of your core values (deeply held values that define who you are). (a) Describe what they mean to you (how do you define them) and (b) what past events or people helped shaped why they important to you. (about 1 page)

3. Mission: What is your long-term life goal or mission (e.g., who do you want to be; what is your purpose)? This should be structured similarly to an organizational mission statement in terms of length and content (about 1/6 page)

4. Strategic goal setting (based on overall mission and values): (about 3/4 page)

a. Identify one broad, 5-year goal (where do want to be in five years) that is aligned with your overall mission and values.

b. Then, create sub-goals for the next several years that will help you achieve your 5-year goal (what needs to happen in the next year, 2 years, etc. so you meet your 5-year goal?). Goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound).

Personal Development Plan Rubric

Area

Points and Comments

Reflection of what you learned in class and SW analysis (must relate to class content): (30 points)

· Clearly identifying 2-3 personal strengths and weaknesses from individual differences discussed in class

· Demonstrate thoughtfulness and self-reflection in applying concepts to insight gleaned regarding self and others

· Demonstrate clear knowledge and application of course material

Core Values: (25 points)

· Identifying 2 (no more than 3) core values that are well-defined (what do they mean to you – how do you define them)

· Should include why they are important and what influential experiences shaped them

· Discussion should reflect critical thinking, reflection, and awareness

Mission or overall goal in life (10 points)

· Mission should identify why you exist, what is your purpose

· Should reflect deep thinking about overall goals and purpose

Strategic Goal Setting (20 points)

· Clearly outlines one broad 5-year goal that is clearly linked to overall Mission and Values

· Develops several sub-goals to the 5-year goal that outline the steps over the next several years to accomplish in the next couple years. Short-term goals should be SMART goals (Please note that people often get points off here because goals aren’t SMART or aligned with overall goal).

· Plan as a whole should be well-throughout and demonstrate critical thinking, self-awareness, and introspection and considers values, strengths/weaknesses, and mission.

Writing (20 points)

· Correct use of punctuation, spelling, grammar, sentence structure, language use

· To receive full points, must be free of errors and clearly written and well-organized

100 Total