LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Assignment Overview
The LDP assignment synthesizes phase one & two of the HTM 301 course into a personalized plan. This assignment will help students to initiate a personalized plan for enhancing HTM competencies within the context of coursework, meaningful experiences, and professional passions.
Section One: Vision and Goals – This section asks students to envision their dream job consistent with their thoughts on the ideal leader and personal values. Students will represent their visions and goals in a visual representation in the form of a professional passions mind map.
Section Two: Reflections – This section guides students through a series of reflection questions where students synthesize what they learned about themselves and consider their own strengths and weaknesses related to their vision and goals.
Section Three: Competency Assessment – In this section, list four specific behaviors for each of the 12 competencies. Students then synthesize their feedback and reflections to assess themselves on each competency.
Section Four: Personalized Development Activity – The final section of the LDP commits the student to enhancing their leadership competencies through the ongoing process of customized learning. Students identify three competencies they want to improve and, based on this, they develop an activity to complete in a future semester.
REQUIRED:
Completed Development Plan (all four sections, for HTM students specifically) represented on the students individual e-portfolio. Your mind map should be represented under the “professional passions” tab, while the rest of your LDP should be represented under “coursework highlights”. Do not simply upload links to documents, your work must be embedded onto your website.
Section One: Vision and Goals
The Ideal Hospitality Leader
What is unique about the context of the hospitality and tourism industry?
How do leaders excel in this context?
How do current managers and faculty members define/talk about/say is important about leading in the context of the hospitality and tourism industry?
How has your view of leading in the hospitality and tourism industry changed?
What are the behaviors for each of the competencies that are most connected to your vision of the ideal leader in the HTM context?
Provide a narrative about your vision of the ideal leader in the hospitality and tourism context and the leader you envision yourself becoming.
Career Goals
Use the following questions to guide you in your narrative. You do not have to answer each question one by one.
What are the possible ways to sustain the lifestyle you want in the experience economy?
What kind of work would take advantage of your talents, as you perceive them now?
What are you considering that you never thought possible before?
Even though the job doesn’t exist today, how would you really like to spend your time?
Based on what you know about your values, passions, and talents, what would be your dream career in the long term? Hint: Think Bigger.
What would be an ideal position/career/life choice for you 5 years after graduating?
List a short-term career goal – achieved by your graduation date.
Professional Passions Mind Map
Using the information you’ve brainstormed on above, create a visual representation of your own mind map answering the following questions that correspond with the blue section of the mind map.
Your map may be hand drawn or created using software of your choice.
Write a short paragraph to accompany your map, providing a short description of what your map represents. Use the questions below to help guide you in creating your map and crafting your write up.
Your Big WHY? You need to know WHY you want to do the work. Write down exactly WHY you want to do your dream job, or reach certain goals. Clarity in this are will help you make intentional decisions moving forward.
Your Network: Who do you know? Think of people in your professional network that have been helpful in the past and those that could be helpful in the future. Describe ways in which you can work on building relationships with these people to help you get closer to your dream job.
Experience: What job do you have right now? Define your current role. What jobs, internships, externships or volunteer experiences have you had in the past? Write down the skills sets you’ve gained.
Execution Strategies: This is your roadmap. These are strategies that you will implement to step closer to your career goals.
Ideal Company: Who is your ideal company? If you don’t know, what does your ideal company look like? Do some research to see who aligns with your core values the best.
Ideal Professional Self: Describe your ideal professional self in 25 words or less. How do you want people to see you? What words or phrases do you want them to use when they describe you?
Section Two: Reflections
Simulation
Reflect on your strengths and weaknesses during the simulations. Identify the changes you would make if you were to take part in a second simulation. What areas do you think you could most improve upon?
Section Three: Competency Assessment
For each competency, list four behaviors that convey the essence of the competency in action aligned with your vision of the ideal leader in hospitality and tourism. You may find it helpful to review the competency definitions article and industry interviews.
Then, for each competency, assess yourself currently using the rating scale below. These ratings will serve as your baseline assessment, and you will reassess your own development in future semesters.
Your ratings are for the purpose of learning and growth only—ratings will not influence course grades. Enter a number of 1 through 7 for yourself for each of the competencies.
