The annual training day for incoming club leaders equips them with the skills and knowledge to carry out their roles. This session, by Margaret Ormiston, Professor of Organisational Behaviour focuses on setting personal objectives for the coming year.

1. Personal Development Planning
Professor Margaret Ormiston, Organisational Behaviour

2. • Examine how your personal development ties into the club’s
objectives
• Consider potential personal development goals
• Strategize on how to actualize your personal development goal.
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Agenda

3. How does the club objective’s affect your objective?
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What’s our
club’s objective? Leader
Critical tasks
People
Decision making
structure
Culture
Source: Tushman & O’Reilly, 1997

4. How does the club objective’s affect your objective?
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6 events in spring
and summer terms
Critical tasks: event
planning, marketing events
People: Experience
with event planning,
industry contacts, can
work with others
Decision making
Structure: decentralized
Culture: People
oriented, action-
oriented, organized
Source: Tushman & O’Reilly, 1997
Leader

5. • What is my club objective?
What are the critical tasks to achieve this objective?
What kind of people do I need (not just technical skills)?
What kind of decision making structure do I need (mostly suggest democratic)?
What kind of culture do I need?
• What will be the key expectations of me to accomplish the above?
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What are some potential areas for development?

6. 6
GAPS Grid
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Your
view
How
others
view you
Where you are now What’s required of you in this role
Abilities
Mission in work (3-5
years): What is your
desired role?
Perceptions of others
Standards the club
expects you to meet (in
desired role)

7. 7
GAPS Grid
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Your
view
How
others
view you
Where you are now What’s required of you in this role
Abilities
Self-assessment (e.g., NEO)
Track record
Professional assessment
Mission in work
Work & life interests
Work reward values
Business skills
Personal values
Personal goals
Perceptions of others
Peer and management feedback
360 feedback
Customer feedback
Performance reviews
Standards the club
expects you to meet
Culture and norms
Respected role models
Conversations

8. • Determine the gaps between where you are now and where you are
going:
• Focus on:
 Relevance: What can I work on as a leader of my club?
 Importance: Rock the boat or sink the ship?
 Urgency: Is the house on fire?
 Do-ability: How likely is it that I can fix it?
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Personal development
Now
What is
needed for
this role?

9. What are some potential areas for
development?
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10. • Leadership style: We often tend towards micromanaging, consider
democratic and/or visionary
• Listening: instant empathy formula (ask question, actively listen,
clarify)
• Team management: Don’t avoid conflict; encourage the right kind
and deal with the wrong kind, succession planning
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Personal development: Previous student leaders

11. What motivates your team?
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12. Existing research suggests that these are the key levers:
1. Job Design: Can you redesign or tailor jobs to fit specific
individuals?
2. Training: What skills does this person need or want that you could
provide?
3. Participation in Decision Making: Can you include members of the
team in decision making in the group?
4. Strong Selection: Do they respect, value or even admire their
teammates and want to work with them?
5. Dealing With Poor Performers: Are those who are not able moved
out?
6. Clear and Transparent Rules: Is everyone held to the same rules as
rewards are given (e.g., clear human resource policies)? Do your
people feel a sense of fairness?
7. Financial rewards: Can actually undermine intrinsic motivation
(the over-justification effect)!
– But use other forms of recognition!
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What can you provide that will improve performance of your team
and/or key people in it?

13. • Interpersonal differences can impede not only an individual’s
success, but also the group’s success.
• A team contract culture has been found to help teams succeed.
• What do we need to consider in a team culture?
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Managing teams

14.  What is our key goal/objective?
 How shall we work together in order to maximize the probability of reaching our goals?
 How do we want to address social loafing?
 How do we want to handle lack of performance and failure to meet team
commitments?
 How will we manage conflict?
 How do we handle disruptive behaviour (physical, verbal, nonverbal)?
 What will the punishment be if a team member violates the agreement?
 How will we conduct ourselves at meetings?
 How will we reward ourselves as a team?
 What will be our plan to revisit our culture?
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Questions to answer

15. Personal development: How will I
do it?
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16. • Learning Goal Orientation: Emphasize performance improvement
rather than outcomes
• Performance Goal Orientation: Emphasize the outcome (e.g., good
grades, promotion)
• Learning orientation leads to more realistic goal setting, persisting
through adversity, seeing failure as a learning opportunity, seeking
feedback, learning strategies (e.g., rehearsing)
• Often seen as a trait but can be induced (values, framing,
preparation).
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Personal development success: Framing
Source: Gist & Stevens, 1997

17. • What is your strategy for development?
– Use multiple methods to develop self
– SMART goals can provide a general structure
– Focus on what the method, your timeline is, the specific action you will take
• Who/what can I learn from?
– LBS career centre
– LBS electives
– Mentors
– Peers (feedback)
– Books
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy:
– Antecedents
– Behaviours
– Consequences
– Specific action plan
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Personal development: How will I do it?

18. 18
Antecedent Behavior Consequence
New Opportunities Intense/Action-Oriented Overwhelmed Employees
Steps:
– Recognize the trigger (New opportunities)
– Recognize the cues from others (Changes in employee behaviour, e.g., more
stressed)
– Develop a specific, alternative behaviour

19. 19
Obstacles

20. • Biggest obstacle in changing yourself is self-control; need to make
this easy so self-control is not depleted.
• Cognition: Direct yourself
– Set goals
– Point yourself to destination (clarity, not too many, not far off, achievable)
– Recognize your limitations
• Motivation: Sense of purpose (Why is this important? What are the
long-term ROIs?)
• Road map:
– Remove/create obstacles
– Go public
– Restore depleted energy/self-control: Positive mood stimulus (Baumeister)
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Making change possible

21. • Encourage a learning orientation within your team, that allows
feedback. And when you get negative feedback…….
• What can I learn from this situation? What are the benefits of this
negative situation?
• Instead of ruminating, write about your experiences. Really dissect
the antecedents and consequences to your behavior.
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Managing setbacks

22. • Student leadership role is an excellent time to practice leadership
behaviors
• Take time to align your personal objectives with your club objectives
• Proactively manage your team
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Takeaways