Ldr/531 Professional Development Plan Paper

Professional Development Plan
Justine Washington
LDR-531/ Organizational Leadership
September 29, 2014
Donald Frey

Professional Development Plan
The professional development plan is a blueprint for success and outlines specific information necessary to help individuals grow as leaders and individuals. The purpose of this development plan is to identify strengths, skills, and weaknesses of each team member of Learning Team D using the specific behavioral style identified in the DISC assessment. My role as manager of the team is to address the characteristics of the team and myself and create a development plan that is instrumental in assisting each team member with her respective career goals and providing the necessary
This tool provides insight into four different personality types- dominant, cautious, steadiness, and interactive. According to Disc Profile (1997-2010), "The DISC Model of Behavior was first proposed by William Mouton Marston, a physiological psychologist with a Ph.D. from Harvard. His work focused on directly observable and measurable psychological phenomena. He was interested in using practical explanations to help people understand and manage their experiences and relationships. Marston theorized that the behavioral expression of emotions could be categorized into four primary types, stemming from the person 's perceptions of self in relationship to his or her environment. Marston labeled these four types as Dominance (D), Inducement (I), Submission (S), and Compliance (C)” (History of DISC). William Marston did not develop the DISC Assessment. In 1940, Walter Clark procured the model of William Moulton Marston and established the initial DISC
Because the majority of the team members have a cautious behavioral style, it is to my advantage to have these individuals break down each assignment and project from the beginning to the end. They are also task-oriented which will bode well for each project. Their strengths are attention to detail and follow through. Lauren has the dominance behavioral style and likes to be in charge that will help to keep the group on track. Those with the cautious behavioral style tend to work at a slow pace and are extremely over analytical. As the leader of the team, my plan is to encourage my team members and recognize them for their achievements. Laura, who is supportive, will provide the encouragement the team needs to complete each task. She will also be strong on follow through and following up with each team member to ensure they are on track to complete each assignment. She is the most people-oriented of the group, so I will rely on her to maintain stability and balance in the group. Each team member will lead a project or assignment each week because each person will share some of the four behavioral styles depending on the nature of the assignments. Each team member will explore the behavioral styles of her fellow team members to understand each person fully on how they think, act, and interact with one another. This will enable each person to