Smart Leadership Development Plan: Everything You Must Know

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Leadership means having the ability to lead an individual, a team, or an organization. A good leader can make his juniors and team members work under his guidance and show them the right ways to achieve success. 

Smart Leadership is an ability that can influence any random individual or group of individuals with its powers. Leaders have excellent skills to influence people’s perceptions and make them agree with their thoughts. 

Smart Leadership means moving ahead with the changing time. As we know, time waits for nobody, so it becomes essential to stay updated to face new challenges and achieve success, for which it is also crucial to change and update our skills and knowledge.

What is Smart Leadership? 

Everyone has their perspective of thinking about anything. So it is impossible to give a precise definition of Leadership. Everyone has their separate meaning of Smart Leadership. Its definition changes with the experiences gained by the staff and their employees. 

For some, competent Leadership may be just about listening to their employees and following their wants and needs assuming it to be the ultimate want of the nation as a whole. Intelligent leaders always follow the footprints of their seniors and role models who inspire them to work harder with each passing day. 

Management of an organization and a group leader has the same work to do, i.e., manage the ongoing projects, deal with employees and team members and ensure that work gets done on time.

The only difference between solid Management and innovative sound Leadership is that “Management is responsible for doing things correctly. On the other hand, Leadership is responsible for doing the right things.”

Smart Leadership goals

The goals of Smart Leadership are as follows –

  • Specific –  about its needs and wants in a clear and to-the-point way. For example: what are the things that we need to accomplish?

  • Measurable – he must have the capability to trace the targetted specification. For example: how many places are we advertising?

  • Attainable – he must ensure everything lies within the extent and range of the company. For example: can we achieve future goals?

  • Relevant – he must have the appropriate abilities to help the organization grow and succeed. For example: what is the reason behind the strategies set?

  • Time-based – he must have the ability to complete and accomplish his targets within the stipulated time. For example: how much time do we need to achieve our aim? 

What are the main qualities of Smart Leadership?

Mark Miller is an international author, leader, and communicator. He is one of the best-selling authors in the whole wide world. He has written quite a few books about the roles, risks, and opportunities an intelligent leader has while completing his duties and responsibilities.

He served as the Vice President of High-Performance Leadership for over 20 years. He wrote many successful books that gained a huge appreciation, including “Smart Leadership: Four Simple Choices to Scale Your Impact.” 

In this book, he has written about how a leader can create an impact on his team members with the help of making four simple choices. These are – 

  • Have the capabilities to face up to real-life things, remain calm, and analyze uncertainties. And work out with strength in every position.

  • Enlarge volume and size to increase its capacity to fulfill current and future demands. And be ready to face all challenges to complete the projects.

  • Charge with curiosity and interest to keep going while maintaining its relevance and liveliness in the changing world.

  • He should continuously think about new, unique, and innovative id thousands of thousands and likes of its customers to ensure a better and bright tomorrow. 

On the other hand, “fuel50’s Global Talent Mobility Best Practice Research” found that besides the characteristics stated above, a leader needs to have a few more elements that are equally important for them to support the growth development of employees. Some more features are –

  • Create an environment and cultural background where employees learn with practical examples. It is where the employees and the leaders keep working on themselves. They should make such a strategic plan keeping their visions very clear in mind, which is also helpful in fulfilling future projects.

  • Highlight the projects while focusing on introducing a variety of new projects and assignments. The leaders should also maintain transparency in distributing the duties and tasks to employees, actively guide them with their experiences, and prepare them for sudden mishaps.

  • The leader should maintain a thick consistency in guiding the employees. He should teach them the process of developing their selves. And should tell them and make them aware of all their faults and errors and support them in growing.

  • Provide employees with regular assignments and projects that also help them learn every day and get better opportunities in the future. These typical projects help them practice their skills, strengthening their internal growth.

The process of training for future obstacles –

In today’s world, every employee needs to have work experiences that describe their hard work, professionalism, skills, and innovativeness. 

The employees want more feedback after completing every new project and more opportunities to prove themselves and show their skills and knowledge through their work. They want and desire consistent growth over time while achieving further success.

The process of training and coaching employees for future modernized opportunities and challenges is crucial for them. With the change in time, the world is also changing eventually. Nowadays, employees want someone to guide them at every step of their work and who looks after their personal and professional development. 

In one of his interviews with McKinsey, Hubert Joly, a well-known businessman, said about pursuing the ultimate priorities and how it is being called Smart and Purposeful Leadership. 

Here, the first thing is to list your skills and knowledge that empowers you to become a strong and intelligent leader. Be clear about your visions, know the value of people around you, and make mutually beneficial decisions for the organization, the employees, and the leader.

The leader should be faithful and responsible. He should act smartly and actively. He should create such an image that his employees are afraid of him but at the same time respect him and love him. The employees should have a sense of surety that in case anything goes wrong, their leader is present to support them.

The leader should have the guts to face sudden emergencies like crises during the COVID-19 pandemic, any natural calamity, etc. He should have the mind to make the right decisions in these situations.

It is challenging to have complete perfection, as many employees are attached to an assignment. But as it is said, “To err is human; To forgive is divine,” which means it is widespread and natural for humans to make mistakes, but forgiving them rather than creating an issue is important.

It is a fact that the soul and spirit behind the concept of Smart Leadership are having a workplace with a positive environment where anyone and everyone can achieve success.

Smart Leadership Development Plan

A Smart Leadership Development Plan is a strategic roadmap for enhancing your leadership skills and achieving your career goals. Here are some key steps to creating a Smart Leadership Development Plan:

  1. Identify your strengths and areas for improvement: Conduct a self-assessment to determine your leadership strengths and areas that need improvement.

  2. Set clear goals: Define specific and measurable goals for developing your leadership skills and advancing your career.

  3. Create an action plan: Identify the steps and activities needed to achieve your goals, including training, mentorship, coaching, and feedback.

  4. Seek feedback and support: Seek feedback from colleagues, mentors, and coaches to help you identify areas for improvement and refine your development plan.

  5. Implement your plan: Actively engage in the activities identified in your plan and track your progress toward your goals.

  6. Review and adjust: Regularly review and adjust your development plan as needed based on feedback, progress, and changes in your career goals.

By following these steps, you can create a Smart Leadership Development Plan that will help you enhance your leadership skills and achieve success in your career.

Conclusion

An intelligent leader cracks the ultimate equation of having the right balance and flexibility in their leadership style. It was easy to manage organizations in the past as the needs and wants were less, and people could adjust. But now, people’s wants and needs are infinite and have no boundaries. 

So to handle such situations, it becomes essential for the group leader to act responsibly and smartly. He should be capable of facing challenges and have the guts to make decisions without hesitation. 

Of course, having 100% perfect work is impossible, as many employees are attached to an assignment. It is natural for humans to make mistakes, but forgiving them rather than creating an issue is important.

And to remember the fact that the concept of Smart Leadership is having a workplace with a positive environment where anyone and everyone can achieve success. 

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