Assignment Brief - Unit 7001: Personal development as a strategic manager

Unit 7001 - Personal development as a strategic manager

Introduction This unit is about understanding the strategic skills required to enable an organisation to achieve its ambitions. It requires you to demonstrate that you are able to identify and manage organisational skills requirements and personal leadership development and evaluate the effectiveness of the results. The unit is also about understanding how to create a staff welfare environment aligned to organisational values.

Scenario Learners may use their own employment context, or that of another organisation with which they are very familiar, to base their assignment. However, in the case that they are not able to do so, please use the below scenario:You are a senior manager in a business unit of a medium sized enterprise, with functional management and organisational leadership development responsibilities. Please select and research an organisation of your choice to identify its vision, strategic goals and objectives, and welfare culture. Provide brief details of your research in a summary of between 200 and 250 words which are in addition to the suggested word counts. Use the results of your research to answer the tasks below.

Task 1: Consider the vision and strategic objectives of your organisation or those of an organisation of your choice, and identify the managerial and leadership competencies required to deliver the strategic ambition over the period of the plan. Demonstrate that you have used one or more attributed skills analysis models from management theory. Present the conclusions of your analysis, identifying the four most significant skills the organisation needs to enhance in the next year to begin to deliver the strategic direction. In addition, identify at least three new skills the organisation will be likely to need to enhance in the next 3-5 years to achieve strategic

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ambitions. Discuss the implications of the skills gaps you have identified. Guideline word count: 900 - 1,000 words A.C. 1.1 - Analyse the strategic direction of the organisation A.C. 1.2 - Evaluate the strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the strategic ambitions A.C. 1.3 - Assess the relationship between existing, required and future skills to achieve the strategic ambitions

Task 2: Describe at least three different methods of developing strategic leadership skills and relate these to differing individual learning styles based on one of the well known models. Guideline word count: 400 - 450 words A.C. 2.1 - Discuss the opportunities to support leadership development

Task 3: Using at least two different analysis frameworks, assess your own leadership skills against those required by the organisation now and in the future, and identify areas for development for the next three years. Determine the methods most appropriate to meet each of these development needs, showing that you understand your personal learning style by the completion of an appropriate analysis exercise. Describe how and when you plan to meet these development needs over the next three years, and detail the outcomes you hope to achieve as a result of the development plan. Describe at least three actions you have taken to develop your leadership skills in the last six months, and analyse the progress you have made as a result. Review the impact of recent external influences on strategic goals and identify what new challenges these present for leadership skills development, updating the plan with new actions required. NB. You may complete this task by means of a comprehensive personal development plan with SMART objectives and tangible outcomes that has also been reviewed and updated, with the starting point taken as the commencement of your current CMI studies.

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Guideline word count: 600 - 650 words A.C. 2.2 Construct a personal development plan to direct leadership development A.C. 2.3 Devise an implementation process for the development plan A.C. 3.1 Assess the achievement of outcomes of the plan against original objectives A.C. 3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan

Task 4: Taking the results of the personal development plan you have produced in Task 3, analyse how your development has contributed to the performance of your own department and to the strategic ambitions of the wider organisation. Discuss where the development has made a greater contribution than originally envisaged, and where the contribution has been less than expected, giving reasons for the variances. Guideline word count: 300 - 350 words A.C. 3.2 - Evaluate the impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic ambitions

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Task 5: Provide a broad, high level interpretation of the influence a staff welfare environment can have on the achievement of organisational objectives. Include reference to relevant legal duties and obligations. Evaluate yours or your chosen organisations welfare culture. Give practical examples of the commitment to staff welfare and identify any areas for improvement. Analyse the impact a commitment to staff welfare has on strategic objectives and on organisational values, staff morale and motivation. Guideline word count: 950 - 1,050 words A.C. 4.1 Evaluate the impact of corporate commitment to staff welfare on organisational objectives A.C. 4.2 Discuss how a staff welfare environment can affect achievement of organisational objectives A.C. 4.3 Consider the influence of a corporate commitment to staff welfare on the development of organisational values

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CMI Membership Benefits

CMI is the only chartered professional body in the UK dedicated to management and leadership. Membership of the CMI is designed to work for you and your learners during management studies and then beyond this on a day-to-day basis to aid the overall progression of your management careers. There are many benefits of membership, but for you and your learners in particular this comes to life with our tailored online support - via www.managers.org.uk/practical-support/studysupport. All the resources available on Management Direct are designed to help you and your learners with CMI assignments. Management Direct enables quick and easy access to information which is automatically tailored to the individual units on each relevant CMI qualification, meaning you can spend less time looking for the information you need to deliver the qualification and ensure that your learners have access to the many resources to complete their next assignment. The other main benefits of membership are: Online resources via our website www.managers.org.uk including checklists, management models, learner videos and podcasts, among various other formats tailored to many different learning styles. Professional recognition from a Chartered body for management and leadership, including the platform for letters after your name and our highest accolade of Chartered Manager. Networking opportunities via our online community, social media or programme of events Free publications Professional Manager which is our exclusive CMI publication and depending on your grade of membership you will also receive Management Today. The CMI library has over 25,000 books and 40,000 journals, making it the largest library in Europe dedicated to management and leadership. Let us source and post the material to you on the same day you request it and make life easier for you and your learners. Our Ask a Researcher service gives you access to extremely well informed experts who are prepared to go that extra mile to answer your management issues. Our career development service is also an essential part of what CMI can offer, providing a wealth of material including how to prepare and update a CV, how to succeed at job

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interviews, dealing with redundancy through our support service and also how to find a job giving you access to over 200,000 vacancies nationwide. Our free legal helpline is available to all members who need professional advice and the lines are manned by qualified lawyers with at least 5 years experience. Our CPD offers a structured framework to improve and evidence your professional development, BusinessHR offers invaluable support and ensures a best practice approach to HR and we can also help to save you money on Professional Indemnity Insurance. For a taster of what CMI membership can do for you and your learners please watch our video www.managers.org.uk/managementdirect-video or for more information visit our website www.managers.org.uk or call our Membership team on 01536 207 307.

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