Project 1: Leading Strategically

Step 1: Complete Your Skills Gap Analysis

INBOX: 1 New Message

Subject:  MCS Personnel Review—Skills Gap Analysis

From:      Rebecca Sterling, Life & Leadership Coach

To:           You

Hello,

Hope your projects are going well. I saw that you were going to be attending the upcoming leadership conference in Chicago—looks like a good mix of professional perspectives and market insight.

As you may have heard, MCS Human Resources is requesting that all personnel use the attached gap analysis instrument to self-evaluate business knowledge and skills before beginning work on upcoming projects.

Select the Project 1 worksheet in the bottom left of the file to complete this request. When you have completed your self-evaluation, use the text box at the bottom of the worksheet to write a reflection of 400–500 words describing two to three gaps you will work to reduce, why you selected them, and the activities you will pursue to develop your selected competencies. Please note, you will need to return to this file later to complete a final gap analysis.

Be sure to reach out if you have any questions.

Best,

Becca

Attachments:

Skills gap analysis instrument

Submit your skills gap analysis to the Assignments folder, then proceed to the next step.

Step 2: Expand Your Knowledge of Strategic Leadership

Now you’re all set to travel. You pack your bags for the Future Directions Conference and put up your out-of-office email response. After a smooth flight into Chicago, you catch a ride to the conference center to get settled.

The focus of the Future Directions Conference is strategic leadership, and you capture some notes from each presenter as you attend various sessions throughout the weekend.

Notes from Future Directions Conference—Chicago, IL

Sarah Emerson, 
COO of Digital Blitz

·
Keynote: Why Leading is Strategy

· Notes on 

strategic leadership

Jeffree Daily, 
Digital Strategist for Pyle Force

·
Session 1: Deep Roots: Theories and Research Still Apply

· Notes on 

perspectives in leadership theory and research

Carson Sizemore, 
VP of Human Resources for Enterprise Today

·
Session 2: Spare Change

· Notes on 

management of change and trust

· Note on 

Resilience

· Note on 

Circular Economy

Johanna Gillmont, 
President of Continental Shift

·
Session 3: Quite the Contrary

· Notes on 

managing ambivalence

Jarrell Faust, 
Entrepreneur and Founder of SOURCE3

·
Session 4: Pulling in the Pieces

· Notes on 

shared and distributed leadership

Catherine Condorro, 
Director of Leadership at Parsons Institute for Finance 

·
Session 5: Connecting on Another Level

·  Notes on 

relational leadership 

Nina Orenstein, 
Experience Engineer at Hefler-Miller Systems

·
Closing Keynote: Complicated Yet Sophisticated

· Notes on 

complexity theory of leadership

The conference concludes and you are exhausted—there was a lot of information to digest. After the conference reception, you grab a bite to eat while reviewing your notes in depth. You know that the CEO, Jillian Best, expects you to not only report out on these materials, but also to discuss many of the highlights with your peers and other attendees from Maryland Creative Solutions, LLC.

Please review all materials in the links above and then proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Discuss Conference Materials

Your first day back in the office, Jillian Best has requested that you participate in an open discussion with your peers about some of the takeaways from the recent Future Directions Conference you attended in Chicago as well as your professional leadership experiences outside of the company. Now that you have returned to the office, it’s time to get the discussion underway.

Based on your reading, research, and analysis, respond to the two discussion questions below and adhere to Jillian’s discussion requirements:

· Respond to at least one main topic by Saturday midnight; respond to the second main topic and a minimum of two posts from your classmates (at least one in each topic) by Tuesday midnight of Week 1.

· The titles of your two main posts should indicate the discussion topic number (e.g., #1, #2) and your name.

· For the choice of your organization, you can choose your current employer, past employer, a supplier or customer that you are very familiar with, or an organization where you volunteer.

Discussion

Discuss the two topics listed below:

·
Discussion Topic 1: Drivers of Change

What are the major external and internal drivers of change in your organization?

·
Discussion Topic 2: Strategic Leadership

What is, or should be, the role of the strategic leadership in your organization to meet its performance objectives, develop a resilient organization and respond to the challenges of environment and sustainability?

Review the 

MBA Discussion Guidelines
 for instructions on participation in discussions.

After the discussion, proceed to the next step, where you will write a report on strategic management and leadership.

Course Resource

Print

MBA Discussion Guidelines

Throughout the MBA program, you will be asked to participate in discussions. Assigned discussions, both individual and group work, are part of the process of developing your project deliverables.

In general, address your discussion posts to your classmates, rather than the instructor. Do not attach files; use only the discussion textbox. Your posts do not need the structure or format of formal business memos or reports. These discussions should be an informal exchange of ideas with your peers. You should, of course, still adhere to the norms of standard written English.

To receive the maximum benefit, you should participate in accordance with the guidelines provided below.

· timeliness

· initial posting submitted on Saturday

· responses to other discussion postings submitted on Tuesday

· proper citation

· use APA citation style (example below)

· meaningful engagement

· posts contribute to substantive scholarly discussion

· student demonstrates professionalism in interaction with peers

· posts critically discuss topics presented in the current week and, when appropriate, in previous weeks

· posts are grounded in the theories and concepts presented in the course

Example:

Based on the 

UMGC library’s guidance on APA citations
, including guidance on how to cite content from the UMGC online classroom, please use the following format for classroom resources with no author or no date:

Title of resource. (n.d.). Document posted in University of Maryland Global Campus Course Name Course Number online classroom, archived at: hyperlink

SWOT analysis. (n.d.). Document posted in University of Maryland Global Campus MBA 610 2182 online classroom, archived at:

 

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