Leadership Philosophy Paper Minimum Requirements:
9 pages – Plus your APA Student Cover Page & References Page(s)
Minimum Reference citations = 10 (include References from the Self-Awareness paper submitted earlier this semester)
Minimum in-text citations = 20 (note that the minimum is acceptable for C range papers)
Papers must include a high quality Introduction, but the Introduction will NOT need a heading in the body of the paper
No ABSTRACT required
You must use the following major headings in the body of the paper:
[Introduction – no header required]
Self-Awareness
Leadership Styles
-subheadings recommended for this section to organize content (see below)
Leadership Philosophy
-subheadings recommended for this section to organize content (see below)
Personal and Professional Development Goals
-short-term, longer term, address weaknesses and gaps in learning that will be needed to truly master the art of leadership
Conclusions
Leadership Styles (1-2 pages) from previous self-assessments and self-observations, describe your prominant leadership styles. Include the leadership styles you beleive are most effective in organizations today. Provide strong supporting evidence for your perspectives.
HINT: for the section below, use the Nine Keys of Leadership (from our Art of Leadership textbook) as a framework for organizing your discussion of your personal philosophy. Remember this is an Academic paper. Keep the use of personal pronouns to a minimum. Do NOT use you, your, yourself, informal language, slang, or empty subjects – be concise.
Leadership Philosophy (5-6 pages) discuss your perspectives on effective leadership behavior, describe your approach to making decisions related to unscripted problems, and explain your strategies for influencing people and contributing to positive organizational change or success. Be sure to integrate learning from this course, and a variety of previous courses completed, as you reflect on your mastery of the OL Program Learning Outcomes. Discuss, support, and document the theories, readings, and work from OL courses into your paper using appropriate APA style and both in-text and reference page citations.
The Leadership Philosophy section of your paper should clearly map to the OL Program learning outcomes. Use references (APA format) to connect theories, practices, frameworks to how you personally think about leadership. This is the most important portion of your paper.
Personal & Professional Development Goals (2-3 pages) Most leaders will create and regularly revise a personal or professional development plan throughout their careers. Beyond your own goals, great organizations contribute to growth and development plans by making individual goals part of routine peformance planning. This section is where you will revisit the data from self-awareness and self-assessments you’ve complete in this and previous courses and share specific skills you need to further develop, experiences or relationships you feel are necessary to reach career goals, actions you must take (finding a coach, training, certificaitons, etc.). and the critical indicators you will use to measure your growth and success.
Conclusions – (1-2 pages) Discuss and reflect on your experiences as an OL major. This is a section to provide feedback to OL program leaders. Tell us honestly how you feel about your experiences as an OL major by responding to the following questions: How has this program prepared you to lead? In what ways have you grown as a student, a leader, and a person? What are the positives of the OL program? In what ways could the OL program be improved?
General Contents & Format
APA Title page
APA Paper
Page numbers
Paper title on first page
Introduction
Headings (as appropriate labels to organize content)
References page
Use APA format throughout, including in-text citations, double-spacing, and Times New Roman or similar font.
Papers, including cover and reference page may not exceed 14 pages in total length. Be concise!
Important Note: Due to the reflective nature of this paper, it is appropriate to use the word “I” if you are not able to describe the situation, action, or learning experience in 3rd person; however, do not use:
the word you or its forms (your, yourself, etc.)
slang
lengthy personal stories, writing should be specific and concise.