Personal

Development
Plan
Joel Sarmiento

Personal Mission Statement

A CEO of a large corporation, to a sports manager of a national team, or even a
community leader; all of these people are leaders in their own ways. I can also assume that each
one has a different definition of leadership. The CEO may focus on power or organization, the
sports manager may think about natural talent or traits, and the community leader may consider a
positive goal or change in his definition. Each has their own important view point, and I like to
base my definition of all three. I think leadership is a process of communication with followers
that works for a common positive goal. Of course it has to be organized in some fashion, but
does not have to be in the typical sense of a hierarchy. I also feel like there are traits that go
along with leadership that allow a particular person to be more capable; however, I feel that the
most important traits are able to be worked on and perfected in some fashion.
I believe that many people, if not everyone, can identify these traits and skills and is able
to develop them. On my life goals list this would have to be one of them. I think it is important
to be self-aware of ones own strengths and weakness when it comes to leadership skills. I hope
to develop my own through the program and opportunities on campus. Along with this I have
many other items on my list of life goals that can help be realized with leadership skills. Just
some of these goals include: change the way people think about the environment, develop a
system for sustainable energy, and help reform areas of poverty and despair. If I am able to learn
leadership skills such as emotional intelligence, coalition building, and changing ideologies I can
apply these directly to my goals. If I can efficiently build coalitions I can further the cause of the
environment by providing help to local campaigns and start ups. I will hopefully be able to
instruct others and know myself how to help change the ideologies of modern population.

However I think in everything I do in my life I will need emotional intelligence. Although I think
I have a grasp of the definition and can I apply it in some instances, if I can fully develop it and
understand the people around me I can better lead with them in mind. Hopefully this will allow
me to lead change and many areas of my life. This is why I am enrolled in the program, to better
understand myself so I can develop my skills in leadership so I can one day lead change in different
sectors of todays world.

Self Awareness & the Power of Inspiration

In beginning my leadership certificate program it is important to know my strengths and
weakness so I can go into each event knowing what I can do and what I need to work on.
Hopefully with this knowledge I can use my strengths and develop my weakness so when I
finish the program I know how to take advantage of my own leadership abilities.
After taking the ECI-U assessment along with the Strengths Quest leadership identification
program I feel that I have become more accurately aware of what I need to work on and what I
need to accomplish within the program. I have prioritized my goals with the first one being more
important and it is also important to accomplishing the second. My first goal is to become more
self-aware of my own emotions and responsibilities but of others also. When taking the tests
mentioned above I found a correlating theme. On the results of the ECI-U my lowest score was
emotional self-awareness and along with that theme the StrengthsFinder results identified that I
was responsible but my willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead me to more than I can take
on. I think it is important for me to develop this skill of self-awareness so that I do know my own
limits and know when I am offending or letting down others. A realistic part of this goal is to
attend the i-program Insight and take away some skills and tools that will hopefully help me
identify when I am being too hard on my group or being unrealistic. The goal then would apply

these tools in a group that I am part of and see how well I do when identifying how I am feeling
and how I am reacting to those emotions. I think this is important because I dont want to make
any rash decisions for the group and risk hampering our goal when I am emotionally upset. I
hope to also learn these coming semesters about what my limits are especially when it comes to
balancing extracurricular activities with academics. I love to help and serve others but I have to
set a limit on how much I can do each week, each month, each semester so I can still perform
well in class. I plan on creating an extensive schedule so I can personally keep track of my time
and this way I will hopefully know when a particular event or class needs more attention and
when I can allocate the time needed for it.
This ability to be self-aware leads into my second goal as part of the leadership program
and hopefully I will be working on it simultaneously. I hope to understand inspiration and how to
relate this inspiration into my own groups to get them motivated for certain tasks. If I can work
on being self-aware and also know what inspires me I hope to translate my own motivation into
words so that way I can inspire others hopefully to act. I think an important part of inspiring
others is the relationships you can build with them. I think it is one thing to be able to make a
speech to anyone and inspire them compared to inspiring members of a group to become more
active or devoted. I want to focus in on the second of the two, because one day I would like to be
able to translate my passion and to inspire anyone but for now inside the program I hope to
inspire RSO members here on campus. In order to gain the interpersonal skills to be able to
inspire I hope to take leadership theory classes such as AGED 260 and then learn how to apply
them in the I-program Intersect. I think the skills in intersect such at Relationship building and
communication skills will help me with learning how to approach members and how to word
conversations. One way I hope to apply this skill in the real world in the near future is within the
fraternity. I want to inspire a new wave of service for my brothers and that way we can do more

for the community. I think how well I do with the fraternity and other groups when it comes to
conversation and my commitment will determine my success of this goal.

Skill/Attribute

Leadership Objective

Evidence

Self-Development

Self-Awareness

Self-Management

Inside my groups I want to actively ask

how well Im doing when explaining
myself and if it is clear or not.
With the Insight program I hope to
I aim to have a better
learn how to asses myself and apply it
understanding of who I am
to my everyday life
and what I want to achieve.
Accomplished:
This way I can prioritize
my daily life and so I can I have gotten into habit of asking for
honest feedback and have gotten better
express this to the people
at receiving it.
around me.
I found out my strengths and slowly
begun to recognize how to leverage
them and who I need to help
compensate for my lackings.
Clarify the issues that matter most to
me and be able to identify when they
come up. I should act when something
goes against my principles but make
sure my ground is sound.
Reduce my stress by prioritizing my
to-do list and goals. Whenever I
The goal here is to increase
have to make a choice I should think
my abilities of self-control
about my goals and whether or not
when under stress, become
the choice will help me reach the
more adaptable to any
goal.
situation, and building my Accomplished:
accountability not only to The college experience has given me
others but also myself.
the experiences and time to develop
my priorities. Next: Identify instances
where priorities conflict and use those
in memory to be able to say no to the
good things and yes to the highest
priority

Skill/Attribute

Objective

Evidence

Relationship Building

I think this is an area where

I excel at and am able to
start up a conversation with
anyone and everyone. What
I need to work on is
keeping those
contacts/friends updated
and keeping in contact with
them. Developing those
relationships further.

Take time each day to speak with

someone about their aspirations and
the things they want to do better.
Make an email to send out to all my
professional contacts that informs
them of my progress in school and
what I am involved in.
Accomplished:
I have made more of an effort to get to
know others dreams and keep in
contact with them about those to
deepen those relationships.
I havent kept in contact with all
professional contact via email but have
grown mentor relationships; next step
to use LinkedIn more to update
professional contacts

Communication Skills

Identify others who have engaging

style of speaking such as the
Unreasonable Institute CEO and pay
attention the non-verbal language and
apply what I have learned to the next
time I speak and ask a friend how I
did.
I want to keep people
Make sure I know an extensive amount
engaged when speaking
of information about whatever I am
with them or to them in a
giving a presentation on so I can better
group setting. Learn how to
address their questions. I will do this
use tone of voice and other
when I tour for the Beyond Coal
aids to get my point across.
group.
I think this is a lower
Accomplished:
priority in comparison with Have developed my public speaking
style through practice and paying close
the skills I need to develop.
attention to others; Next: Enroll in
Toast Masters.
Found that not only knowing the
information is important but also
connecting back stories and personal
reflections helps the crowd remember;
Next: Focus on active listening

Interpersonal Development

Skill/Attribute

Objective

Evidence

Ethical Practices

Team Development

When taking my service trip to

Louisiana I need to make sure to
identify the needs of whomever I
am helping. I want to address those
needs and evaluate if the group
was successful with feedback from
Whatever service I do in
the people were helping.
the upcoming semesters I
When doing service here on
want to go into the event
campus I should acknowledge the
open to new ideas. I want
people who have more experience
to make sure to understand
and make sure to work
the needs of something or
cooperatively with them.
someone before I try to
Accomplished:
help. I also want to make
During my service trip I learned a
myself available to people
lot about how simply my presence
who need my help the most
was beneficial and that it doesnt
and can benefit the most
always take words to communicate
from it.
with someone what needs done.
When organizing service activities
on campus Ive learned that
utilizing help not only helps the
event go smoother but helps my
learning as well

I want to maintain a positive

atmosphere with cooperative
relationships, build a team
identity, and be able to apply
these to all groups I am part
of including discussion
groups.

Avoid taking control of agenda for the

group make sure to ask for constant
feedback and suggestions from the
group to keep them involved.
Extremely Important not interrupt
anyone and develop the new group for
Illinois renewable energy using these
strategies and I can analyze how well I
do on the groups connectedness.
Accomplished:
During my time as 5K director I learned
how to balance the discussion between
suggestions and delegation.
Being a part of new initiative teams
Ive seen the power of listening and
how many good ideas come from the
many voices.

Organizational/Group
Development
Skill/Attribute

Leading Change

Project Effectiveness

Systems Thinking

Objective

Evidence

Actively use the information provided

by ignite and make a goal to change
something in a certain organization.
Accomplished:
Learn how to properly
communicate a vision for Within the Technology Management
Student Board I learned the necessity of
change to get implemented.
creating a shared vision but also
tackling appropriate scope and choosing
to make small changes at first towards a
larger end goal.
Use my experience as an RA to rate
my ability to market a program and
plan accordingly.
Work in a group of consultants to
learn from others
Accomplished:
As an RA I learned an important
part of a project being effective is
Learn better planning skills
having a clear objective and also
and how to budget programs
having appropriate lead time.
While working within the
Technology Management Student
board I have seen the need for
forecasting and historical use for
accurate budgeting, and that
budget is a key to deciding on
whether to do a project or not.
Use skills from ignite to think about
all the stake holders.
Apply these skills and evaluate my
performance when setting up the
Learn how to incorporate the
student run food pantry.
entire system when problem
Accomplished:
solving and not one
Ive seen this played out in the food
particular subject.
pantry and when considering different
stakeholders will have different
priorities and not being afraid to
communicate what is feasible and not.

Community Building

Incorporate all stake

holders and how to build
collations that are
motivated.

Use skills form ignite and apply them

to a group based project where I need to
increase awareness such as the food
pantry
Accomplished:
Was able to help build motivation
through starting with the Why of the
project but learned that appropriate
delegation and buy-in on those tasks
still needs to be a thing and undirected
motivation cant be utilized.
.

Transitional Development

Sustaining Leadership

\\

Look into research of students on

campus on successors of companies.
help a successor learn the ropes and
evaluate their performance
Actively seek leaders who are able to
make a lasting impact even when they
are gone, such as the Compete for a
Cure event on campus.
Learn the importance of
focusing on the goals of the Accomplished:
I learned that documentation is
group rather than my
important for transition and helping
position of power and how
the new leadership team understand
to pick a successor.
how to go about doing things. It
shortens the learning curve.
When transitioning in a new leader
make sure to have the right positive
attitude. This may entail emphasizing
what worked well and improvement
areas.