Hammer 1

Emily Macon Hammer

RADI 597

May 3, 2019

Personal Development Leadership Plan

Step 1:

From class, we learned that most people believe a good leader should be forward-

looking, honest, competent, and inspiring. A leader cannot lead well if they are not

honest with those who work under them. They should be able to openly talk about what

processes are working, which ones aren’t working, and what improvements need to be

made. The leader should also be competent and have the knowledge and skills to carry

out their job as a leader well. Inspiration to the workers should be provided by the leader.

They should lead by example, encourage others, and motivate them. The ability to be

forward-looking is also prized in a leader. The leader thinks about the future and changes

that can be made. They think of possible outcomes, embraces change, and constantly

looks for room for improvement.

There are several qualities that I find important in a leader that we did not cover in

class. One of the most important qualities, I believe, is the ability to accept criticism. I

don’t think people are just born incredible leaders, I think it’s something you have to be

willing to work toward. If you’re not being an effective leader or there are ways you

could be a better leader, you should accept that criticism. You have to make the

conscious decision to use other people’s input to shape and improve your leadership

abilities. A quality that goes along with this is being a good listener. Listening to those

you work with and addressing their concerns as well as their ideas is important. A good
leader should be a good problem solver and mediator. They should be able to work

through things with those they work with and be able to mediate any arguments that

occur. Leaders should be understanding and kind toward those they lead, but also be

firm. This allows them to be approachable, but this doesn’t allow people to walk all over

them.

Step 2:

My exemplary leadership practices from the leadership practice inventory were

enable others to act and encourage the heart. I enjoy setting others up to succeed and

reach their goals. I also enjoy building others up and supporting them in the their

endeavors as well. It makes them feel encouraged and accomplished.

Step 3:

My core values that I selected are: open-mindedness, loyalty, and autonomy.

When making decisions, I try to always be open-minded and understand other’s points of

view. I also am open-minded in my treatment of others. I really try to understand them

as a person and figure out why they think they way they do. Many people tend to be set

in their ways and I am guilty of that sometimes. However, I am able to put my opinions

and personal views aside to listen to others. The ability to understand others really has

helped me grow as a person and leader.

I am also fiercely loyal. This core value I consider mostly a blessing, but it can be

a curse as well. When making my decisions, I always take into account my friends and

family. I support them through everything and my love for those in my life is

unwavering. Even when someone I care about is wrong, I stand behind them and support

them. Everything I do is for those I care about.

 Hammer 3

Autonomy is a core value I’ve seen emerge very recently in me. I often looked to

other people and relied on them to define my worth. I cared too much about what others

thought and made decisions based on what others thought. I even let others make key

decisions for me because I didn’t want to make waves. Throughout college, I started to

care less and less about appearances and making everyone happy. I started to do what

was best for me and learned to rely on myself for things. I looked to myself to define my

worth rather than valuing myself through others’ eyes. My decisions became my own,

rather than my decisions being a reflection of what others wanted for me.

Step 4:

I really want to be a more autonomous and open person. While I do consider this

one of my core values, I really want to improve with it. I want to continue to be a loyal

person and remain supportive to other people, but I want to do more things for me. I

want to take into account what is best for me when I make decisions. This will make me

a strong person and a better leader. To lead other people, I feel like I have to be fully

confident in myself first and learn how to rely on myself more. I used to always do what

is familiar to me, I rarely took risks, and I never adventured for the sake of adventuring.

This changed a lot once I got to college. With the upcoming changes in my life, I want to

embrace my newly found openness. I want to experience new things, meet new people,

and adventure just for the sake of adventuring. I want to take these lessons into my

career. I wish to become a confident technologist who is capable of working without

having to ask for help constantly. When I need help, I will be able to ask for it knowing

that I tried to figure things out on my own. I can offer help and support my other staff

members as well.
 I really want to become a better leader and push myself out of my comfort zone.

A huge achievement for me would be using my leadership skills to organize a program to

help others. I’m particularly interested in looking into helping caretakers of those with

dementia, as well as dementia patients. My loyalty toward my family allowed me to

support them and care for them even though things were hard when my grandmother was

sick. I am a very compassionate and personable person. I am able to relate to others and

build relationships with them very easily, especially when I have been through a similar

situation. I really feel as if I could help others and become a better leader by supporting

others who have been through what my family has experienced. I want to continue to be

open to new experiences and people.

In addition, I am very perceptive. Typically, I am a good judge of character and

can understand people and things pretty easily. While I still use reasoning and weigh

pros and cons, I often rely on my intuition when I choose to make both big and small

decisions. With smaller decisions, I take into account various factors: how it will affect

others, what other people think about it, the possible outcomes, how it will affect me, and

how I feel about the decision. I’ve discovered that my small decisions are affected by

outside factors much more than my big decisions. In big decisions, I use my intuition to

decide what the best choice is and only how it will affect those who are close to me.

Sometimes, making small decisions is more overwhelming for me than making big ones

because I consider much more. I usually feel more passionately about my big decisions,

so this could explain why they’re easier to make.

Step 5:
 Hammer 5

I am definitely trying to get out of caring too much about what others think of me,

I do still care what others think. In my opinion, it’s important to understand what people

think about me, use it to reflect on myself, and strive to be a better person. However, I

don’t think that I should be consumed by making sure they like everything about me. I

believe people would say that I am an optimistic, caring, and loyal person. I try my best

to help others where I can and keep on the bright side of things. When I care about

others, I care for them very deeply and would do anything for anyone. My good traits lie

in how I care for others and being supportive. People would probably say that I’m very

indecisive. I can spend hours and days pondering over a small decision that I have to

make, while I very important decision can take me an hour to make. It can be frustrating

to others when I can’t make up my mind over something small. They would probably

say I’m very private as well. I often won’t share things about myself for a long time even

after I get to know someone. It comes naturally to me to hide my feelings about things. I

need to be more expressive about the way I feel. I can sometimes become too focused on

one thing and neglect another task. I am able to multitask really easily, but sometimes I

try to take on too much and I get overwhelmed. Then I have to let some things go.

In my field, it is expected that I carry out procedures fully and completely. I

should care for the patient to the best of my ability. Relationship with patients should be

professional and I should treat them with respect, even when I don’t get it in return.

Leaders need to be fair, understanding, and forward thinking. There are a lot of changes

with equipment, protocols, and regulations that occur within radiologic departments. It’s

the leaders responsibility to face these challenges head on and apply them in the best way

for the department.

Step 6:

Step 6:

There are several leadership skills that I have learned from classes, clinical, clubs,

and life. I am proficient with powerpoint, SPSS, Qualtrics, Siemens MRI systems, and

SPSS. My technical skills using Excel and GE MRI systems are a bit lacking. I am able

to scan and operate with GE MRI systems, but I really need more practice. Some

hospitals with older scanners and mobile units use GE computer systems and it would

benefit me to work with it. These are two skills that I hope to improve and master once I

start working. A lot of the protocol information is included in Excel documents, so it is

important for me to understand how to use it.

The interpersonal skills I possess are: teamwork, empathy, and active listening.

When I am engaging in conversation with someone I’m working with, I make sure I’m

listening and giving them my undivided attention. Participation in active listening can

better your relationship with people you work with. I am empathetic and able to

understand the feelings and needs of others. When someone is having a bad day and

wants to be left alone, I give them space. If they want someone to talk to about a

situation, I am there to listen. This can help build a bond between technologists, patients,

and I. I also work very well as part of a team. It’s easy for me to get along with others

and find my place in a group. I participate in activities and help out where needed. I

want to improve my skills with negotiation and conflict management.

My leadership skills are an aspect that I really want to improve. I exceed at

communication, positivity, and creativity. I am able to participate in active listening and

explain things well. Often, I can read body language and other forms of nonverbal
 Hammer 7

communication in order to gauge how others feel. I can adapt to others around me and

adjust to them. I am able to offer advice and suggestions to people without sounding

condescending. Even when things are difficult, I am able to remain positive. I treat

patients and co-workers with respect and provide them with encouragement. When

someone needs help, I am willing to help them and address concerns that they have.

Through observation, judgment, and intuition, I am able to think of imaginative solutions

to problems. I can make great connections and do well with critical thinking. I enjoy

finding creative solutions and thinking out of the box.

However, there are some areas where I need to improve. Time management has

always been a significant problem for me. I am a terrible procrastinator and it causes me

unnecessary stress. When you’re a leader, you really can’t afford to manage your time

poorly. It’s so important to keep track of things and prioritize and that’s a skill I just

have not mastered. I’m working on my confidence, but it’s a skill I need to improve on.

Even though if I am 99% sure that I am right, I still will question myself. This is not a

great quality in a leader because it allows me to be easily swayed by other’s opinions

rather than staying firm in my choices. As a leader, it’s so important to be confident in

your decisions and I really struggle with it so much. It’s a skill that I am determined to

conquer in order to improve my leadership skills.

Step 7:

The first skill I need to learn to improve is my time management skills. This is a

difficult task to undertake, but by breaking it down into a stretch and a SMART goal, it

may seem less overwhelming. My stretch goal is to improve my time management skills,

reduce procrastination, and better prioritize my time. I would be able to balance multiple
projects at once, without being so stressed out. This will definitely be a challenge and

take several months to learn how to properly manage my time. In the mean time, creating

a SMART goal in order to reduce my procrastination and stress levels would be a good

way to start. This summer, I am assisting my uncle (an aerospace engineer) in Utah and I

am one of the research assistants. I’ll be in charge of two projects during my time there.

I plan to create a schedule for myself and start working a week and a half ahead of the

due date. There will be a checklist I’ll fill out every day in order to keep myself on track.

I’ll know that I have accomplished this task when I finish the assignment given to my

group before the due date. I believe I should use two measuring criteria. One should be

taking into account the number of days between the due date and the day I complete the

assignment. The second should be stress levels. Every day, I’m going to rate my stress

levels and see if this improves my outlook on time management. This will help me reach

my stretch goal of overall improvement of time management.

Confidence is my second skill that I want to improve. The improvement of

confidence as a whole is a stretch goal because it is hard to measure and a challenge to

overcome. People struggle with confidence issues their entire lives and don’t know how

to address them. For my SMART goal, my first task in my project is to be more decisive.

As I previously stated in this paper, I often will spend hours and days considering small

decisions. In my research leadership role this summer, I am going to force myself not to

waver in my decisions or take forever to make them. Twice a week, we have a project

meeting where members of the group are able to present their ideas. I make decisions

about what project planning we continue with and which projects we are going to change.

I am allowing myself 24 hours to make a decision using input from others and my best
 Hammer 9

judgment. Once I make that decision, I must stick to it until the next project meeting

when we make changes. I will know that I have become more confident in my decision

making when I stop having the immediate urge to change my decision I just made. I’ll be

able to feel good about what I’ve chosen. My measurable outcome will be a rank of my

confidence in my decision from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest).

Step 8:

My first SMART and stretch goal pertained to my issues with time management.

The SMART goal portion only addresses my issue with procrastination to simplify

things.

SMART GOAL 1: I want to reduce my procrastination. My goal is to finish both

projects at least 2 days before the due date.

Specific actions to take: (I know the rubric/directions say to start with a verb to incite

action, but someone said they were told everything had to be in sentence format. I’m

going to use the directions of the rubric about starting with a verb just to be safe. I just

wanted to explain in case I get points off for not using sentence format)

Create a comprehensive schedule that includes due dates and what I should work

on every day, Make a checklist for myself daily in order to make sure I’m staying on

track, Measure my stress levels daily (ranking them on a scale of 1 to 5 – 5 being high

stress), Keep track of all due dates

Resources to assist development: I need to make sure I have the project information and

timeline ahead of schedule in order to create the plans I need. My uncle and his

engineers will have to send me this information. I will tell my parents about my goals in

order to keep myself on track because I don’t want to procrastinate on creating the plans.
Timeline: This project will take about 3 weeks. I want to be finished with both projects

A MINIMUM of 2 days before the deadline. I want to begin creating the plans two

weeks before I am set to leave for Utah.

Stretch Goal 1: I want to improve my time management skills, including reducing

procrastination and prioritizing my time better.

Specific actions to take: Create lists for myself any time I have a project or deadline,

Plan out my tasks for each day and tell someone so they hold me accountable for

completing them, Prioritize different tasks in order of importance, Do not allow myself to

procrastinate and stay ahead of schedule

Resources to Assist in development: There are several career services centers that offer

information on how to better manage our time. I’m going to start with looking at those.

This may help me figure out different methods to manage my time better. My uncle and

parents will be responsible for holding me accountable when I make a plan to complete a

project. If left unchecked, I may procrastinate. My family keeping tabs on me will help

me remain motivated.

Timeline: I want to start improving my time management skills immediately after

graduation. I have to start studying for the MRI registry and it will take careful planning

and time management to make time for studying. I believe it will probably take about six

months for my skills to fully improve and planning ahead will come naturally.

These goals are concerned with my confidence issues. The smart goal only addresses

being more decisive

 Hammer 11

SMART GOAL 2: I want to be more decisive.

Specific actions to take: Weigh the pros and cons of each decision, Listen to the input

of team members, Make the decision within 24 hours, DO NOT go back on my decision,

Address benefits/downfalls of my decisions, Rate my confidence in my decision each

meeting (1-5, 5 being the highest)

Resources to assist development: In order to make a decision I feel confident in, I’ll

need to have all the information about the project. I will use the researchers and my

uncle to gather this information. I need to write down all the information about the

opinions of the researchers. This will help me gather the information I need to make an

informed decision and make me feel more confident.

Timeline: This project will take three weeks. My confidence will definitely take a lot

longer to build up, but starting small with confident decision making will help.

STRETCH GOAL 2: I want to improve my confidence in myself and my actions as a

leader.

Specific actions to take:

Be more decisive in situations, Stop myself when I start to second guess myself

and think rationally, Do more thinking out loud and don’t be embarrassed of answering a

question wrong, Do more public speaking, Challenge my self-limiting beliefs, Face my

fears

Resources to assist development: I will definitely need the support of family and friends

in order to gain confidence. I need to do research on different projects and clubs to get

involved in. I need to participate in activities that will make me face my fears and

challenge my beliefs about myself.

Timeline: It will definitely take a year in order to really gain my confidence. This is a

life long process that I’m trying to overcome. However, I do think this process will help.

Prioritization and Ranking: My confidence SMART goal should be done first. My

confidence is more important to establish as a leader than time management. I need to be

brave enough to make decisions as a leader before I can work effectively in that role. I

then will work on the time management SMART goal while also working toward my

ultimate confidence stretch goal. My last priority is the time management stretch goal.

Some of these projects I plan to tackle at the same time, but if I had to prioritize:

confidence SMART goal, confidence stretch goal, time management SMART goal, and

time management stretch goal.