Professional development for strategic managers Essay

Professional development for strategic managers - Essay Example An individual must, of course, sustain all of the mandated academic talents associated with the entire business value chain, including fundamental knowledge of strategic planning, implementation, control and evaluation. Further, the individual seeking the role of strategic manager must identify with cultural issues, the external environment related to stakeholders/shareholders and consumer demand, as well as the fundamental skills that are provided by sociological and psychological curricula. Outside of these academics-based learnings are more complex understandings of the self as it relates to emotional intelligence, motivational factors that drive goal attainment and learning, as well as having a practical understanding of personality constructs and learning style. There are countless theorists that can describe the systems view of the strategic management process, however transposing theory to practical application in the real-world business environment requires a talented blend o f knowledge and self-understanding. The report highlights literature regarding specific aspects of achieving success in the role of strategic manager, supplemented by a forthright self-analysis of skills development and capabilities in order to determine strengths versus weaknesses in priority aspects of skills associated with strategic theory and application. The student created a pre-set list of criteria, based on consultation with considerable secondary resource studies, that would be most critical for an honest self-assessment. In order to fully measure areas requiring development, the student needed to examine the structural, interpersonal, cultural and adaptive behaviours needed to become a successful strategic manager and leader. The assessment, in order to create a realistic and priority personal development plan, required consultation with theorists and case studies involving change management, developing and evaluating quality control systems, the psycho-social elements of management and interpersonal relatio nship development, as well as various literature on effective teaching and learning as these are fundamental in being a strategic practitioner. Besides the student’s many personal strengths in multiple areas, the following were identified as requiring re-assessment and development to attain success in the strategic career role. These include: The ability to teach others in team-focused environments Effective promotion of change leadership philosophy Teaching others to assess and analyse qualitative and quantitative research data Improvement of knowledge regarding cultural diversity principles Advanced development needs in psycho-social learnings for leadership improvement Outside of the more structural and systems view of strategic