Introduction

This is a reflective writing to report on the feelings of the author during the appraisal of a
leadership mangement development strategy - a Leadership and Management
Development assignment.
The aims of this writing are to evaluate my overall performance, as well as reflect on
my thoughts and actions during the development of the report. Also, as Rogers (2001)
notes reflective writing is a means of improving students’ lifelong learning and
professional practice in higher education, hence, this report is to enable me conduct
self-assessment, troubleshoot inadequate approaches and synthesise them to a
functioning system for future purpose.
This reflective journal objectively describes my experience through this process of
report writing. To present my thoughts, I shall be employing the Gibbs Reflective Cycle
model (1988), the six stages of the Gibbs cycle; description, feelings, evaluation,
analysis, conclusion and action plan will be used to analyze my thoughts.
Description
An assessment guide was administered to direct us through the assignment
development; it also contains specific instructions on how to carry out the assignment
on leadership management development. I developed a report that contains critically
assessment of the strategy in the case study, I also offered upward review of the
strategy for future use, while also making some recommendations that would help in
creating a better LMD strategy for the organization. I followed the handbook module to
discuss human relation concepts such as human and social capacity, evaluation and
measurement of management, etc. I also examined LMD interventions in the immediate
environment as well as organizations that have good practice of LMD strategy in place.
Feelings
I felt a little bit of apprehension when the time to commence the assignment came,
hitherto now, I had not created an appraisal of a formal document before, so, it felt like a
huge mountain to surmount. I thought I would not be able to produce a proper document
that would reflect the lessons I had acquired overtime and this made me commence the
assignment at a later date than I would usually do. As a result of my feelings, I
consulted my friends who had small or medium scale businesses, surprisingly; all of
them didn’t have one developed for their businesses. At the time, I felt my colleagues
would have been in the same shoes as myself as none could give others a hint or head-
start in the early stage of the assignment. I have come to understand that not trusting in
my ability contributes to stress, anxiety and low mood (Howell and Murphy, 2001).
Evaluation
In developing a report, my lecturer's teachings came in handy, interactions with
colleagues, questions and answers from group debates also proved helpful. The most
important thing I learnt was self-believe when charting new waters, and consulting a
more knowledgeble individual when the need arises. While I learnt a lot about personal
development, I couldn’t properly execute some aspects of the report due to lack of
knowledge. I could not come up with a detailed analysis for some aspects of the
strategy; this also affected the development of adequate recommendations for each
sub-unit of the report.
This assignment however helped me understand how setting achievable milestones
could help in creating realistic, achiveable leadership management development
strategy (Taylor, 2021) and how a carefully developed leadership development strategy
is a powerful force for development of competitive advantage driving business impact
(Vanderslice, 2009).
Analysis
I think the assignment began in a awry manner but I was able to salvage the situation
by trusting in my abilities and reaching out to people who could help as McGeer and
Pettit (2016) note that reliance involves both an attitude and an action. Consequently, I
will adopt a different approach that focuses on time management and motivation issues
(Beraud et al., 2018). Following my brief execution of the recommendations aspect of
the report, I will need to improve on my knowledge of analysis and leadership
management development solutions. I will rate my performance in every other aspect
particularly well as I took ample time to consult relevant authorities in the field of
research and consolidated these results with my classroom learning experience.
I was able to apply lessons from the modules I studied to develop and apply the
following concepts; LMD interventions, assessing development needs, measuring and
evaluating management. The curiousity this assignment created propelled me to search
many sources for relevant and vital information which have added immensely to my
body of knowledge. I acquired both theoretical and pragmatic knowledge from this
experience and overall, this experience gained from this project will enhance my
performance in the aforementioned areas in the future (Saunders et al., 2009).
Conclusion
As I have reviewed my performance and actions during the conduct of this assignment,
I believe I should have attempted some things differently, for example, commencing my
work on time and banishing anxiety or apprehension from my attitudes. I also should
have taken a crash course on report analysis to help me present a proper and detailed
critical analysis of the case study.
I also feel that if I had reached out to friends and family in my home country who had
worked in corporations where leadership and management development strategies
were implemented, I feel I would have gotten help with up-to-date facts and solutions to
help develop my report's recommendation to perfection.
Also, while this might have been an individual assignment, creating a study group that
regularly meets to discuss and review the progress of each group member would have
gone a long way in instilling confidence in me and accelerate my progress and ensuring
an excellent report is developed.
Action Plan
Hereafter, I will enrol for a remedial course in critical analysis. I have begun to brush up
my LMD strategy skills that are relevant to creating solutions and upward review for
established strategies. I will speak to my colleagues to find those who will be interested
in a non-exclusive study group that will be beneficial for all especially in conducting
projects, researches and assignments.
I will improve on self confidence when confronted with daunting or unfamiliar tasks. I will
engage such tasks early on to have ample time for research and consultations.

References
Beraud, D.J., Nyarko, F.K., and Asimah, E.D (2018) ‘The effect of time management on
productivity in financial institutions: A case study of Ghana commercial banks, Hohoe’,
International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, vol. 7, iss. 2.
Gibbs, G. (1988) 'Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods',
London: Further Education Unit.
Howell, C. and Murphy, M. (2001), ‘Release your worries: A guide to letting go of stress
and anxiety’, Exisle, NSW.
McGeer, V. and Pettit, P. (2016), ‘The empowering theory of trust’, in Paul Faulkner and
Thomas Simpson, eds, The Philosophy of Trust, OUP
Rogers, R.R. (2001), ‘Reflection in higher education: A concept analysis’, 26 (1): 37-57,
DOI:10:1023/A:1010986404527.
Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A. (2009) Research methods for business
students’, Pearson , New York.
Taylor, S.J., (2021) 6 business milestones to hit in your first 5 years [online], available
at: https://www.freshbooks.com/blog/business-milestones [accessed 3rd December
2021].
Vanderslice, G., 2009. Leadership Development in ESOP Companies, s.l.: ESOP
Report