Week 5 Discussion: Before beginning work on this week’s discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this week’s topic. By the due date assigned, submit your response in the Discussion Area below, using the lessons and vocabulary found in the reading. A special focus of this course is executive communications that are succinct, strategic, and supported. Accordingly, your initial post should not exceed 500 words in the discussion forums. Follow-up posts should not exceed 300 words. Select any one of the following starter bullet point sections. Review the important themes within the sub questions of each bullet point. The sub questions are designed to get you thinking about some of the important issues. Your response should provide a succinct synthesis of the key themes in a way that articulates a clear point, position, or conclusion supported by research. Select a different bullet point section than what your classmates have already posted so that we can engage several discussions on relevant topics. If all of the bullet points have been addressed, then you may begin to re-use the bullet points with the expectation that varied responses continue. If leadership development is an experiential process, then anyone who has been exercising leadership for some amount of time has likely had many such developmental experiences. Some of those experiences might have been positive. Some of them might have been negative. Share one of your positive or negative experiences that have helped you grow as a leader. What happened? What did you learn? How did you change your leadership attitudes and actions? What is your analysis of experiential learning as the key leadership development process? What is your analysis of formal training for developing leaders? Leadership lessons you can learn? Most people have worked in several organizations during their careers. How would you compare and contrast the leadership development practices of the various organizations you have been a part of (if you have only been a part of one organization, you can describe it and compare it to any other organizations that you are aware of)? What has worked? What hasn’t worked? Did any of the organizations have a leadership succession plan (or pipeline)? What benefits did you see to having a quality leadership development and/or leadership succession plan? What consequences have you observed for those organizations that don’t have a leadership development or succession plan? Leadership lessons you can learn? Many pitfalls commonly plague inexperienced coaches. As you evaluate what you have been learning about coaching, what are some of the common pitfalls? Which pitfall appears to be most common, most damaging, or the hardest to avoid? What steps can you take to eliminate that pitfall (or at least reduce its likelihood) in your coaching practices? Application to leadership? What role does coaching have in leadership development? What are the specific actions that coaches can perform to help their coachees build leadership competence? Technical competence? Professional competence? In contrast, what specific actions might coaches perform that restrict the coachee’s ability to develop various competencies? Leadership lessons you can learn? Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates and your instructor as required. Participate in the discussion through the end of the week by asking questions, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between one or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Remember, we are focusing on executive communications. Follow-up posts should be concise responses of no more than 300 words.
