Developing Your Leadership Potential

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Developing Your Leadership Potential

• Natalie Saiz, Director
• JSC Human Resources Office
• October 2009

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Agenda

• Setting the Context Factors Shaping Your
  Leadership Potential
• Leadership is
• Develop Yourself
• Career Options
• My Journey
• Career Planning How to Get Started
• Career Advice
• Thoughts on Leadership
• Questions Answers

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Factors Shaping Your Leadership Potential
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Leadership is

• Leadership isInfluence
• Any time you seek to influence the thinking,
  behavior, or development of people in their
  personal or professional lives, you are taking on
  the role of a leader.
• Not inherent in a management position or title
• Leadership begins withYou
• Your attitude sets your expectations, which in
  turn determine your success.
• To earn the right to lead, you must model the
  Agencys Core Values the Expected Behaviors
  outlined by the JSC Joint Leadership Team
• Identify your strengths through honest
  self-assessment and feedback from your
  supervisor, lead(s), and mentors.
• Use your strengths strategically.

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Develop Yourself

• Individual Development is a set of processes
  designed to maximize your contribution and
  potential toward the achievement of NASAs
  mission goals
• Examples of Development Activities
• On the Job Experiences
• Training and Seminars
• Mentoring and/or coaching
• Stretch assignments, including rotations
• Conferences (usually in your discipline area)
• Assessment Tools (performance feedback
  instruments individual difference assessments)

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On-the-Job Experiences
connect training development
job experiences
Activity Training Development
Time
Education
Training
job experiences
The best leaders never stop learning. Lincoln on
Leadership
Development
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A Formula for Results
Are you ready to learn?
Individual Capabilities x Learning Experience x
Work Environment Results
Did you your manager select the right
development opportunity?
Is your learning reinforced on the job?
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Career Development

• Career Development - A process of personal and
  professional growth composed of two elements
• Career Planning You identify opportunities,
  make choices, and set goals based on
  self-assessment then devise appropriate action
  plans
• Career Management JSC Team (both NASA and
  Contractors) establishes systems and processes
  that
• Develop individual talent
• Balance employee career goals with organizational
  needs
• Provide employees with career counseling
• Provide training and development
• Ensure JSC has the skill mix needed to accomplish
  its mission

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Career Options

• Vertical - Moving up the career ladder, typically
  into management or senior technical positions.
• Lateral Changing positions, but not necessarily
  level of responsibility/grade level. Opportunity
  to gain breadth of knowledge by understanding
  responsibilities of different organizations.
• Exploration Initiating change in order to
  improve your personal job satisfaction. This can
  include a temporary rotational opportunity or
  informational interviews with managers of other
  areas.

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Career Options

• Enrichment - Growing positions into what you
  would like to doaligned with your passions.
  Expand current job, by refining expertise in your
  current position
• Realignment Allowing you an opportunity to move
  down into positions that are more aligned with
  your priorities. This could be to move back into
  a position in line with what you want in the
  future.
• Relocation Allowing you to leave your the
  organization, pursuing positions which match
  your skills, interests and values.

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My Journey
Asst to HR Director then HR Director for 5 years
Supervisor for new HR Ops Office for 1 year
Supervisor of HR Reps for 4 years
Lead HR Rep for 6 years
HR Rep for 6 years
NASA Leadership Development Program Graduate 8
months experience at NASA HQ in 2005
The most common cause of executive failure is
inability or unwillingness to change with the
demands of the new position. The executive who
keeps doing what he has done before he moved is
almost doomed to fail. Peter Drucker in The
Effective Executive and Marshall Goldsmith in
What Got You Here Wont Get You There
NASA Co-op from University of New Mexico
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Career Planning How to Get Started

• Perform an honest self-assessment of your
  strengths and areas for improvement
• Identify opportunities at JSC and/or within
  Agency
• Define your career goals
• Devise action plans to attain your career goals
• Initiate discussions with mentors, colleagues,
  supervisor
• Individual Development Plan (IDP)
• Identify relevant training and development

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Developmental Conversation Topics

• Your view of how you can contribute to the
  organization
• Skills you wish to enhance
• What you like about your current position
  responsibilities
• External opportunities you would like to explore
• Options you may not currently be aware of

• Your strengths weaknesses (from your
  self-assessment others perspective)
• Short-term and long-term goals
• Time-frame you would like to achieve your goals
• Areas you are interested in developing
• Training you would like to complete
• Your personal career drivers

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Career Advice
A leader takes people where they want to go. A
great leader takes people where they dont
necessarily want to go but ought to be. -
Rosalynn Carter

• Be inquisitive and ask questions
• Seek continuous feedback and areas for
  improvement
• Be willing to step outside your comfort zone
• Keep an open mind when working with others
• Interact with people that bring diverse views to
  the team
• Learn the Agencys business and always consider
  NASAs mission and where you fit in the big
  pictureknowing this will inform your career
  opportunities and choices
• Rotate to different parts of the organization,
  including Headquarters. This is valuable and
  necessary to gain an appreciation for different
  perspectives
• Maintain a broad view of career growth and
  developmenttheres more to your career than the
  next promotionbe sure to enjoy the journey

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Thoughts on Leadership
A leader with a humble heart looks out the window
to find and applaud the true causes of success
and in the mirror to find and accept
responsibility for failure. Jim Collins in Good
to Great

• Lead by example
• If youre responsible for leading a team or
  organization
• Select a leadership team with diverse opinions,
  who are willing to express those to enhance the
  organizations effectiveness.
• Actively develop your staffyou cannot go wrong
  with a capable and competent staff.

Nothing of significance was ever achieved by an
individual acting alone. John Maxwells The 17
Indispensable Laws of Teamwork
It marks a big step in your development when you
come to realize that other people can help you do
a better job than you could do alone. Andrew
Carnegie
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Questions?