[MUSIC] Growth has different connotations. Hierarchical Growth is moving up to senior-levels in our organizations, and taking up larger responsibilities. Professional Growth is becoming more skilled and capable in our chosen profession, to be able to deal with more complex professional challenges. Personal Growth includes honing emotional competencies. For instance, being more self aware, empathetic, appreciative, stretching beyond own limits or letting go of what does not work. In this video, we will focus on how we create a plan for our personal growth and development in the words of Marshall Goldsmith, becoming the person you want to be. We will discuss two simple and useful frameworks that can help us structure our talks on our personal development agenda. The first framework, referred to as MAPS grid, is used in MBA programs in well-known institutions, like the London Business School and the Indian School of Business, to help students create their leadership development plan. MAPS grid has two columns, where you are now and where you want to go, say, in the next three to five years. Next, the top row is your view, and the bottom row is how others perceive you. In this figure, the four quadrants are Mission, Abilities, Perception and Standards. MAPS is an acronym. Let's understand each of the quadrants in some detail. We will start with Abilities. This is your own view of where you are now. How do you perceive your abilities? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? You may review the results of any self-assessment questionnaires that you may have completed, your performance track record, professional challenges handled, and so on. The next quadrant is Perceptions of others. As the saying goes, we are measured not by what we are, but by the perception of what we seem to be. Not by what we say, but how we are heard. Not by what we do, but how we appear to do it. How do others perceive you? What kind of positive and negative feedback have you received from others? You derive this from 360-degree assessment, performance reviews, the formal and informal feedback that you have picked up from your peers, superiors, customers, and significant others. The third quadrant is Mission. This describes your aspirations. You may take a three to five years perspective. What do you aspire for, why? What are your personal goals and work life interests? Finally, we have the standards the organization expects you to meet. Given your aspiration, what are the competencies you will be expected to master? Who are the respective role models in such positions? What do they excel in? What have you picked up from your conversations with your superiors, and other leaders, about competency requirements? Once you have identified your issues in these four quadrants, you begin to see what qualities you need to develop and why. For instance, using the MAPS analysis, a technology professional identified his abilities as energetic, hard-working, disciplined, decisive, and customer-focused. And at the same time, impulsive and short-tempered in terms of development areas. Next, based on the feedback received, the person indicated the following as perceptions of others. Positive elements, customer-focused, result-oriented, and sociable. Negative elements, impatient, non-diplomatic, does not delegate, and poor coach. The professional indicated his mission as, lead larger and more complex projects, be seen as an effective leader, and value learning and professional achievement. For the chosen mission the standards were indicated as, learn to grow talent, learn new skills, particularly in the areas of finance and strategic thinking, and upgrade capability to manage greater interdependency. The MAPS grid, therefore, gives a clear map of the developmental priorities. Let us now turn to the Wheel of Change framework that Marshall Goldsmith has presented in his bestseller, Triggers. In his framework, there are two dimensions. On one axis we have change versus keep. Here we are looking at, what characteristics of ours do you want to change, and what do we want to keep? On the other axis we have positive versus negative. This refers to, which of our negative traits do we wish to get rid of, and what positive traits we would like to reinforce. Thus, in this simple and elegant model, we have four quadrants of creating, preserving, accepting, and eliminating. The options of creating and preserving refer to changing or keeping the positive elements. And the options of eliminating and accepting refer to changing or keeping the negative elements. Creating represents the positive elements we want to create in the future. Here we are creating a new me. And doing it as a choice, not as a bystander. In our case example, the tech professional decided two priorities. Upgrading finance skills by enrolling formally in a course. And two, developing greater patience with direct reports to improve delegation and coaching. Preserving is about the positive elements that we want to keep in the future. After careful soul searching on what has served him well, the professional decided that he must continue to remain disciplined, hard-working and customer-focused. Eliminating represents the negative elements that we want to eliminate in the future. The tech professional in our example felt that he should eliminate his compulsive need to respond as soon as an issue comes to his attention. This actually led to impulsiveness and tendency to micromanage. It also got reflected in his impatience. Finally, accepting represents the negative elements that we need to accept in the future. It is incredibly powerful when we feel powerless to make a difference. The professional decided that he would accept that he would not be particularly diplomatic. He would be forthright, but at least he will make sure that he will not offer opinions where they are not even solicited. Thus, MAPS grid and the Wheel of Change can help you think about your personal development agenda. And develop clear priorities for your leadership development. There is no harder task for editors, than changing their behavior. So focus on clear priorities, and pursuing these with regular and consistent actions would help you become a better leader. To sum up, in the words of Marshall Goldsmith, when we bluntly challenge ourselves to figure out what we can change and what we cannot, what to lose and what to keep, we often surprise ourselves with the bold simplicity of our answers and can thus take significant, real steps towards becoming the person we really want to be.
