Reflection and Goal Setting

Create a 2-4 page paper that describes personal and professional growth experienced throughout the MBA program and BetterUp coaching and includes an action plan around three personal or professional goals.

Introduction

In our modern world, technology is changing at a tremendously fast pace, and new knowledge is being created in virtually every field daily. With this continuous knowledge creation it is impossible to remain static in your growth and expect to be continually successful. In other words, to stay relevant and effective in the workplace you must always be learning and growing.

Earning your MBA has helped develop you as a business leader, providing you with a tremendous amount of skills and an amazing business foundation. At this point you are ready to go out into the world and be an effective business leader. Yet, it is important to remember that this is the start of your journey, not the end.

You have also learned that knowledge is power, that growth is necessary, and that you must actively work to keep pace with the world around you. You must have a growth mindset and become a lifelong learner to ensure your continued success throughout your career and life. You must constantly be growing as a person and as a leader.

In this assessment you will reflect on your MBA journey and your capstone journey. You will consider how getting to know your strengths has been of value to you, how the BetterUp coaching has helped you to better understand, utilize, and build upon your strengths, and how you can continue to improve upon those strengths, setting goals to propel you into the future.

Preparation

Before completing this assessment you should have:

• Completed the initial BetterUp assessment in Assessment 2.
• Completed at least one BetterUp coaching session.

Assessment Description

Write a paper that summarizes how your strengths—as identified in the BetterUp leadership assessment and improved through your coaching—helped you to create an effective capstone project. Reflect upon how you have grown in this program, in the course, and through your coaching. Discuss how you have applied your strengths and how you would apply those strengths further to enact the recommendations you made in your capstone paper if you worked for that organization. Finally, create some future growth goals for yourself and a brief plan of how you will achieve those goals.

Your paper should address these items:

• Describe how you have grown in the MBA program, in the course, and through the coaching.
  • What was your experience while completing the capstone?
  • How did the capstone allow you to demonstrate the outcomes of the MBA program?
  • Was there anything new you learned during research and writing?
• Discuss how you applied your strengths toward completion of the capstone project.
  • How did you use the leadership strengths assessment results and coaching to help with completing the capstone?
• Discuss how you would apply your leadership strengths if your capstone project recommendations were implemented in the organization.
  • In your capstone, you made recommendations for your selected company. Considering those recommendations, if you worked for that company how might you use your strengths to affect this change?
  • Reflecting on your BetterUp strengths assessment, would you have any new recommendations based on your personal strengths?
  • How might you leverage your own strengths to implement your recommendations?
  • What new strengths, based on the whole person model, might you want to develop to help you implement your recommendations most effectively?
• Create an action plan for at least three future-growth goals.
  • What are three goals that can support your continuing development into the future?
  • How will you apply a growth mindset and what you learned about leadership and your own leadership strengths to stay relevant in the field, meet career goals, et cetera?
  • What are the steps you will take to achieve your goals?
  • How will you support your goals for when you have graduated from the MBA program?

Your reflection and goal-setting paper should be organized with these sections:

• Include an introduction.
• The body of your paper should have these headings, at minimum: Reflection, Applying My Strengths, and Future Goals.
• Include a conclusion.

Submission Requirements

• Style: Your paper should be written in professional style and follow the corresponding MBA Academic and Professional Document Guidelines (located in the MBA Program Resources), including single-spaced paragraphs.
• Communication: Ensure written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message and quality.
• APA guidelines: Format your citations according to current APA style.
• Resources: Reference your BetterUp strength assessment results and coaching.
• Length: Your paper should be between 2–4 pages, single-spaced.
• Font and font size: Use 12 point, Times New Roman.

Evaluation

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies through corresponding scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 4: Apply innovative, strategic, and sustainable approaches to business practice and planning.
  • Discuss the application of one’s strengths toward completion of the capstone project.
  • Discuss the application of one’s strength areas if the capstone project recommendations were implemented in the organization.

  Competency 5: Lead and collaborate in virtual, global, and culturally diverse environments.

  • Describe one’s growth in the MBA program, in the course, and through the coaching.
  • Create an action plan for at least three future-growth goals.
• Competency 7: Communicate clearly and effectively in a business environment.
  • Write coherently to support a central idea with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics as expected of a business professional.