Developing Your Leadership Potential

1. Developing Your Leadership Potential Natalie Saiz, Director JSC Human Resources Office October 2009

2. 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

3. Factors Shaping Your Leadership Potential Your Career Goals & Objectives Honest Self-Assessment Environment for Personal Development Supervisor’s Coaching & Feedback Opportunities for Growth Performance Enhancing Feedback from Leads & Mentors Organization’s Vision & Goals Training & Development Opportunities

4. Leadership is… Leadership is…Influence • 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 with…You • Your attitude sets your expectations, which in turn determine your success. • To earn the right to lead, you must model the Agency’s 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.

5. Develop Yourself Individual Development is a set of processes designed to maximize your contribution and potential toward the achievement of NASA’s 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)

6. 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

7. 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?

8. 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

9. 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.

10. Career Options • Enrichment - Growing positions into what you would like to do—aligned 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.

11. 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 Won’t Get You There NASA Co-op from University of New Mexico

12. 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

13. Developmental Conversation Topics • Your strengths & weaknesses (from your self-assessment & other’s 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 • 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

14. Career Advice A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t 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 Agency’s business and always consider NASA’s mission and where you fit in the big picture—knowing 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 development—there’s more to your career than the next promotion…be sure to enjoy the journey

15. 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 you’re responsible for leading a team or organization: • Select a leadership team with diverse opinions, who are willing to express those to enhance the organization’s effectiveness. • Actively develop your staff—you cannot go wrong with a capable and competent staff. Nothing of significance was ever achieved by an individual acting alone. John Maxwell’s 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

16. Questions?