1 COURSE INFORMATION: BA 490 Business Capstone / BA 497 Senior Project LEADERSHIP PORTFOLIO COMPONENT DETAILS

In this document details are provided for the various components of the Leadership Portfolio. The following sections are covered in this document: Personal Mission Statement and Goals & Objectives Professional/Career Mission Statement and Goals & Objectives Skills Acquired & Learning During Degree Program at Midway College Resume Lifelong Learning Plan Student Coursework Portfolio The leadership portfolio is submitted as one single word document.

Credit Hours: 3

MISSION STATEMENT & GOALS/OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

As part of the Leadership Portfolio students are required to reflect on past experiences, review their current position, and to look ahead to the future. A personal mission statement provides students with a perspective of who they are, why they exist, and their reason for being. A mission statement is developed by reflecting on past experiences and future goals.

PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

A personal mission statement can provide clarity and gives a sense of purpose. It defines who you are and how you will live. A personal mission statement is a brief description of what you want to focus on, what you want to accomplish and who you want to become. It is focused toward the future - the next one to three years. It is a way to focus your energy, actions, behaviors and decisions towards the things that are most important to you. While there is no unique format or specific formula for creating your mission statement, the following guidelines may be helpful: Keep it simple, clear and brief. The best mission statements tend to be 3 to 5 sentences long. Your mission statement should touch upon what you want to focus on and who you want to become as a person (character) in this part of your life. Think about specific actions, behaviors, habits and qualities that would have a significant positive impact over the next one to three years. Make sure your mission statement is positive. Instead of saying what you don't want to do or don't want to be, say what you do want to do or become. Find positive alternatives to any negative statements. Include positive behaviors, character traits and values that you consider particularly important and want to develop further. Think about how your actions, habits, behavior and character traits in this area affect the important relationships in your life. Create a mission statement that will guide you in your day-to-day actions and decisions. Make it a part of your everyday life. Think about how your mission affects the other areas of your life. Is it consistent with your other personal mission statements? Will it conflict with or contradict something else? Is it balanced? Make it emotional. Including an emotional payoff in your mission statement infuses it with passion and will make it even more compelling, inspiring and energizing. Remember that your mission statement is not cast in stone. It will continue to change and evolve as you gain insights about yourself and what you want out of each part of your life.

PROFESSIONAL/CAREER MISSION STATEMENT

2
A career mission statement can provide clarity and give a sense of purpose as to where you want to go in your career. It is a guiding statement that provides focus and direction. The process of writing a mission statement requires that you think about what you want to accomplish, for whom and why. Your mission statement answers the questions - What? Who? and Why? Your career mission statement should be tightly focused toward the first three to five years of your career. You can give specifics about the job type and/or industry, as appropriate. This career mission statement will form the foundation of your career focus and will guide you toward successful completion of your entry level job search. The material developed here will be utilized again in the development of your resume and cover letter, in interviewing, and in all future job search contacts. A mental conception of your career mission statement is not enough. You must write it down on paper. Then tape it up on your wall, ideally, where you can see it every day. And if it needs to be changed or modified over time, continue to make changes. But keep your career mission statement in sharp focus in your mind.

GOALS/OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW

Now that you have developed you personal and career mission statements by describing the who, what and why, the next phase is to identify how you will achieve your mission statement. The how component is drafted by identifying short and long term goals linked to either your personal or career mission statement. The resources and a plan should be developed as to how the goals may be successfully attained. In developing your goals/objectives students should apply the SMART goal approach. Each goals developed must be: S = specific M = measurable A = attainable R = realistic T = timely. Specific: A specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. To set a specific goal you must answer the six W questions: Who: Who is involved? What: What do I want to accomplish? Where: Identify a location. When: Establish a time frame. Which: Identify requirements and constraints. Why: Specific reasons, purpose or benefits of accomplishing the goal. EXAMPLE: A general goal would be, Get in shape. But a specific goal would say, Join a health club this month and train 3 days a week. Measurable: Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask questions such as How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished? EXAMPLE: An immeasurable goal would be, Get in shape. But a specific goal would say, Be able to run a 5K race in under 30 minutes. Attainable: When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You begin seeing previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.

3
You can attain most any goal you set when you plan your steps wisely and establish a time frame that allows you to carry out those steps. Goals that may have seemed far away and out of reach eventually move closer and become attainable, not because your goals shrink, but because you grow and expand to match them. Realistic: To be realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. A goal can be both lofty and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. But be sure that every goal represents substantial progress. A challenging goal is frequently easier to reach than a easy one because an easy goal exerts low motivational force. Your goal is probably realistic if you truly believe that it can be accomplished. Additional ways to know if your goal is realistic is to ask yourself what conditions would have to exist to accomplish this goal. Timely: A goal should be grounded within a time frame. With no time frame tied to it theres no sense of urgency. If you want to lose 10 lbs, when do you want to lose it by? Someday wont work. But if you anchor it within a timeframe, by May 1st, then youve set your unconscious mind into motion to begin working on the goal.

SKILLS ACQUIRED & LEARNING DURING DEGREE PROGRAM AT MIDWAY COLLEGE

In this section of the Leadership portfolio students will reflect and identify areas of learning and/or new skills learnt over their degree completion period. Personal Changes: Identify and describe the impact (pre & post) of three changes (example: behavior, attitude, value) in yourself as a result of your BA journey. Impact of Personal Changes: From your response to (d) how have these changes as a result of your academic journey better prepared you in your professional (as a employee, manager, and leader) and personal (as a family member) lives? Students for example, can identify certain growth areas as a result of a course or assignment they completed or a particular experience in the workplace as a consequence of their time at Midway College For example students could identify an assignment or course and provide examples of the skills or learning and then describe how it benefited them personally and/or professionally.

RESUME
This is to be included in your Leadership Portfolio. Objective: Students will prepare a professional resume which is a summary of the students educational and work experience. Students should develop the resume by carrying out internet research to identify the most appropriate template for their chosen profession (or use templates provided earlier in the curriculum). The resume must use an up-to-date template and format. The finished rsum must one that is practical and ready for use student could send as part of an application packet for a job. The following section headings must be used (at a minimum) as the rsum is developed: Statement of Qualifications or Objectives: for the students chosen career or job. Education: A complete list of completed educational programs .Include degree information, institution, the institutions city and state, month/year of the program was completed. Professional Qualifications and Certifications: List the certification, granting organization, and year it was granted. Work Experience: Job Title Organization/City/State Brief description of the position: 1 line maximum Include 3-4 bullet points focusing on key Accomplishments must be specific and measurable, of effectiveness and/or demonstration of skills Professional and Civic Affiliations Interests (optional)

LIFELONG LEARNING PLAN

Lifelong Learning Plan (using SMART goals approach) o Personal

4
o o Professional Academic

In this section you will summarize the mission statement and goals objectives focusing on the three areas of personal, professional/career and academic growth. For example: A career goal could be to attain a manager position in hospital administration department (health care field). You would need to research what qualifications, experiences, industry organization, position experiences will be needed. Then based on these requirements identified, use SMART goals to develop a short, mid and long term plan that will guide you to your end goal.

STUDENT COURSEWORK PORTFOLIO

Student Coursework Portfolio: 4-5 pieces of work o Key assignments, papers, or projects from the degree program. About five (5) are suggested. If the student hasnt kept them, they will write a short description (a paragraph or two) about the content of the paper or project. Students should select projects that pleased them, that made them feel satisfied, that they reread from start to finish. Also, students should consider the importance of the work that raised critical questions; that caused them to struggle with their own thinking; and that challenged them intellectually. Sometimes the work considered to be a less successful grade can be included because it pushed the student to think deeply and moved them to a new place in their understanding of the world and their place in it. o Optional: The student can include material from their experiences in the last two years that demonstrates their learning and progress outside the program. For instance, the student might include something from a project at work, from a club or sport to which they belong, volunteer activity, participation in student government, etc.