| Course | DPH 805 Organizational and Systems Leadership in Public Health |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 2 |
| Paper type | Leadership self-assessment and development plan |
| Length | About 1,044 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Aspen University |
| Program | Doctor of Public Health |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for DPH 805 Module 2
Knowing Myself as a Leader: A Personal Leadership Assessment and Development Plan
Student Name
Doctor of Public Health Program, Aspen University
DPH 805: Organizational and Systems Leadership in Public Health
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Knowing Myself as a Leader: A Personal Leadership Assessment and Development Plan
Doctoral leadership education asks practitioners to look inward as well as outward. A leadership development plan begins with an honest assessment of strengths and gaps and sets goals, activities and evidence of progress. This paper presents a self-assessment and two-year development plan for the author, a composite director of a county health department's community health division.
Assessment Approach
The assessment drew on three sources: a structured self-reflection across four domains, leading self, leading teams, leading the organization and leading systems; a 360-degree feedback process with twelve colleagues, including staff, peers, the health officer and two community partners; and a review of past performance evaluations and project outcomes.
Strengths
Feedback highlighted strengths in communicating a clear purpose, supporting staff through difficult periods and building relationships with community organizations. Staff described feeling heard and valued. These reflect relational and transformational behaviors, which evidence associates with better workforce satisfaction and retention (Cummings et al., 2010). Community partners also noted the author's willingness to show up at evening meetings.
Gaps
Feedback also revealed gaps: avoiding difficult conversations about performance, taking on too much work personally rather than delegating, limited comfort with budgets and financing and little experience influencing elected officials. Peers noted that meetings sometimes ended without clear decisions.
Leading Across Sectors
The largest gap concerns leading systems. The Public Health 3.0 agenda expects each local department to take on a strategist's role that brings sectors together (DeSalvo et al., 2017). The author has led programs well but has less experience shaping housing, transportation or economic policy, where many determinants lie.
Development Goals
The table summarizes goals and activities.
| Goal | Activities | Evidence of progress | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold timely performance conversations | Coaching; practice with a mentor; use a feedback model | Staff survey item on clear expectations improves | 6 months |
| Delegate and develop others | Assign lead roles to three team leads; weekly check-ins | Team leads own projects; director hours fall | 12 months |
| Strengthen financial leadership | Budget course; shadow finance manager; lead one grant budget | Prepares division budget with minimal revision | 12 months |
| Lead in cross-sector coalitions | Co-chair housing and health workgroup | Workgroup produces joint policy recommendation | 18 months |
| Build policy influence | Brief two council members; testify once | Invited back for policy input | 24 months |
Psychological Safety
Staff feedback suggested that some team members hesitate to raise concerns in meetings. A classic study of organizational teams showed that psychological safety, a shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, supports learning behaviors such as asking questions and reporting errors (Edmondson, 1999). The author will invite dissent explicitly, respond to mistakes with curiosity and close meetings by confirming decisions.
Cultural Humility
Leading a diverse division and community partnerships requires cultural humility: ongoing self-reflection, awareness of power and openness to learning from others. The author will join a facilitated reflection group and seek feedback from community partners about how the division's practices are experienced.
Mentoring and Networks
The plan includes a mentor, a former health officer from another county, and participation in a state public health leadership institute. Peer networks provide perspective and practical advice that formal courses cannot. Quarterly meetings with the mentor will review progress on each goal.
Wellbeing
Leaders who model sustainable work habits help staff do the same. Given national evidence that a large share of the public health workforce intends to leave after the pandemic (Hare Bork et al., 2022), the author will protect time for rest, encourage staff to use leave and track workload across teams.
Reassessment
The author will repeat the 360-degree feedback in twelve months and again at twenty-four months, review progress with the mentor quarterly and adjust goals as the division's needs change.
Values and Purpose
Reflection clarified the author's core values: equity, integrity and service. These values explain the author's strengths in supporting staff and community partners, and also some gaps, such as reluctance to hold difficult conversations that might feel unkind. Recognizing that honest feedback is itself an act of respect reframes the development goal.
Leadership Style Profile
Assessment results suggest a predominantly transformational and servant style, with less comfort in transactional functions such as enforcing standards. Situational leadership suggests adjusting style to followers' readiness; newer staff need more direction, while experienced team leads need autonomy and challenge.
Accountability Partners
The author will share the development plan with the health officer and a peer director, who will act as accountability partners, asking about progress monthly and offering honest observations. Making goals public increases commitment.
Anticipated Obstacles
Obstacles include limited time, the pull of daily crises and discomfort with new skills. The author will schedule development activities like meetings, choose one goal to emphasize each quarter and treat setbacks as learning rather than failure.
Integrating the Course
Later modules in DPH 805 give opportunities to practice the plan's goals: the organizational analysis builds diagnostic skills, the financing module builds budget skills, the grant proposal builds skill in making a case and the change module builds skill in leading culturally sensitive change.
Personal Leadership Statement
The author's statement of purpose reads: to lead with honesty and care, to share leadership with staff and communities and to use the department's influence to change the conditions that shape health. The statement will guide choices when goals compete.
Feedback Themes in Detail
Staff comments praised the author's availability and fairness but noted that priorities sometimes shifted without explanation. Peers valued collaboration but wanted faster decisions. Community partners appreciated respect but asked for earlier involvement in planning. Each theme maps to a development goal.
Resources Needed
The plan requires about 80 hours a year of development time, tuition for the budget course and leadership institute and the mentor's time. The health officer has approved these resources as part of succession planning.
Measuring Success Overall
Beyond individual goals, success will show in division engagement scores, retention of team leads, progress on the housing and health workgroup and the author's readiness to take on broader responsibilities.
Conclusion
The assessment shows a leader strong in relationships and purpose but less practiced in difficult conversations, delegation, finance and cross-sector influence. The development plan sets specific goals, activities, evidence and timelines to close those gaps, while building psychological safety, cultural humility and sustainable habits. Regular reassessment will keep development honest.
References
Cummings, G. G., MacGregor, T., Davey, M., Lee, H., Wong, C. A., Lo, E., Muise, M., & Stafford, E. (2010). Leadership styles and outcome patterns for the nursing workforce and work environment: A systematic review. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 47(3), 363-385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2009.08.006
DeSalvo, K. B., Wang, Y. C., Harris, A., Auerbach, J., Koo, D., & O'Carroll, P. (2017). Public Health 3.0: A call to action for public health to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Preventing Chronic Disease, 14, Article E78. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd14.170017
Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(2), 350-383. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999
Hare Bork, R., Robins, M., Schaffer, K., Leider, J. P., & Castrucci, B. C. (2022). Workplace perceptions and experiences related to COVID-19 response efforts among public health workers: Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, United States, September 2021-January 2022. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 71(29), 920-924. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7129a3
What the DPH 805 Module 2 instructions ask for
Aspen's catalog lists personal and professional leadership development among DPH 805's topics, and since the second module's prompt is kept inside the classroom, this example writes a self-assessment and development plan. These assignments usually ask you to assess your leadership using more than one source, identify strengths and gaps and set a development plan with measurable goals. Use at least one form of feedback beyond your own reflection. Organize findings by domain. Choose a small number of goals. For each, name activities, evidence of progress and a date. Include how you will be held accountable. Say how and when you will reassess. Keep feedback questions short so colleagues respond.
How the DPH 805 Module 2 example is put together
About 1,050 words are set out in fifteen headings, with a four-column development table at the center. The paper describes the assessment approach, strengths and gaps, the cross-sector gap and development goals, then covers psychological safety, cultural humility, mentoring, wellbeing and reassessment. Values and purpose, a style profile, accountability partners, obstacles, links to later course modules, a leadership statement, feedback themes, resources and overall measures of success follow. A side comment notes that several sources keep the assessment from resting on self-perception. The conclusion summarizes gaps and the plan to close them. Each development goal in the table has a matching activity and a way to show progress.
DPH 805 Module 2 rubric: what earns full marks
Self-assessment papers are marked on honesty, use of multiple sources, specific and measurable goals and a credible plan for accountability. This plan cites the nursing leadership review, the Public Health 3.0 framework, research on psychological safety in teams and the national workforce survey, all in APA style. Gaps are named plainly. The development table ties each goal to evidence of progress. Connecting goals to later course assignments shows planning. Doctoral graders value plans that could be checked a year later. Naming the resources needed, such as time and tuition, and securing a supervisor's approval shows the plan is feasible. Linking the plan to measurable division outcomes shows how personal growth serves the organization.
DPH 805 Module 2 help from the desk
Students often write self-assessments that list only strengths, or development goals too vague to measure, such as becoming a better communicator. Name real gaps. Make each goal observable. Choose activities you will actually do. Set dates. Include someone who will hold you accountable. If collecting feedback feels awkward, a tutor can share simple questions to send colleagues. End with the first step you will take this month. Keep the number of goals small, three to five, so the plan stays achievable. Share the plan with at least one person who will ask about it. Revisit it after every major project. Treat reassessment as a built-in step rather than something added at the end.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Aspen University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More DPH 805 and Doctor of Public Health sample papers
- DPH 805 Module 1: Leadership Theories for Public Health
- DPH 805 Module 3: Organizational Behavior Analysis
- DPH 805 Module 4: Systems Thinking and a Systems Map
- DPH 805 Module 5: Quality Improvement Proposal
- DPH 805 Module 6: Financing and the Economics of Change
- DPH 805 Module 7: Writing a Grant Proposal
- DPH 805 Module 8: Leading Culturally Sensitive Change
- DPH 860 Module 2: Inference for Means and Proportions
- DPH 840 Module 2: Environmental Scan and Strategic Analysis
- DPH 870 Module 8: Chapter 2 of the Capstone
- DPH 830 Module 2: Comparing Health Systems Across Countries
DPH 805 Module 2 questions, answered
What does DPH 805 Module 2 usually ask for?
Aspen's DPH 805 covers personal and professional leadership development, so a self-assessment and development plan is a typical assignment. Check your classroom prompt.
What is 360-degree feedback?
Structured feedback from people around a leader, such as staff, peers, supervisors and partners.
What is psychological safety?
A shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking, such as asking questions or admitting mistakes.
Where can I find a free DPH 805 Module 2 sample paper?
This page holds the leadership self-assessment and development plan, with its goals, activities and timelines table.
What goes into a leadership development plan in DPH 805 Module 2?
A multi-source assessment, strengths and gaps, a few measurable goals with activities, evidence of progress and timelines, accountability and a plan to reassess.