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Scenario
You work as a director of leadership and learning for an organization that makes prosthetics. The organization has been in business since 1999 and employs over 350 people in its Tampa, Florida, headquarters and three plant locations across the Southwest. While the business is currently based in the United States, the organization is exploring ways to move into Canadian markets within the next three years. This year’s employee engagement survey results for the organization show that some leadership practices are rated lower, while some practices were rated higher. The new chief human resources officer (CHRO) met with the team to discuss the general results. Everyone agrees that the company’s focus should be on both specific leadership development areas perceived as strengths and on those rated as areas for improvement, primarily regarding social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and the interpersonal skills of effective leaders.
To help this initiative, your manager, the vice president of leadership and learning, asked you to create an adaptive leadership toolkit that can be used throughout the organization. To begin this work, you conducted a personal leadership self-assessment and turned this into a personal development plan. Then you shared this artifact with your manager. Your manager was impressed with the thoroughness of the personal development plan and saw value in incorporating it as an exemplar within the adaptive leadership toolkit for use by all people leaders in the organization. After receiving such positive feedback, you moved forward with creating the rest of the adaptive leadership toolkit.
Your manager has shared the adaptive leadership toolkit that you created with the CHRO, and it was well received. The CHRO wants to distribute this toolkit to all leaders throughout the organization—supervisors and above—and asks you to create a communication strategy that will help in the rollout and implementation of the adaptive leadership toolkit. For this project, you will create that communication strategy.
Directions
Overview: In this part of the communication strategy, you will summarize the business problems the organization is currently experiencing and provide an overview of trends from your analysis. You will also explain how a personal development plan and adaptive leadership toolkit can provide solutions to these challenges.
Summarize the business problems the organization is currently facing and describe how the personal development plan and adaptive leadership toolkit will address them. Why was the personal development plan created?Why was the adaptive leadership toolkit developed?Summarize trends in leadership strengths observed in your analysis of the employee satisfaction survey and describe how they relate to the leadership skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit. In which areas did leadership score well?How did your analysis help to inform skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit?Summarize trends in leadership weaknesses observed in your analysis of the employee satisfaction survey and describe how they relate to the leadership skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit. In which areas did leadership not score well?How did your analysis help to inform skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit?
Personal Development Plan: In this part of the communication strategy, you will describe the personal development plan in further detail. You will include how the personal development plan supports the adaptive leadership toolkit and the value it will bring once the entire toolkit is rolled out.
Summarize the importance of including a personal development plan in the adaptive leadership toolkit and explain the value it will bring to the organization.How does the personal development plan support the adaptive leadership toolkit?How do the strategies within the personal development plan address the business problems the organization is currently facing?
Adaptive Leadership Toolkit: In this part of the communication strategy, you will describe the adaptive leadership toolkit in further detail. You will include how and who the adaptive leadership toolkit brings value to within the organization.
Describe how the adaptive leadership toolkit will be used and who within the organization will manage it. Your response should address the following:Who is the target audience for the adaptive leadership toolkit?Who are the owners of the adaptive leadership toolkit?
Rollout and Implementation: In this part of the communication strategy, you will provide more details around the rollout and implementation of the adaptive leadership toolkit throughout the organization.
Describe the metrics and deliverables associated with the rollout and implementation of the adaptive leadership toolkit. Your response should address the following:How will the success of this rollout and implementation be measured?What are some important milestones to consider for tracking progress?Determine methods for communicating the relevance of the adaptive leadership toolkit to stakeholders within the organization. Your response should address the following:How should this be communicated to leadership to help gain buy-in?How should this be communicated to its intended users to help gain buy-in?Describe the feedback and communication strategy associated with continuous improvements to the adaptive leadership toolkit. Your response should address the following:How can employees provide feedback on any roadblocks, issues, or ideas for improvement?How will updates to the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated from leadership down to employees? 1
Milestone One
Yusef Robinson
SNHU
Michael Hull
MBA 530
2 June 2024
2
Milestone one
Part 1: Self-assessment
Leadership behaviour that ranked lowest
The leadership behaviour with the lowest score, summing up to 42, was inspiring a shared
vision. Leaders play wide-ranging roles while leading people or directing a group of individuals.
A leader cannot work in isolation, nor can they develop a vision and fail to share it with the team
that should help in the implementation. Hence, a group of people with a leader should at least
have some sense of direction and objective to attain by ensuring the leader can have a vision for
them and determine ways of achieving it. Though a group can have a vision, it is a different thing
inspiring the vision to support its attainment. I scored below average in this leadership behaviour,
which is very important for any leader. I discovered that visionary leaders are most preferred due
to their ability to cause change through creating vision and inspiring the people towards attaining
it. In this case, I understood that ‘inspire a shared vision’ is the ability to define a group’s vision,
clarify it to the followers, and encourage the entire team to work towards attaining the vision.
Importance of developing the behaviour
There are leaders with good leadership styles, especially when it comes to being
visionary. They can easily develop some unique visions that can be life-changing and impactful.
However, the main problem is always the need for help in inspiring such a vision. Despite the
ability to communicate the vision to the group, they fail to motivate the people, constantly
reminding them of the need to attain the vision. There is an urgent need to improve ways of
inspiring a shared vision to become a more competent leader. Some of the importance of
improving the skills are improved ability to meet the group goals, having a motivated and
committed team, and high morale among the followers while also helping in problem-solving,
3
especially if barriers are hindering the attainment of the vision. Working with a group can be
challenging at times, especially if the members are demoralized and seem to lose focus.
However, inspiring a shared vision helps to make them understand their responsibility and hence
take necessary action. Besides, it generally improves the teams’ morale, making it easy to lead
them since they will be aware of what they want to achieve and have a sense of self-direction and
necessary cooperation towards attaining the vision. Even when a vision seems challenging to
achieve, inspiration from a leader helps change people’s mindsets and, hence, works towards
finding solutions or attaining the vision. Besides, involving the entire team while encouraging
team spirit is also important.
Leadership behaviour that ranked the highest
The leadership behaviour with the highest score concerned encouraging the heart. When
working in a group, as a leader, encouraging the heart means the ability to recognize members’
inputs and appreciate them at a personal level. Besides, it includes appreciating the positive
values supporting the attainment of the group goals through the people’s collaboration. When
working with a group as a leader, the members are always with different personalities and
behaviours. Not all members might be committed to working towards the same direction. Rather,
some might contribute to delays in attaining some of the visions, while others may work
tirelessly even without extrinsic motivation to ensure vision attainment. In this case, a leader
should encourage a heart that is self-driven and committed to ensure high performance. The best
way to encourage the heart is by considering individual contribution, which helps in promoting
group success. While encouraging individuals and appreciating their efforts, it is also important
to encourage the entire team to operate as a group, unlike with divisions or in isolation. It is
possible to have members in a team who need a constant appreciation of their efforts to be
4
motivated more. Therefore, encouraging such hearts ensures that the group does not suffer any
potential decline in performance due to the leaders’ failure to encourage them.
How encouraging the heart supports a leader’s effectiveness
Some of the key elements of an effective leader that a leader with the ability to
‘encourage the heart’ can support are confidence, integrity, empathy and inspiration. Team
members need to have the confidence to perform by meeting the shared group vision and
surpassing the set targets—lack of confidence results in increased struggle whereby an individual
doubts their potential to deliver the required results. However, by encouraging the heart, the
leader is likely to discover some of the person’s strengths and abilities they are yet to explore and
hence encourage them to use them and improve their performance. In the process, the
encouraged individual gets motivated and develops a different attitude and mindset about
themselves. Integrity, as the moral courage that enables a person to do the right thing, can also be
triggered by encouraging a person’s heart. In this case, a leader will remind the members of the
importance of being true to oneself, responsible and honest not only when in private but also
when operating with others. In this case, leadership behaviour will help transform people who
are mostly untrue to themselves and others. Hence, they can change and become trustworthy and
responsible, which are critical virtues that are required among people.
Part II: Adaptive Leadership Toolkit
Prompt 1
Organizational leadership should focus on improving leadership behaviours, such as
encouraging the heart and challenging the process. From the results of the employee satisfaction
survey, it is evident that the organization had various weaknesses in terms of recognizing,
praising and rewarding the employees (Huang, 2020). Most employees also suffered low job
5
satisfaction levels within four years. Despite their commitment to ensure exemplary
performance, the organizational leaders should have recognized the efforts of the employees,
which resulted in demoralization. The organization needed leaders who mastered the art of
encouraging the heart. In this case, reward and recognition would be possible, hence managing
the challenge of increased staff turnover. Besides, the organizational leaders should have
challenged the process such as through introducing small rewards to motivate non-performers to
be innovative and creative enough to support goal attainment. Development of the areas will
counter the business problem of low job satisfaction levels and increased turnover rates,
introducing the new to hire other employees to fill the vacated positions (Sell & Cleal, 2011).
The business will thus enjoy high performance from the available team, which will increase job
satisfaction levels, especially through recognition and rewards for their efforts.
Part II
According to the results of the employee satisfaction survey, the organization performs
best in modelling the way. Over the years, the company has always presented favourable results
in terms of having an articulate mission and vision to support the organizational decision-making
process while also showing concern for both employees and customers. Maintaining such
performance as a leader will help them to be accountable for the existing customer-employee
relationship. Besides, ensuring clarity of the organizational mission and vision motivates a good
understanding of the employees and their leaders, hence fostering improved communication.
6
References
Huang, W.-R. (2020). Job training satisfaction, job satisfaction, and job performance. Career
Development and Job Satisfaction. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.89117
Sell, L., & Cleal, B. (2011). Job satisfaction, work environment, and rewards: Motivational
theory revisited. LABOUR, 25(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.14679914.2010.00496.x
MBA 530 GROW Model Template
Name: Yusef Robinson
Date: 22 June 2024
Identified Trends
1.
The first noticeable trend is the decrease in Job satisfaction levels over the
four years. In particular, the results showed that employees were less satisfied each year
with their jobs, the way supervisors appreciated their work and their pay. Additionally,
they were less proud to be part of the company each year over the past four years.
2.
Secondly, there was a decrease in the percentage of employees who felt
they were being recognized and praised for their efforts each year over the four years.
Specifically, the percentage of employees who felt they were being recognized based on
merit and those who felt that their work gave them a sense of accomplishment decreased
over the four years.
3.
The third noticeable trend was the decrease in employees who felt they
were being recognized and rewarded for their excellent performances. Specifically, over
the four years, the percentage of employees who reported that their excellent performance
was recognized and rewarded by the company decreased yearly.
Even though the survey included several focus areas, some of the focus areas
impacted others. Specifically, reward and recognition, recognition and praise, and
training and development can impact employees’ job satisfaction levels (Singh, 2023).
For instance, good working conditions and the ability of managers to recognize and
reward best-performing employees can boost morale and result in higher job satisfaction
levels.
Employee Survey Results Data
Figure 1
Job satisfaction levels over the four years
Job satisfaction
90
80
% favorable results
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
My job makes
I am very
My supervisor
My pay is
good use of my satisfied with
shows
competitive
skills and
my job
appreciation for with others
abilities
the work that I places that I
do
could work
Current Year
Two Years Ago
I am proud to
be a part of this
company
Four Years Ago
Figure 2
Percentage of employees who felt they were being recognized and praised for their
effort
Percent Favorable results
Recognition and praise
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Current Year
Two Years Ago
Four Years Ago
Axis Title
Recognizes employees based on merit, i.e., accomplishments, successes.
I feel encouraged to come up with new and better ways of doing things
My work gives me a sense of personal accomplishment
Figure 3
Percentage of employees who felt they were being recognized and rewarded for their
effort
Focus Areas
1.
Job satisfaction is the first focus area that should be improved to improve
the company’s performance. In particular, as pointed out above, job satisfaction levels
have dropped over the four years. A decrease in employees’ job satisfaction levels results
in high turnover rates and poor performance, affecting the company’s financial
performance. For this reason, the company needs to adopt strategies that will improve job
satisfaction rates.
2.
The second focus area is recognition and praise. The need to improve this
focus area is because the trend of the percentage of employees who feel they are being
recognized and praised for their work has been downward over the four years.
Additionally, when employees feel they are not being praised for their excellent
performance, they are likely to have low job satisfaction levels.
3.
The third focus area that needs improvement is the reward and recognition
focus area. Improvements are needed because the percentage of employees who reported
that they feel their excellent work is recognized and rewards dropped over the four years.
The decrease in the percentage of employees who are happy with how the company
recognizes and rewards their excellent performance is a cause for concern. In particular,
this focus area impacts employees’ job satisfaction levels and the company’s overall
performance.
Reality—Current State
1.
Currently, employees’ job satisfaction levels are at their lowest compared
to four years ago. In particular, employees feel that their pay no longer gives them the
level of satisfaction it did four years ago, and a significant number of employees are not
proud to be part of the company. If the trend continues, the impact on the survey results
would be significantly low job satisfaction levels and high turnover rates.
2.
Over the four years in which the survey was conducted, the lowest results
relating to the percentage of employees feeling recognized and rewarded for their effort
were reported in the current year. If the decreasing number of employees who feel they
are being recognized and praised for their excellent performance persists, then job
satisfaction levels are likelier to decrease over time. Job satisfaction levels will decrease
because of low morale caused by employees feeling less appreciated by the company for
their excellent performance.
3.
Over the four years in which the survey was conducted, the current year
they had the lowest percentage of employees who felt that they were being recognized
and rewarded for their excellent job. The potential impact of the results is a decrease in
employees’ job satisfaction levels. In particular, as more employees feel that their work is
not receiving the recognition it deserves, they will be less happy to work for the
company, contributing to low satisfaction levels.
Desired Future State—Where Would You Like to Be?
1.
The first goal is to improve job satisfaction levels by 10% over the next
two years. The impact of improved job satisfaction is improved performance.
Additionally, turnover rates will decrease due to more employees becoming proud to
work for the company.
2.
The second goal encompasses increasing by 10% the percentage of
employees who feel their excellent performance is being recognized and praised. In so
doing, job satisfaction levels are expected to rise, resulting in low turnover rates.
3.
The third goal is to increase the percentage of employees who feel their
excellent performance will be recognized and rewarded by the company by 10%.
Appreciating and rewarding employees for their excellent performance will encourage
them to perform better or to maintain good performances, thus enabling the company to
attain its goals.
Identified Gaps—Obstacles
1.
An obstacle that may prevent the improvement of job satisfaction levels
by 10% over the next two years is limited financial resources. In particular, one of the
factors that contributed to the low job satisfaction levels was the low pay compared to
competitive salaries for similar positions in the job market. Thus, financial resources are
needed to provide employees with compensation levels that are competitive in the job
market. Additionally, financial and human resources are needed to implement employee
training programs that are necessary to improve employees’ skills, which they need to
execute work-related tasks efficiently (Singh, 2023).
2.
Secondly, an obstacle that may prevent an increase in the percentage of
employees who feel their excellent performance is being recognized and praised by 10%
is organizational culture. Specifically, there is a need to change the company’s
organizational culture, which encompasses the company’s values, attitudes and beliefs, to
influence the behavior of employees (Collins, 2021).
3.
Thirdly, obstacles that may prevent an increase in the percentage of
employees who feel their excellent performance will be recognized and rewarded by the
company by 10% are limited financial resources and the company’s organizational
culture. Specifically, financial resources are needed to reward employees for their
excellent performance. Additionally, there is a need to change the company’s
organizational culture to ensure it facilitates the recognition of best-performing
employees (Collins, 2021).
Goal Revision
1.
The first goal, which is to improve job satisfaction levels by 10% over the
next two years, should not be revised because of the impact that the attainment of this
goal will have on the company’s performance. For this reason, there is a need for the
company to acquire the financial resources it needs to improve job satisfaction levels
through equity or debt financing to enable the company to improve its performance.
2.
The second goal is revised by reducing the percentage of employees who
will feel their excellent performance is being recognized and praised to 5% within the
next two years because changes to the company’s organizational culture should be
implemented gradually. In other words, it may take more than two years for employees to
adapt to a new organizational culture needed to facilitate the attainment of this goal
(Collins, 2021).
3.
Similarly, the third goal is revised by reducing the percentage of
employees who are expected to feel their excellent performance will be recognized and
rewarded by the company to 7.5% within the next two years because of the need to
introduce a new organizational culture gradually (Collins, 2021). Thus, even though the
company can improve its reward system by obtaining more funds through equity or debt
financing, it will take a while for employees to adapt to a new organizational culture.
A Way Forward—Action
1.
Actions needed to improve employees’ job satisfaction levels include
increasing their pay to ensure they are receiving competitive compensation and
introducing training programs that will equip them with the skills they need to handle
work-related tasks (Singh, 2023). Stakeholders that should implement the proposed
actions include the company’s management and the human resource teams. Specifically,
management should seek the financing needed to improve employees’ pay through equity
or debt financing, and the HR team should implement the training programs. Improving
employees’ pay is necessary since, over the past four years, the percentage of employees
who felt their pay was equal to or more than the industry average decreased significantly.
Additionally, fewer employees felt that their jobs made good use of their skills each year
over the past four years. Thus, the implementation of the proposed actions will have a
desirable impact on employees’ job satisfaction levels.
2.
Secondly, an actionable step that needs to be taken to increase the
percentage of employees who feel their excellent performance is being recognized and
praised encompasses adopting a new company policy that would require those in
management positions to recognize the effort of the best-performing employees.
Additionally, thresholds should be set to help identify the best-performing employees.
Stakeholders who should be involved in implementing the proposed actions are the
company’s management team. All the actions will boost morale and ensure employees
strive to be the best (Gomathy, 2022).
3.
Thirdly, actionable steps that should be implemented to increase the
percentage of employees who feel their excellent performance is being recognized and
rewarded by the company include the adoption of a new reward system and the setting of
a threshold for indicating good performance. The stakeholder responsible for
implementing these actions is the company’s management team. The implementation of
the actions will motivate employees to give their best because their efforts will be
recognized and rewarded (Gomathy, 2022).
References
Collins, D. (2021). Redeeming organizational culture. Rethinking Organizational
Culture, 55–74. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003174431-6
Gomathy, Dr. C. (2022). The strategies for boosting employee morale in an organization.
International Journal Of Scientific Research In Engineering And Management,
06(02). https://doi.org/10.55041/ijsrem11554
Singh, A. (2023). Impact of training and development as a vital instrument for boosting
morale and productivity among young employees. International Journal of
Management, Public Policy and Research, 2(4), 11–17.
https://doi.org/10.55829/ijmpr.v2i4.182
MBA 530 Module Six Assignment
Personal Development Plan Template
Complete this template by replacing the bracketed text with the relevant information.
First and Last Name: Yusef L. Robinson
Date: 30 June 2024
Goal Description: To improve my ability to inspire a shared vision, aiming to become a more
effective leader by engaging and motivating my team towards a common goal. The objectives
include enhancing communication skills to clearly articulate the vision, implementing strategies
to keep the team motivated, and regularly seeking feedback to adjust and refine the vision as
needed.
Leadership Competency: Inspiring a shared vision
Category
S: Specific
Explanation
What do I plan to
accomplish? What
do I plan to
achieve? What is
the reason for this
goal? Why is it
relevant?
Example: Ensure a
development plan,
with
specific
deliverables,
is
jointly developed
with all
of my
direct reports.
M: Measurable
What metric(s) will
be
used
to
determine if you
meet the goal? If
more than one
milestone
is
included, provide
the metric that will
be used to measure
performance.
Response
To this effect, I will craft for my team an inspiring
vision that makes every member understand it so
that he or she gets motivated to contribute toward
its attainment. This is accomplished through
formulating a vision statement that is both overly
ambitious and achievable, denoting our collective
goals and aspirations. Further on, I will put together
a well-defined communication approach aimed at
transmitting this idea through various channels such
as meetings, emails, or one-on-ones. In terms of
importance, this objective has potential for unifying
the direction of the group hence fostering
purposefulness as well as alignment with
organizational goals. A properly conveyed mission
outlines expectations while also providing insights
into future progress thus stimulating ambition among
subordinates.
Several key metrics will be used to gauge progress.
First; survey results from team members on clarity
and comprehensiveness communicated through it
would indicate how well they have understood and
aligned themselves with it will be important
indicators in evaluating whether we have achieved
our aim of communicating our vision effectively.
Moreover, regular pulse surveys can be employed to
measure levels of employee engagement and
motivation in relation to morale within teams while
gauging their commitment towards realizing the
objectives stated in the mission statement.
Additionally, hitting milestone targets that are
correlated with overall aim set by the staff will prove
Category
Explanation
A: Achievable
What
tools and
skills do I need to
achieve the goal?
Who needs to be
involved for me to
be
successful? What is
my motivation for
wanting to achieve
this goal?
R: Relevant
How is this goal
linked to an overall
business objective?
How will this goal
increase
my
knowledge
and
improve my overall
performance?
T: Time Bound
Provide
tangible
deliverable(s) with
Response
success objectively; project completion rates along
with performance appraisals suggest whether its
effectiveness has led to any outcomes whatsoever.
These measures are essential in getting an all-round
view about how effectively communicated; received
let alone carried out within their being.
I need to increase my communication skills if am
going to achieve this goal. Specifically, I need to
improve my public speaking, persuasive writing and
active listening skills. Furthermore, I need to acquire
knowledge on how to motivate others; one of the
ways is through building intrinsic motivation and
keeping the team motivated over time. This
improvement will be supported by having feedback
surveys and other communication platforms such as
Slack or Microsoft Teams as well as management
software for the projects done. Key stakeholders that
will contribute to my success include members of my
team who will provide feedback and engagement, a
mentor or coach who can guide and advise me as well
as attend leadership workshops/trainings so that
they could enhance my skills further in this field. My
wish is to become a more effective leader because it
would not only increase job satisfaction in which
increased productivity occurs but also lead to overall
organizational success.
This goal aligns with the broader business objective
of improving team performance and achieving
strategic objectives. In order words – a shared vision
which inspires all members leading to productive and
efficient teamwork forming environments is
necessary thus propelling us towards meeting our set
targets within different companies’ departments
respectively. Ultimately, this aim will boost my ability
in leadership since I would have enhanced my
communication skills, being able to motivate others
while at the same time creating oneness of purpose
among them. These qualities are indispensable for
any person in power and would enable me to
perform better on an overall basis while giving
guidance to subordinates confidently thereby
achieving results consistently through innovations
made by coming up with sustainable achievements
every step of the way.
Tangible deliverables include developing a clear and
comprehensive vision statement by July 15, 2024,
Category
Explanation
due dates if more
than one milestone
is included. Provide
the final due date
for completion of
this development
goal.
Response
facilitating a team meeting to communicate the
vision and obtain some preliminary feedback by July
30, 2024, and implementing motivational strategies
to keep the team engaged and aligned with the vision
by August 31, 2024, as well as conducting a follow-up
survey to gauge team buy-in and make necessary
refinements by September 30, 2024. The final due
date for attainment of this development goal is
October 31, 2024. By adhering to these milestones, I
seek to guarantee that there is a systemic approach
that has been structured towards realizing this
objective including regular checkpoints that monitor
progress and enable adjustments where necessary.
