Adaptive Leadership Tool Kit

In Module Four, review the initial posts of at least two of your peers, addressing the following "Stop/Start/Continue" feedback questions:

• Stop: What are the leadership skills and behaviors the learner has selected that you recommend be stopped, i.e., not pursued? Provide the rationale as to why you believe a leadership skill they have selected may not be the most appropriate focus area based on your review of the employee engagement survey results. If you don't identify any leadership behavior focus area to stop, then how would you suggest one or more of the targeted leadership behavior areas be modified to better address the outcome desired?
• Start: What leadership skills and behaviors do you recommend the learner add as a focus area? Provide the rationale for your recommendation as well as one to two suggested ways this leadership skill/behavior could be targeted for improvement.
• Continue: For the recommendations that the learner has made that you fully agree with, provide commentary as to why you believe the selected leadership skills and behaviors area is appropriate to be addressed.

Respond to person 1:

Strategic engagement

Specifically in the data, a lack of engagement from leaders is evident. Leaders should be present within their teams to show support, whether that is coaching, mentoring, or counselling, at a minimum. After a review of the questions asked, the annotated decline in overall satisfaction, and the lack of praise would lead one to conclude that there is a lack of leadership presence. This also leads one to conclude that operations may not be accurately represented. With a lack of leadership involved within the operating teams, how would leadership have an accurate picture of the operations being performed? Facilitation is a great tool to get leaders involved with their team; it increases job satisfaction and performance. Facilitation is understanding the “demotivators” that become obstacles in the team’s initiative and performance. Having leaders that can effectively communicate what is making a team’s job frustrating, ineffective, and complicated, can be used to make operations and morale increase (Schiola, 2010). Applying the proper techniques to increase workflow, eliminating obstacles, can potentially increase one’s willingness to do operational tasks. Facilitate the work. Leaders and leadership teams must find the problems, find the obstacles, find the most practical way to do the tasks, apply new workflow procedures, and increase work performance. Proper work facilitation will increase initiative among employees just by making tasks and access easier to accomplish (Folk, 2015). Having engaged leaders improves organizational performance by increasing morale which increases motivation. Leaders that positively engage with their workforce allow for process improvement and implementation. It facilitates working and operational tasks and increases job satisfaction with employees, which leads to improved retention. Improved retention allows time for teams to develop. This gives teams time to maximize performance and makes teams more cohesive, enabling more trust between employees. Well-developed teams are essential to success in organizations (Bennet Lientz; Kathryn Rea & Bennet Lientz; Kathryn Rea, 2009). Leaders that positively engage with their work force increase, ease of use for daily tasks, provide workflow facilitation solutions, praise, encourage workers, keep teams and workers engaged, and continually develop a team’s proficiency in their field. The survey shows a gradual decline in its four-year time frame in leadership engagement. This needs to be addressed quickly with training and mentorship from the senior tier leadership.

References

Bennet Lientz; Kathryn Rea & Bennet Lientz; Kathryn Rea. (2009). Achieve lasting process improvement (1st ed.). Taylor & Francis.

Folk, G. (2015). People leadership (127th ed.). She Writes Press.

Schiola, S. A. (2010). Making Group Work Easy: The Art of Successful Facilitation. Rowman & Littlefield Education. https://doi.org/https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=FLT53bzcSSMC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=Steven+A.+Schiola&ots=94YYw54SRP&sig=0KxpdwOkEPWlftW00Vl2bDbpzsc&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Steven%20A.%20Schiola&f=false

RESPOND to Person 2:

Hello Everyone,

After reading the survey, I feel this company, like most companies in my opinion need some leadership training. Employees feel that the company is not allowing them to use their skills and abilities. So, in other words, the bosses are telling the workers how to do their jobs rather than having their say on how to accomplish tasks. This issue can destroy morale and work ethic as the employees will start to lose interest how they work. The leadership is showing that they do not appreciate their employees work. Good leaders recognize employees; great leaders appreciate them (Edwards, 2021). A good leader shows that they care and they let their workers know. By not acknowledging their hard work, employees will not perform to the best of their abilities.

Skills that need to be added to the toolkit are first, better communication between leadership and employees. Communication is critical in any company. The leadership not only needs to talk to their employees but listen to their wants, needs, and ideas. Another skill would be an appreciation for their workers performance. Appreciation can be a simple “thank you” or a trophy. Employees want to be recognized for the hard work they do and the time they spend at a company is worth their while.

Changing someone’s perspective is difficult to do. One day at a time, if leadership can change things and start allowing their employees to use their skills and abilities and praise the work they accomplish, little by little trust will be built and people will change how they feel. Employees will be skeptical at first, but if all leadership is determined to change the work environment, over time employees will come around.  

Edwards, M. (2021, February 7). Good leaders recognize people; great leaders appreciate them. LinkedIn. Retrieved April 7, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/good-leaders-recognize-people-great-appreciate-them-michael-edwards/?msclkid=15d230e1b6d911ecb05729e4fd9d197d