Leadership development assignment: Challenges faced by Elite Travel Solutions

Question

Task: You have been called in as a Management Consultant to advise the Senior Management Team on how to embed leadership development within the organisation, to support the anticipated changes. This needs to be presented as a sound business case with clearly justified and feasible recommendations.

Assess the key leadership challenges involved in leading the change process and improving organisational performance. To what extent can skilled and effective leadership make a difference and facilitate this transition?
Outline how you propose to introduce leadership development for members of the management team in order to retain talent, encourage an innovative culture and foster creativity.
Indicate how the success of your proposals will be evaluated and measured. This needs to be assessed in relation to return on investment and value for money.

Answer

Introduction
Leadership helps in maximizing efficiency and achieving organizational goals, facilitating effective and efficient performance at work. The learner here has been called as a consultant of management to provide guidance to the management team to embed leadership development within the organization, in order to support anticipated changes. The company has been facing an issue with an effective leadership skill for which the concerned person has been called to address the issues and improve in organizational performance, as skilled and effective leadership makes a difference. The report on leadership development assignmentwill cover all the areas of problems that the company has been facing regarding leadership. A proposed outline will be prepared for leadership development to help retain talent and encourage creativity and innovation.

Body
The company Elite Travel Solutions selected in the leadership development assignment is a regional chain of specialist travel agents. His company focuses on providing successful, well organized, bespoke travel experience. They aim to facilitate the guests to make bookings confidently and help in repeat business. The company has been successful in making the customers satisfied with their service but the company has taken the decision of implementing a rigorous performance management approach. The managers and the audit are responsible for the change but lack of leadership training and management of change has led to consider issues that need to be addressed soon. Because of the size of the location considered in the present case scenario of leadership development assignment, the reward strategy is very fragmented which is itself a challenging situation for the company.

Leadership, in general, enhances the efficiency of the organization and works towards making the employees commit to work by enhancing the willingness to work. A leader’s overall effort enhances the ability to perform well and drive towards the goal. Especially under the concerning circumstances, it is furthermore important to develop superior leadership skills as this particular business has the least control over the market of this industry. Organizational development is indirectly dependent upon leadership skills as good leadership is a key to motivation and development. This is why the managers must master the leadership skill that the management consultant has advised. The management consultant must analyze and study the organization’s weak areas and the processes that need to be challenged and changed. The employees must be encouraged and take up the risk. The current economic changes and the rapidly changing marketplace have made the situation outlined in the leadership development assignment more challenging. A leader is advised to take up the risk and encourage the employees too to face the challenge and create a vision of an uplifting and honorable future to make them feel energized (Komives & Wagner, 2016). Besides crafting a vision and mission it is equally important to spend enough time communicating it with the team members. A leader must not aim to achieve all by itself but with the team members, by monitoring and guiding them, since the plan of the organization is to grow organically rather than the planned way which demands more guidance. Since the reward system is fragmented the organization doesn't have a clear direction to move its business. One of the most crucial things illustrated within this leadership development assignment is encouraging the employees since the employees are the real asset of an organically grown company. Recognize individual and tea contributions and reward the employees, which will encourage small and individual accomplishments besides, identifying the weakness and the strengths of the team. For a more rigorous performance management approach it is very much essential for management to gather the personal feedback of the customers and drive out strategies to make it more compatible and efficient. In such a business where the organization is dependent on the company’s internal resources, the leaders must keep a humble attitude and encouragement to achieve the goal with the application of the minimum resources. Good leadership management will encourage to be generous towards the resources and that will facilitate for the company to better and efficiently expand the business within the limited resources, for example, the representative customer’s loyal customers, and addressing or responding to them as soon as possible and many more. This is how a business can grow within limited and internal resources. Quality leadership impacts the working enthusiasm and morale of the employees (Storey, 2016). It is evident in the leadership development assignment that trust is one of the main values for the team and the customers. Besides being honest among the team members a good leader will encourage them to be honest to the customers as this is something that customers and the clients appreciate. Every change leads to challenges, and a bit more as the management of the concerned organization lacks leadership training and organizational development and change management. Through the application and practice of strong human relationships and capital management that will encourage understanding of the customers and maximize efficiency, which is why the managers must have a trait of a good leader (Clinton, 2018). Moreover, change management is not an easy task that requires establishing a clear vision and a framework of the pathway. Providing support to the employees by two-way communication and most importantly focusing on skill development (Chen & Rybak, 2017).

Herein leadership development assignment, leadership development is yet another challenging factor to encourage employees to develop leadership skills and retain talent. According to the consultant, all the areas of the organization need a good leader who will keep up the zeal for the improvement. The management of the organization must define the company’s leadership needs. To analyze the development change it is important to tie up to strategic objectives that are financial benefits, revenue, and profit earned by the company besides maintaining updated data to keep a track of the progress. Putting up the gaps of the organization and keeping in front of the company’s short and long term goals so that the employees will get a clear vision of the company’s goal (Odor, 2018). The information provided within this leadership development assignment illustrates that during the development process, the management must know how to direct the employees in such a situation that will make them learn and grow. Such situations help to develop and foster creativity and innovative culture. Creativity and innovation is the thing that makes the organization stand out than its competitors. The employees must be given the freedom to create and innovate new ideas that will help to bring about creativity in the organization without taking up any external help. Develop innovation within the strategic plan that will help facilitate in defining creativity in the organization and culture in the team creating individual plans link to the personal objectives that will facilitate in retaining top talents. As per the suggestion of the concerned person presented in the leadership development assignment, the most impactful leadership development takes place not with formal programs but with smaller steps and unique challenges and needs that lead to the development. Empathy and understanding is the fundamental principle of the development that will give an insight into the minds of the employees and the customers. For example, the kind of service and facilities that the customers are demanding on likewise the development process will be carried out. Nevertheless, in leadership development, the management team must learn to bridge the gap between the front line and senior management. Moreover learning the art of collaboration, stress management, solving complicated problems leads to the development of creativity and superior leadership qualities (Umirzakov et al., 2019). Furthermore, the best management must always keep retention in focus. The focus is the groom and develops new talents of leadership in the organization who will efficiently and effectively play a key role in the development process and will be absolutely careful to retain the team members. A regular face to face meeting is an effective measure to develop leadership (Pidgeon, 2017). The way to propose the leadership development plan involves a number of steps which are to define the skills, traits, and abilities that make a great leader. Next is to identify the core values and take a self-assessment and an idea of what the other people think. Lastly, write down an action plan of the ways of developing and enhancing the skills. Talent retention and encouragement are something that to a few extents goes hand in hand. Offering the right benefit and recognition is the secret to leadership development.

The scenario explored in the leadership development assignment is quite a challenging one as the business is dependent on growing organically within limited resources and investment. The project manager will need to be done within a given timeline. The procedures that have been discussed here are achievable within a short period of time so that it does not exceed the original timeline (Gabriel & Kirkwood, 2016). An assessment of the benefits achieved and value achievement will provide a detailed analysis of the value that has been achieved. In any project, the highest priorities are cost management and the return of the investment. An effectuality of a proposal is to be determined with the return of the value and cost management. A skilled leader must master financial needs that are balance sheet, statement of cash flow and income statement in order to again a clear picture of the proposal’s favorable outcomes. The proposal that has been proposed within this leadership development assignment is quite cost-effective as the business is willing to grow on the internal resources. The recommended steps that have been put forward are all cost-effective like the development of leaders within the organization which will guide the team to work towards altering the repetitive customers to loyal customers. The measures that have been discussed require minimum investment and are easily achievable. The investment that is to be done totally depends upon developing the internal environment and leadership qualities of the organization. According to the cost-benefit analysis, the recommended steps that have been proposed in the project proposal are quite beneficial as the recommended strategies can all be achieved within limited resources. The recommended strategies provided within this leadership development assignment are equally efficient and cost-effective in both the short and long run. Since, the concerned market is a fragmented one and does not have enough potential to move the business towards a fixed direction that is why through a superior organizational development and change in the management process can provide the best value for the money (Pidgeon, 2017). It will only be measured by the project proposal’s effectuality only when the reparative customers will turn to loyal customers and turnover rate will decrease to half as it will enhance employee skill development. The reviews from the customers and the employees considered in the present context of leadership development assignment will be positive and most importantly the revenue gained will turn to exceed the investment process. Through the application of these strategies, the organization will go through a continuous development with the application of minimum investment (Chen & Rybak, 2017). The development of the organization’s growth focusing on organic business gives the best value for money. The leadership skill that has been developed will be coherent enough to determine the financial improvement and the position of the organization. Through encouraging innovation and creative development the efficiency of the profit generation will be automatically enhanced, the investment will be reduced by minimum employee turnover, enhance service quality, customer satisfaction, and gaining an advantage in the competitive marketplace.As the company selected herein leadership development assignment is investing a huge amount of money on the skill development and leadership quality of the employees with effective implementation of the strategies as suggested it will definitely give a good return of the value for money. As an efficient and skilled leader of the company will lead the group to achieve the goal with the time limit and generate revenue by keeping the zeal high. Furthermore, the organization needs not to hire a leader from outside the company which will be cost-saving in long run.

Conclusion
On studying the scenario elaborated in the leadership development assignment it has been seen that the company has been facing an issue with leadership skills and organizational development. The organization had planned to undergo rigorous performance management and organizational development and the change in management. The organization has focused on evolving organically rather than any planning and considered approach which is why it has become more challenging. The learner as the management consultant has advised creating a good leadership program to develop skilled leaders within the organization along with creating situations that will encourage them to foster innovative ideas and creativity. Skilled and effective leadership encourages retaining the employees and developing a direction and enhancing the way of thinking that creates value for the organization. Furthermore, the proposal discussed within this leadership development assignment that has been put forward by the management consultant can be measured with the analysis of the new sales and revenue growth (Holmberg, Larsson & Bäckström, 2016). Feedback from the customers as well as the employees will give an idea of the potential of the proposal. Moreover the success of the proposal put forward by the consultant will be measured once the company will get the return of the investment.

References

Chen, M. W., & Rybak, C. (2017). Group leadership skills: Interpersonal process in group counseling and therapy.Leadership development assignment SAGE Publications.

Clinton, R. (2018). The making of a leader: Recognizing the lessons and stages of leadership development. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc..

Gabriel, C. A., & Kirkwood, J. (2016). Business models for model businesses: Lessons from renewable energy entrepreneurs in developing countries. Energy Policy, 95, 336-349.

Holmberg, R., Larsson, M., & Bäckström, M. (2016). Developing leadership skills and resilience in turbulent times. Journal of Management Development.

Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (Eds.). (2016). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.

Mumford, M. D., Todd, E. M., Higgs, C., & McIntosh, T. (2017). Cognitive skills and leadership performance: The nine critical skills. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(1), 24-39.

Odor, H. (2018). Knowledge Management-An Extension of Organisational Learning. Global Journal of Management And Business Research.

Pidgeon, K. (2017). The keys for success: Leadership core competencies. Journal of trauma nursing, 24(6), 338-341.

Storey, J. (2016). Changing theories of leadership and leadership development. In Leadership in Organizations (pp. 17-41). Routledge.

Umurzakov, S. Y., Nurgabdeshov, A. R., Zamanbekov, D. S., & Gassanova, A. A. (2019). Human resource management and employee turnover in Kazakhstan's companies. Leadership development assignment, (3), 191-195.

Appendix

in leadership development assignment