Like many leaders, Marco has a team in place and does not have the luxury of building a new team to adapt to the changing business environment his firm now faces. Use the TLM to help Marco diagnose the problems faced by the firm and identify leverage points for change.
Marco Hernandez and his team are facing inevitable changes dictated by the external factors impacting the industry where their business is operating. Due to the diminished number of clients and their changing needs and preferences, Hernandez & Associates are forced to adjust to the new environment and remain strong competitors in the market. In order to succeed, the team of Hernandez needs to introduce changes in their roles and tasks. The leader has made the mission of the team clear to its members; also, the group demonstrated an understanding of the clients’ needs. These are the definite points of leverage that can be attributed to such process variables as group dynamics and effort. In addition, Marco Hernandez possesses a deep understanding of what the clients of his business need, how they must be treated in order to promote loyalty, and what kinds of tasks that group needs to fulfill to adapt to the new environment.
Consider the major functions of the TLM – input, process, and output. Where do most of the firm’s challenges fall?
However, the process variable of skills and knowledge could represent a potential challenge. To be more precise, considering the major functions of the TLM—input, process, and output, it is possible to state that the changes required for the team of Hernandez to fit into their new business environment would take a lot of input in the form of the provision of the new knowledge and education to the team. Practically, Hernandez has no time to hire a completely new team; in that way, the only available solution is to train the existing staff to fulfill their new roles.
For that purpose, it is necessary to assess and evaluate the present knowledge and skills of the workers and the tasks they need to master. These factors can be recognized as the inputs necessary for the team of professionals to adjust their business performance to the new expectations and needs of the clients. Moreover, it is critical to remember that the additional coaching of the employees will require such inputs as time and money – the investments needed to achieve the goal of modifying the roles of the workers. Even though the team is ready to take an effort and change their performance as required by the business, the major challenges lie in their ability to master their new functions quickly and effectively in order to perform at a high level.
What are the team’s goals for outputs?
The outputs of the learning and adjustment process will involve the team’s ability to match the needs of the clients in 2001 that was majorly impacted by external factors. The newly trained team is anticipated to be more oriented at the use of technologies in their working process and engage with the customers using their website and phone. In that way, a larger number of clients could be covered within a shorter period of time (if only the employees fulfilling this function are well-trained and tech-savvy). A better understanding of the tasks involved in the agency leadership is another output expected from the team. In other words, it can be concluded that to adjust to the new business environment, the team of Marco Hernandez needs to become more flexible and embrace the new ways of doing business and communicating with the clients. Also, the group is to take over the new roles, tasks, and functions that are dictated by their target client base and the state economy.
Identify potential resources for Marco and his team in implementing a strategy to change the way they do business at Hernandez & Associates.
Marco and his team are facing a serious challenge that is aggravated by the fact that their business does not possess the resource of time in order to implement a drastic change and introduce new professionals to the team. However, Hernandez has a number of other resources that would help him adjust the business without losing profit and clients.
To be more precise, Hernandez has human resources – the workers who are dedicated to their employer, the workplace, and the changing business environments. The employees are willing to embrace their new tasks and duties. As a result, resistance to change that represents one of the major barriers to innovation is alleviated. In fact, the employees’ willingness to learn and master new skills is a substantial resource powering the team in their struggle with the rapidly changing industry.
At the same time, in order to provide quality coaching for the workers, the business needs financial resources in order to pay for the work of mentors hired to help the workers expand their skills. Also, since the use of technology is expected to increase in the future, the business has to invest in new computers and phones so that the employees expected to respond to the clients online and via the phone could work without problems. Finally, it is possible that the working space itself would have to be adjusted in order to match the new needs of the evolving business. In that way, the major types of resources Hernandez requires are the people, effort and dedication, finances invested in the new equipment and training for the workers, and time that is needed for the entire staff to adjust to their new roles and fit into the changed working process.