Introduction
Leadership development is a process that involves assessing an organization’s needs, its capability, and the requirements for development (London, 2002). An evaluation is done to establish the support programs required and the expected level of outcome on implementation. For effective leadership, the reaction from others should be understood. This includes the expectations required of them, as well as finding out whether others believe in them. This is important because it helps leaders to decide what they can do in order to improve (Hughes, 2000). This paper is based on leadership and management plan of a regional Transport Authority company (Connections). This company monitors and regulates the provision of light rail ferry services. It also regulates the bus and regional rail, which are controlled by other organizations. It is responsible to five local councils and the national transport regulator. The company has a plan to invest and continue supporting the growing number of passengers with quality customer service.
This paper will provide a proposal on how leadership can be introduced and the reward strategy that can be used to improve performance for Connections. It will further outline the various methods of measuring this proposal’s performance and provide an action plan. This strategy will involve two phases. In the first place, the managers will be let to come up with a plan on the way to handle the situation from their own perspective. The second one will be done after the leadership development strategy. Both results will be compared to establish the effect of leadership development on the managers.
Performance Improvement Strategies
Before the formulation of the working strategy, the available resources should be established in terms of funds, time, and man power (Hannum, Leviton, Martineau & Reinelt, 2007). In the case of Connections, the team that is working is a group of ninety senior and junior managers working on thirty million dollars within a maximum of one year. The task to be completed involves coming up with a good plan in which the organization will meet and exceed the customers’ expectations. This will be done through the improvement of the infrastructure in respect to the service stations and the tracks, as well as technological advancements such as smart ticketing. Such operations require good allocation of funds and a system to monitor the use of these funds to ensure accountability.
Connections and the Light Rail service are well-established organizations that are successful based on the fact that the business has been growing, and their customers have increased. Previously, they have had a joint working relationship, and this gives them an added advantage in working together at the present. The first step shall involve the establishment of a good working environment for these two teams. It will be required that they get to know one another through formal introductions. This can be further improved by organizing a team-building activity that will break the tension caused by not being familiar with one another. Communication skills are a major requirement for teams who are working together. Decision-making requires that everyone is informed. Leadership is effective if only leaders deliver and get feedback from the human resources that they engage. Team building will build communication skills because the parties will get to know the strengths and weaknesses in respect to the members of the team. Learning team members’ personal traits help in getting the right approach that can be used on an individual (Sindell & Hoang, 2001).
Individuals should know who is reporting to whom after the creation of rapport among the teams (Russell, 2005). This will ensure that there is bureaucracy, and everyone understands the expectations bestowed upon him or her in the whole process. For leaders to work with their teams effectively, self-awareness is an important aspect. This aspect helps in building leadership amongst other members of the team. This creates the sense that leadership is a continuous process of learning and obtaining skills (Sindell & Hoang, 2001). In the case of Connections, majority of the managers have been serving and promoted on performance. This means that they can deliver if given the necessary guidelines. The fresh blood can be easily adopted into the system by engaging the older managers to leadership in the new generation. Gathering information from the new people to establish their experience and knowledge helps in matching them with the right assignments. These interactive sessions will ensure that these individuals are involved in all the planning steps. It will make sure that they are informed of what should be done in a comprehensive manner (Carter, 2005). For Connections, this can be exercised by letting the highly experienced managers provide guidelines to the new team while supporting them. This is in terms of former strategies that worked before or correcting what did not work in the past.
Outcome can only be measured against the achieved results over a given period. Once the implementation process begins, progress is monitored while ensuring that it lies within the set time frame. Time frame is important for the case of Connections. There are technological advancements that need to be introduced (London, 2002). This being a new phenomenon that may not be familiar to all the people involved, training should be done to introduce the managers to this new practice. In as much as the managers may not be carrying out these duties at the operation’s level, they need to know the likely challenges that junior employees will experience. This training will involve smart ticketing that helps in saving customer’s time. Installation of detectors will recognize faulty wheels and sounds that indicate failure. They can learn about materials required for damage-resistant wheels and detectors to any internal defects in tracks. This will familiarise them with the new technology in rail locomotion and the computer systems integrated in the rail systems (Association of American Railroads, 2011). Once they are familiar with the new terms and technicalities, transferring this theoretical knowledge into the filed through the rest of the staff will be simpler.
Incentives motivate employees to put extra effort in their work. Employees cannot be prevented from transforming a company by the level in which they serve (Greiman & Addington, 2008). In this strategy, it would be advisable to base this on promotion because it consists of managers who are at different levels. This will ensure enhanced output because it is significant in their career growth.
Evaluation
Measuring progress involves monitoring the results occurring after leadership development action taken place. There should be a relationship between the initiative and the outcomes (Ryan, 2007). In the case of connections, measurement will be based on the feedback obtained from customers. For instance, smart ticketing is meant to save time for customers by ensuring that customers take the least time to get their ticket. This will be achieved by designing forms for customers to answer whether they saved time. This will be compared with the former services that were available. In the case of wheel detectors and damage proof materials for tracks, this will be measured by comparing the number of incidences that repairs and replacements are done with past records before the initiatives. This information is closely related to the staff feedback because if it is positive, then it means that the change was initiated through the managers.
Getting feedback from the staff regarding the level of interaction and success achieved after the leadership development is important (Carter, 2005). A comparison between the outcome and the initial objective should be done in order to achieve this. In the case of Connections, the objective was to improve on customer service and ensure that new technology is adopted in the company. The response can also be compared with individual performance to establish whether the strategy had an effect on individual output. This can be done by comparing the working framework before and after leadership development. The summary of the development strategies and the evaluation criteria is outlined in the action plan.
Action Plan
Conclusion
Leadership development is a strategy in human resource planning that provides continuous learning and acquisition of skills at the place of work. It not only provides new knowledge, but also provides interactive sessions in which employees get to know one another and exploit their skills and abilities. If Connections adopted this strategy, the company are likely to develop new ideas on the new technology and improve their level of customer service.
Reference List
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