It is the dream of every business organization to maximize performance on everything it does. The results of effectiveness in performance can be measured using the tangible indicators such as the number of sales, the return of assets, and the quality of share among others. The employees majorly drive the performance. However, they may not feel the urge to carry out the duties due to some factors within the organization, which may result in dissatisfaction and quitting. As a manager in the human resources department, I set out to find out why there is a higher rate of employee turnover as compared to the normal. The data collected showed that several leadership pitfalls were to blame for the statistics with the biggest culprit being communication. Thus, a prompt action is required to reduce the rates of turnover and increase employee retention. These would not be achieved without a prior improvement in employee satisfaction by carrying out a leadership-training program. This proposal is aimed at creating a working intervention to address the issue of poor communication and identify a solution for the ABC Bank.
Current Situation
ABC Bank is such an institution that is aimed at increasing the customer base and the effectiveness of operations. The financial institution has a culture of valuing the customer extensively as they are the sole providers of business for the bank. With this being an important aspect of any business, there are some areas where there is a lacking of effectiveness. Such is in the area of employees. With all the focus given to the client, the people who drive the work are always overlooked and in turn neglected in some extreme cases ( Ferreira & Abbad, 2013) . ABC Bank has been experiencing an increased rate of employee turnover, which prompted the need for research on the causes. After a careful survey of the employees, I found that there underlies a huge leadership problem that leads to the dissatisfaction of the workers within the institution. With a close interaction with the employees, one can successfully infer that there is a problem of slow rate of communication and reception of information.
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Employee Feedback
There appears to be a barrier between the management and the workers. The employees feel like they are not appreciated and that they do not matter in the eyes of the officials. This reduces the productivity of the workforce, as the ones who feel that they are not important cannot perform at their maximum (Comaford, 2013). During the survey, there were leadership pitfalls that were identified as to hamper the performance of these workers revolved around communication. The biggest problem that was identified was the lack of feedback from the management to the employees. This means that they (employees) feel they are not taken as important as the customers or any other stakeholders. Employee feedback is one of the most critical aspects of personal growth (Comaford, 2013). In addition, in most cases, it is what the workers crave the most. In ABC Bank, it has come to my attention that the management does not provide them with enough feedback and when they do, it is always geared towards identification of the negative side of the work.
Other Pitfalls
Apparently, the ABC Bank managers are concentrating on acknowledging only the mistakes of the employees while lacking or showing no approval for the achievements. This goes hand in hand with the failure to celebrate the victories of the employees. In some cases, the other issues revolve around the failure to respond to the emails. In addition, the employees reported being victims of favoritism, as some of the managers prefer some people to others.
High Employee Turnover
The shortcomings listed above have resulted in a number of effects with the extreme one being a higher rate of employee turnover. According to Gallup (2016), 75 percent of the employees who quit their job do so due to the conduct of their leader, and not the company itself. Such is the case of ABC Bank, where the leadership drives the workers to consider looking for fresh pastures elsewhere.
The phenomenon has attracted the attention of the top leadership, which expressed to me the need to address the problem. While meeting the top leadership, there were cases of evident competencies that make up top leadership but were lacking in the current training program. Thus, there exist the disparities in the valuing of employees by the management (Comaford, 2013) . After a thorough research on the problem in the organization, and by looking through the pitfalls mentioned in ‘The Value of Valuing Employees’ by Christine Comaford, a solution was possible. That formed the basis for this project proposal.
Project Plan
The primary goal of this project is to reduce the poor communication by valuing the employees and giving feedback where it is deserved. In general, the mission is to show the workers that they matter to ABC Bank and that their efforts are appreciated. This will be achieved through the constant communication and acknowledgment of the efforts made to make the institution serve its customers best. The idea of effective communication can however not be possible without proper training of the leadership on how it should be done. After a thorough analysis of the survey results and a session of brainstorming with the relevant parties, it is through confidence that we announce the successful identification of objectives and benchmarks for the project to ensure its success.
The plan proposed includes a leadership training that recurs to accommodate even new recruits. The leadership training will comprise of the knowledge and skills that we collected as being most vital from top management. The time for the training is planned to take place quarterly and will have characteristics such that a person must qualify for to incentivize working within ABC Bank. It will be the means for the identification of top talent and enhance a pool of leadership. In height of the quarterly training, the employees who have undergone such initiative will acquire the tag of certification that indicate they are mentors in order to allow them to nurture new talent they bring to ABC Bank. This would, in turn, qualify them for the bonuses on the new recruits.
The program will first be rolled out to the management and staff across the entire institution in the bank’s headquarters. This program will address the five pitfalls identified as causing the high rate of employee dissatisfaction and turnover as mentioned before in this paper. The benefits of the mentor training in the headquarters include:
Addressing the leadership pitfalls that hamper leadership (Donnelly, 2010).
The mentor program will increase employee buy-in and engagement.
Reduction of the disconnect that exists between the satellite offices of ABC Bank and the main corporate office.
Reduced costs of booking training space and the materials as all the supplies and space in the headquarters will be enough.
There will be an incentive for the employees to work harder and earn the training.
Secondly, the training program will entail the education of employees available on quality leadership. The leaders can share their ideas on best practices with the attendees, hence creating an environment of mutual understanding. This makes the employees feel a connection with the company and ensures all the areas of the institution gets the good ideas (Donnelly, 2010). The building of relationships that this program fosters has been proven repeatedly as it creates closeness between the participants and their seniors ( McCauley& Hughes, 2016 ).
The benefits of this step include:
Reducing the distance between employees and the management.
The workers will learn the best leadership practices from their seniors in the bank.
Create a sense of belonging to the minds of the workers and creating a learning culture (Donnelly, 2010).
The information will be passed to the new recruits.
Employees will stay longer knowing the organization is concerned with their future.
The third step in the training program will entail the creation of positive results through mentoring. After the second step, the number of trained leaders would have increased significantly hence creating quality in leadership. These people will be responsible for making the training an organizational culture and mentor the rest of the employees who are new to the institution. One of the advantages of such an initiative is that it creates an increased profitability and increase employee retention (Gallup, 2016).
The benefits of the third step include:
Higher retention of adept leaders.
Increased productivity hence increased profits.
More reliant benchmarks of indicating company success.
The program proposed for the ABC Bank will not be an isolated one as there are countless applicable benchmarks. One of them includes the famous Disney’s training program that was started over eight decades ago (Donnelly, 2010) . The reason for incorporating benchmarks is to ensure that the initiative is in the right direction. The evaluation of its success will include re-administration of surveys throughout the steps and after the participation ( McCauley& Hughes, 2016 ).
Qualifications and Experience
A top manager of the human resources at ABC Bank, it is my responsibility to bring this to the attention of the management. I possess a qualification in the assessment of a need for a leadership-training program and I have had observations and conversations with the top management concerning the same. My analytical skills allow me to compare data and project future actions based on the past performance. It is clear to me that the high rate of employee turnover is an indication of a need to form action-based initiatives.
The idea of a training program was a result of collaboration between different parties and exhibited from different viewpoints. I put this proposal together as I have the knowledge, skills, and expertise to present information as it has been with the prior times. Conventionally, you have both management and accounting approval and that is what I have taken the liberty of acquiring to put forth this information to you.
The initiative is in unison with the past programs that have been aimed at increasing the employee morale, the bank’s productivity, and profitability. For example, the proposal that I presented last year on the need for a change in the company website has begun to pay off and has had great success. This shows that my intentions are only to bring the best for the institution as I understand the attitude of the management that customer reach is always a priority before anything else. It is my belief that by adding the leadership-training program, the employees will be able to treat the customers the best way the management needs.
The qualifications of a person needed for the implementation of this proposal should be someone who sees the bigger picture and appreciates the problem from all angles. By engaging in interpersonal interviews with the employees and discussing the possibility with the management, I feel that I am the person for the job.
Estimated Budget
| Totals (USD) | ||
| Training Personnel | 25,000 | |
| Materials | 10,000 | |
| Travel | ||
| Airfare to the headquarters | 20,000 | |
| Accommodation and per diem expenses | 10,000 | |
| 30,000 | ||
| Total direct costs: | 65,000 |
Conclusion
Leadership is an important aspect in the running of any organization and it influences the direction the company takes in terms of productivity. This program is tailored to meet the needs of ABC Bank in terms of employee plight. As it gives the benefits of holding the program in the headquarters and the overall benefits of holding the initiative in the first place, it proves to be a needed plan. It is my hope that the management sees the objectives it has for the institution and approves it.
References
Comaford, C. (2013). The value of valuing employees. Health Care Registration: The Newsletter for Health Care Registration Professionals , 22 (11), 7-9.
Donnelly, Tim. (2010). How to Create a Leadership Development Program . Retrieved July 31, 2018, http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/07/how-to-create-a-leadership-development-program.html
Ferreira, R. R., & Abbad, G. (2013). Training needs assessment: where we are and where we should go. BAR-Brazilian Administration Review , 10 (1), 77-99.
Gallup, I. (2016). State of the American Workplace . Retrieved July 31, 2018, http://www.gallup.com/services/178514/state-american-workplace.aspx?utm_campaign=elearningindustry.com&utm_source=%2F6-big-benefits-of-leadership-training&utm_medium=link
McCauley, C. & Hughes, M. (2016). An Evaluation of the Outcomes of a Leadership Development Program. Center for Creative Leadership. Retrieved July 31, 2018, http://www.ccl.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/EvalOutcomesLDP.pdf
