An effective leader must have the capability to envision and relay the future of the
organization. A transformational leader is able to take that vision and connect their
subordinate's daily task to the success of achieving the overall big picture. ¨The future is
where opportunity lies. You must spend time thinking about the future and become better
at projecting ahead in time¨ ((Kouzes & Posner, 2017). As the director of leadership and
learning of the given organization, the desired future state is a 10% improvement for the
next survey in two years. However, to take action and wait two years for results in hope
that your actions are effective is the formula for continued negative trends. To achieve
success, the leadership team should have open dialog with employees on a quarterly basis
to assess the trend of the organization.
The three-focus area´s that the organization must strive to improve is Recognition
& Praise, Job Satisfaction, and Working Conditions. However, the common trait that all
three of this focus areas questionnaire results have is a lack of trust in supervisors. The
leadership behaviors that are needed to improve the work environment and bridge the trust
gap between supervisors and subordinates is to listen effectively, ask employees what's
most important to them, and clear communication on the organizations vision. By
acknowledging and acting upon subordinates' preferences, supervisors will build trust
((Forbes Coaches Council, 2017). The behavior that might be the most challenging for
leaders to follow is to be a humble leader. The Employee Satisfaction Survey (ESS)
indicates that as negative trends were identified two years ago, no action, or at least any
substantial action was taken. Often time, leaders fill that the survey results are wrong, or
simply just disagree with their employee´s opinions. Two years ago, six less employees
trusted superviors, but instead of thinking why don´t they trust me, leaders convince
themselves of all the reasons they should be trust. When the ESS was very clear, ignoring
the data has led to even more significant negative trends, with nine more employees not
trusting supervisors.
The leadership skills I recommend to my organization's leaders toolkit is to take
the information collected from listening deeply to employees and appeal to common ideals
while establishing a common purpose. These skills can be achieved by each leader
reflecting on the past, attending to the present, and prospecting the future ((Kouzes &
Posner, 2017). The reoccurring survey allows leaders to reflect on the past, while the
recommended quarterly open dialog with employees will allow leaders to attend in the
present. To build the prospect of the future, leaders must fully understand what the goals
of the organization is, connect the big picture with the common ideals that employees have
shared. Once leaders are able to connect their employees' common ideals with the big
picture, they will truly have employees with a common purpose.
Employees with a common purpose through the leadership skills and behaviors
mentioned before, will have a direct impact on all three identified focus areas. More
importantly to the organizations stake holders, these improvements will result in increased
productivity and higher profit margins. In the recent ESS, there was a 28 percent decrease
in employees over the past four years who felt their job makes good use of their skills and
abilities. By rebuilding the trust within our organization and listening to subordinates,
employees´ will fill less under-utilized, directly improving their job satisfaction.
References
Forbes Coaches Council. (2017). 12 Ways Managers Can Establish a Trusting
Relationship With Employees.
Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/28/12-ways-
managers-can-establish-a-trusting-relationship- with-employees/?sh=d5a022bc2976
organization. A transformational leader is able to take that vision and connect their
subordinate's daily task to the success of achieving the overall big picture. ¨The future is
where opportunity lies. You must spend time thinking about the future and become better
at projecting ahead in time¨ ((Kouzes & Posner, 2017). As the director of leadership and
learning of the given organization, the desired future state is a 10% improvement for the
next survey in two years. However, to take action and wait two years for results in hope
that your actions are effective is the formula for continued negative trends. To achieve
success, the leadership team should have open dialog with employees on a quarterly basis
to assess the trend of the organization.
The three-focus area´s that the organization must strive to improve is Recognition
& Praise, Job Satisfaction, and Working Conditions. However, the common trait that all
three of this focus areas questionnaire results have is a lack of trust in supervisors. The
leadership behaviors that are needed to improve the work environment and bridge the trust
gap between supervisors and subordinates is to listen effectively, ask employees what's
most important to them, and clear communication on the organizations vision. By
acknowledging and acting upon subordinates' preferences, supervisors will build trust
((Forbes Coaches Council, 2017). The behavior that might be the most challenging for
leaders to follow is to be a humble leader. The Employee Satisfaction Survey (ESS)
indicates that as negative trends were identified two years ago, no action, or at least any
substantial action was taken. Often time, leaders fill that the survey results are wrong, or
simply just disagree with their employee´s opinions. Two years ago, six less employees
trusted superviors, but instead of thinking why don´t they trust me, leaders convince
themselves of all the reasons they should be trust. When the ESS was very clear, ignoring
the data has led to even more significant negative trends, with nine more employees not
trusting supervisors.
The leadership skills I recommend to my organization's leaders toolkit is to take
the information collected from listening deeply to employees and appeal to common ideals
while establishing a common purpose. These skills can be achieved by each leader
reflecting on the past, attending to the present, and prospecting the future ((Kouzes &
Posner, 2017). The reoccurring survey allows leaders to reflect on the past, while the
recommended quarterly open dialog with employees will allow leaders to attend in the
present. To build the prospect of the future, leaders must fully understand what the goals
of the organization is, connect the big picture with the common ideals that employees have
shared. Once leaders are able to connect their employees' common ideals with the big
picture, they will truly have employees with a common purpose.
Employees with a common purpose through the leadership skills and behaviors
mentioned before, will have a direct impact on all three identified focus areas. More
importantly to the organizations stake holders, these improvements will result in increased
productivity and higher profit margins. In the recent ESS, there was a 28 percent decrease
in employees over the past four years who felt their job makes good use of their skills and
abilities. By rebuilding the trust within our organization and listening to subordinates,
employees´ will fill less under-utilized, directly improving their job satisfaction.
References
Forbes Coaches Council. (2017). 12 Ways Managers Can Establish a Trusting
Relationship With Employees.
Forbes.com. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2017/04/28/12-ways-
managers-can-establish-a-trusting-relationship- with-employees/?sh=d5a022bc2976
