Understanding stakeholder needs in inter-organizational strategic leadership

Strategic Leadership Skills
Task 1
1.1 Analysis of the needs, goals and aspirations of people involved in inter-organizational strategies. 
Every stakeholder has needs and by understanding these needs, as Maslow (1943) pointed out in his hierarchy of needs model, leaders can identify pathways to motivating stakeholders—whether they are workers, client-customers, suppliers, local managers or operational teams. Every individual or group can be impacted by intrinsic and extrinsic motivators (Gerhart & Fang, 2015): for some, it is esteem that they are looking for; others seek promotions or bonuses. Understanding these motivators can help leaders to identify needs, goal and aspirations of people involved in inter-organizational strategies and respond accordingly.
Workers will be the individuals whose needs, goals and aspirations should be considered first and foremost. Without them, an organization is powerless to bring its product or service to the public. Workers, however, are expected to align their own personal goals and aspirations with the organizations: this is what’s behind the idea of “buying in” to the vision and mission of the company (McCrae, Scannapieco, Leake, Potter & Menefee, 2014). To get workers to align their goals and aspirations with the company’s, it is necessary to make sure their needs are met (Gerhart & Fang, 2015). This requires leaders to become familiar with workers, to get to know them in their informal groups, to interact with them, to use surveys and interviews to understand where they are in the needs hierarchy and what inputs can be delivered to get them on board with the organization’s aims. At root, workers want to be respected and valued and an organization has to show that to its employees, whether they are working in-house or on virtual teams around the world; whether they are part of a supply chain or whether they are local managers. Respect and appreciation are the key factors to success in any organization (Schyns & Schilling, 2013).
Customers and clients can likewise be approached in the same manner. The needs of the organization’s target demographic are likely to change depending on the sector, but customers and clients want to be respected and valued as members of the community, too. That is why the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is so important: it shows to clients and consumers that the organization shares the community’s values and puts them at the heart of its operations. Companies like Patagonia, Eileen Fisher and Tesla, for example, promote the concept of sustainability because they know that the environment is important to their client-based. CSR is often based on economic, political, technical, environmental, and social values and beliefs that the organization’s community holds dear. An organization must be aware of a community of stakeholders’ values and beliefs with respect to the economic situation, the political scene, technology, the environment, and society overall. Some companies make the mistake of assuming their client base leans left when in reality it leans right in the political spectrum, and this can harm the organization’s brand value if it adopts a CSR policy that alienates half its customer-base.
1.2 Evaluation of the strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the identified strategic leadership ambitions. 
The strategic skills required of the leader to achieve the identified strategic leadership ambitions include the ability to deliver (a) organizational justice, (b) collaboration among inter-organizational teams, (c) communication, (d) adaptive leadership skills, (e) transformational leadership skills, (f) emotional and social intelligence skills, (g) administrative skills. These skills will help the leader to achieve strategic leadership ambitions in the following ways.
First, organizational justice allows the leader to embrace the truth about an organization. This is essential especially when a change is required: a leader who is unable to recognize and accept the truth will be a leader who fails to implement the right change at the right time. Second, the leader must be able to facilitate collaboration. Teams must work together in every organization and no company will be effective at achieving its goals if it fails to collaborate. Third, communication skills are vital. Not only does the leader have to be able to communicate the vision of the organization to stakeholders, the leader has to be able to listen to stakeholders and process the feedback that is being sent. Communication is a two-way street that delivers healthy returns if it is taken both ways. Adaptive leadership skills are necessary overall as they promote the development of the organization through all ups and downs, ensuring that challenges become opportunities. Transformational leadership skills help as well, as these enable the leader to facilitate the process of change when it is required. Emotional and social intelligence skills help leaders relate positively to employees and provide the support that is needed for them to be productive, and administrative skills enable the leader to manage teams effectively.
1.3 Assessment of the relationship between existing, required and future skills to achieve the identified strategic leadership ambitions. 
The relationship between existing, required and future skills has to be one in which awareness of the organizational culture acts as the framework of determination. Existing skills, for instance, may only be good enough to address prior or past concerns in the organization. To address current issues, such as a political change of office or a growing need to address environmental issues among the community, new skills may be required—but this would not be known unless management had a sense of the true state of the company’s organizational culture.
Once the culture is assessed, however, identification of the future skills that should be obtained by leaders can be accomplished. The organization’s direction and ability to achieve its goals depends upon its leaders’ ability to identify directions of the market, the global landscape, and domestic issues—from politics to social issues—that will impact stakeholders. The leader has to be able to read and prepare for shifts, understand the perspective of stakeholders so that when changes are required to be made, the leader will have the viewpoints of those who will necessarily be involved in the change process and will be able to account for these views by implementing a change strategy designed to take into consideration any possible obstacles or resistance to change that might arise (Appelbaum, Habashy, Malo & Shafiq, 2012).
Leadership skills have to be continuously developed, just like nurses must engage in lifelong learning. No society, organization or culture is static—and for that reason, no leader can afford to be either. Leaders must constantly assess themselves to see if they are acquiring new skills and whether those skills are relevant to a market, community, or organization that is changing with the times. Unless the leader can show that skills are relevant and useful for achieving a particular strategic leadership ambition, the question must be asked as to what purpose or end the skill is required. The leader must also be able to assess the future direction of the organization and its needs and identify the skills that will be required—whether they are administrative, as in the need to measure performance of virtual teams, or creative, as in the need to facilitate innovation among R&D personnel. Personal assessment and feedback are tools that can help the leader clarify the relationship between current, required and future skills.
Task 2
AC 2.1 Discuss the opportunities to achieve strategic leadership development 
The context and environment which supports strategic leadership development is one in which investigation and personal reflection is welcome. An organization that has a system in place for obtaining and delivering feedback from workers to managers and vice versa is one that will have a steady stream of data flowing that can be accessed and analyzed to help leaders make important decisions about their own trajectory as a leader and the organization’s trajectory.
Context and environment factor into strategic leadership development. As Vera and Crossan (2004) note, a change-positive environment must be part of the organizational culture for leaders to develop in a positive manner. Resistance to change can serve as an obstacle that prevents meaningful action from being implemented (Shirey, 2013).
However, opportunities to achieve strategic leadership development will come with the identification of every strategic organizational goal. Each goal will require its own unique approach and will present its own special challenges. A leader will have to be able to adapt and develop in order to assist the organization in achieving its objectives. Every challenge therefore serves as an opportunity for growth. After all, Kotter (2009) states that “leadership defines what the future looks like.” The leader is the pathway to organizational success because through the leader everything runs—the vision, the messages communicated up and down the ladder, the measurements of performance, and the interpretation of data, and the decisions that must be made. Leadership has to know how to delegate and how to navigate, and every step forward opens up the possibilities of myriad new steps in any one direction. A leader must be able to see where these steps will lead and how they can best be taken—and every step opens up a new opportunity for further development.
AC 2.2 Construct a personal development plan to achieve strategic leadership development. 
The personal development plan requires specific identification of goals that I want to achieve. They must be meaningful and measurable (i.e., there should be a way that I can determine that I have obtained the skills. They must be attainable, relevant and time-bound—i.e., achievable within a given time. The SMART format can thus be used to help define this personal development plan and make it work.
Competences. Develop my transformational leadership skills.
Knowledge needs. Need to know the vision that is to be communicated, the most effective means of communication, the ways to motivate employees, and the best practice methods for providing support.
Supportive skills. Social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and data interpretation skills.
S – Specific (or Significant)
My goal is to become a better transformational leader. Transformational leaders are “leaders who are skilled at leading, championing change, and transforming organizations” by communicating to workers the vision of change that is to be embraced, support to help workers overcome obstacles, insight to predict and respond effectively to resistance, and motivation to help workers achieve the objective (Warrick, 2011, p. 14). Some precise context for this goal is that I would like to be able to provide design an online format that my virtual teams can use for better communication purposes, promote the vision for change that the organization wants to implement, identify the intrinsic motivators that will help me to best motivate my workers.
M – Measurable (or Meaningful)
These goals can be measured in terms of improving performance, as the change being implemented has the goal for itself of increasing the number of calls handled by the virtual team under my supervision. My goal of promoting the vision of the organization, providing a better source of communication, and motivating the workers should lead to improvements in performance—namely the increase in the number of calls that my virtual team handles. Currently, the team handles 1.4 calls per hour and I would like to get that number up to 3 calls per hour within 6 months.
A – Attainable (or Action-Oriented)
The goal is attainable as it is defined and measurable. It is also not out of question that the virtual team should be able to improve performance based on the development of my leadership skills, as leadership is what is ultimately responsible for improving performance of workers.
R – Relevant (or Rewarding)
The goals are relevant, as each will contribute to the development of the performance of my virtual team.
T – Time-bound (or Trackable)
Setting the goal of improvement within 6 months gives my plan a trackable time frame. I can see if improvement is occurring after 2 months, and if not I can tweak my plan. If after 4 months, further tweaks are required, I can make adjustments. If after 6 months, I have not accomplished my goal I can look at what worked and what did not work.
AC 2.3 Devise an implementation process for the development plan. 
An implementation process for the development plan that I could use must include an action plan and timetable along with resources needed to implement it effectively. My action plan would be (a) to define the vision that I want to communicate, (b) survey the team to find out what they need in terms of intrinsic motivation, and (c) develop the website where the team can communicate with one another and provide feedback for me. My timetable is to implement the plan within a month. The resources I would need would be an IT team that could develop the website for my virtual team members so that we can communicate more effectively, I can post items (particularly messages regarding the vision of the organization and reminders or motivators to promote esteem among workers), and where I can receive feedback from the team. I would also need a survey instrument from HR to survey the team to find out their needs so that I can more effectively motivate them.
In terms of the action plan and time table, the implementation process would look like this:
Week One:
Item 1. Define the vision that I want to communicate to my virtual team that will reflect the organizational aim that we must achieve.
Item 2. Communicate this vision in a virtual meeting with the team.
Item 3. Develop a plan to reinforce the vision routinely by meeting with IT and HR to (a) develop a website for the team that will facilitate communication between me and the team and (b) obtain a survey that I can use to better understand the best ways to motivate the team—i.e. by understanding their needs.
Week Two:
Item 1. Introduce the website to the virtual team and re-post the vision in a communication stapled to the e-bulletin board.
Item 2. Invite the virtual team to chat on the site with other members, post questions, respond to questions, and provide feedback.
Item 3. Post the survey provided by HR to be completed by the virtual team by week’s end.
Week Three:
Item 1. Process the data from the survey with the help of HR and analyze the data to identify the most common needs of the virtual team members.
Item 2. Develop motivational approaches designed to effectively address those needs.
Item 3. Communicate the motivators to the virtual team on the site.
Ongoing: Measure performance by reviewing call analytics every 2 months.
Task 3
3.1 Assess the achievement of outcomes of the plan against strategic needs. 
Currently there is a strategic need to increase the number of calls handled by the virtual team that I oversee. This required me to develop my own strategic leadership plan. My plan was to promote the vision of the organization by providing a better source of communication through which I could keep the vision before the virtual team with routine communications, and by motivating the workers, which I judged should lead to improvements in performance—namely the increase in the number of calls that my virtual team handles. At the time, the team handled 1.4 calls per hour and I wanted to get that number up to 3 calls per hour within 6 months.
After 3 months, my development plan is working. So far, the virtual team has improved its calls per hour to 2.0. This is a significant improvement as it constitutes approximately a 30% improvement in just three months. The website is helping to drive communication and feedback among the virtual workers, and the feedback that I am getting is positive.
I attribute the increase in productivity and performance among the virtual team to: (a) my routine communication of the organizational vision to the team, (b) the facility of the website for the team members, which allows me to engage with them, them with me, and them with one another, and (c) my application of motivators that has helped to build esteem among the members. As Grama and Todericiu (2016) note, the more positive the environment, the more likely workers are to be willing to put in the extra effort to increase performance. My ability to motivate them by communicating positive, supportive and respectful and appreciative messages to them has helped. I routinely congratulate them on minor accomplishments and celebrate every victory, which is in keeping with the message of Chang and Lee (2007)—namely, that leaders celebrate workers’ accomplishments and help to build esteem so that they have a desire to constantly strive for perfection.
I am to continue to send supportive and encouraging messages to the team, for, having identified their needs, it is important to see that they are met. I also plan to survey the team in the future to see if those needs have changed. This way I can get out in front of any potential resistance before it surfaces.
3.2 Evaluate the impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic leadership 
ambitions. 
Using the GAP analysis model, I can evaluate the impact of the achievement of objectives on strategic leadership ambitions.
The current state is that the virtual team needs to increase its call handling per hour. For that to happen, I have to develop my leadership skills, particularly in the areas of communication, support and administration. If I can improve and develop in these areas, I should be able to help the team achieve its performance objectives.
Currently, my communication skills have improved in terms of how routinely I communicate the vision of the organization to the team so that it is always before their eyes. Alos-Simo et al. (2017) show that in order to facilitate the performance of an e-business, communication is vital and the leader has to have this skill. I want to be able to have a good communication tool in place that I can use to communicate with the team. That is the future state that I wish to reach.
Bridging the gap will be the use of the website that the IT department has developed for me. It allows me to reach out to the team, post messages, answer questions, and obtain feedback from the team. I can also use it to keep the vision of the organization constantly before the eyes of the team
The website is also a good tool for obtaining an understanding of the virtual team’s needs. By posting a survey to the site, I was able to receive data about what the needs of the team members were. I then used this data to develop motivators that I could use to target these needs. For individuals who needed to build their esteem, I lavished praise; for new individuals who needed more direction and guidance, I helped to develop a team leader who could be on hand to assist in the on boarding process. Onboarding is an issue that the survey helped me to identify and that I could address as part of my effort to boost my administrative skills as a leader. As Wolper (2017) shows, onboarding is a practice that can help bring new workers into the culture in a positive and meaningful way that facilitates productivity.
3.3 Review and update the leadership development plan 
My leadership development plan was this:
Competences: Develop my transformational leadership skills.
Knowledge needs: Need to know the vision that is to be communicated, the most effective means of communication, the ways to motivate employees, and the best practice methods for providing support.
Supportive skills: Social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and data interpretation skills.
My goal was to be able to provide design an online format that my virtual teams can use for better communication purposes, promote the vision for change that the organization wants to implement, identify the intrinsic motivators that will help me to best motivate my workers. The immediate purpose of this development goal was so that I could help my virtual team increase the number of calls that could be taken per hour. So far, that number has increased and we are on our way to meeting my target goal for the team. I do not see the need for any adjustments to my plan at this time.
However, I would like to improve my administrative skills still more by developing a better metric with which I could monitor and measure my workers’ performance. Part of the role of being a leader is to help followers to reach their potential. There are numerous ways a leader can do this and using metrics to help see where followers are stumbling, where obstacles might lie, and where potential threats need to be investigated and addressed is a good way for a leader to stay out in front of issues and catch them before they become problematic for the organization.
My aim, therefore, is to add the development of a proper metric tool to my leadership plan. I want to be able to use this metric tool to assess worker performance in a meaningful way and give my team every advantage it can obtain to meet the objective that I have established. This development plan addition will enable me to be a more effective leader as a result by giving me greater insight into problem areas my team may be experiencing and allowing me to address those areas.
Task 4
4.1 Evaluate the extent to which the strategic needs of organisations involved in interorganisational strategy are met from current resources. 
The extent to which the strategic needs of the organization involved in interorganizational strategy are met from current resources is favorable. Whereas before, it was uncertain whether the virtual team would be well-integrated into the organization, thanks to my leadership I have seen the virtual team’s reputation rise and variety reduction has occurred. My managers were not wanting to deal with more variety amplification, as they already had all the inputs they wanted. They wanted to see results or they were going to terminate the project and disband the virtual team’s place in the organization.
However, as Fischer (2014) notes, “variety amplification in input and/or output channels promotes the emergence of discernible novelty in the apparent absence of a creative/generative capability or agenda within the recursive system” (p. 1330). What I have done is enabled my team to flourish by developing my own creative solutions and inputs that were not available before. I obtained access to my team’s needs through the development of a website that could provide me with feedback and use surveys to better understand the team members. I could then communicate the messages they needed to hear and better place the vision of the organization before the team so as to unite everyone on the same page. Finally, I reinforced good behavior with positive statements so as to build esteem. In this manner, my organization became effective within the inter-organizational strategy. Current resources have been effective in helping to meet these needs.
As Petersen et al. (2003) points out, leaders have to demonstrate control of information because data is what drives decision-making. In my assessment of integration of organizational achievements, I can see that our team has worked well to be relevant. This plan is developing smoothly and should continue to be an effective way to help the team develop. It has certainly been helpful in enabling me to develop my skills and I believe the plan will be one that can be implemented in any capacity to help a leader develop better communication with workers, communicate the vision, and provide support via relevant motivators.
4.2 Formulate proposals to develop the strategic leadership resource. 
Functional vs outcome based approaches to leading show that in terms of leading, one can take the approach that focuses on teaching specific knowledge and testing to see whether the knowledge has been learned—or one can focus on objectives and test to see whether workers are achieving objectives. For my part, I view the latter as the most helpful for developing a strategic leadership resource. Just as cognitive behavioral therapy is used by therapists who are less worried about the patient knowing why he or she acts the way he or she does and more focused on identifying behavioral goals that the patient can work towards to improve the patient’s quality of life, I view my role as a leader to facilitate development. Knowledge can be helpful but what matters is that the worker accomplishes the tasks expected of him. The worker may have all the knowledge in the world and yet still lack motivation or not want to put forth the effort because he feels leadership has snubbed him on occasion. In my view, therefore, functional approaches only focus on teaching the functions and do not focus on teaching the worker to achieve the objectives as a behavioral goal.
My view is that a leader should motivate and that is what my plan does: it is a strategic leadership resource that can be used to motivate workers because it identifies the needs of the workers and thus allows the leader to know what methods need to be used to help get the worker where he needs to be in order to be successful. For that reason, I see outcome based approaches as being the best method of stimulating productivity, and my motivational approach, with communication being the key factor in leading the workers, is a good outcome based approach for improving the organization.
4.3 Evaluate the effectiveness of strategic leadership development in achieving advancement of professional leadership practice across organisations. 
Constraints, assumptions, critical decisions, and critical success factors all influence leadership practices in organisations. Constraints keep creativity from flourishing; assumptions limit the organization’s ability to investigate and achieve organizational justice. Critical decisions have to be informed and based on fact and if they are not then individuals can take the wrong steps in trying to achieve their aims. Critical success factors have to be monitored because they are what will in the end affect morale and enable stakeholders to see that the organization is moving in the right direction.
The effectiveness of strategic leadership development in achieving advancement of professional leadership practice across the organization can be seen in the extent to which I as a leader am able to show the merits of my leadership development plan. What effects it has can be measured and quantified and the exact process that is used to implement the plan can be copied and used by other leaders in other parts of the organization. It is not just a plan that can be used in only one organizational department but rather a plan that has capabilities to be accessed in any department because the overall aim is universal—to improve performance. 
Likewise the method is universal too: the method focuses on motivating workers by identifying their needs and where they need support in order to be more productive. The leader has to be able to communicate effectively and part of the motivational process is to present a vision to the workers so that they constantly know what it is they are striving to achieve. The leader has to come up with creative ways to convey that vision especially if the goal is to transform the organization by increasing its performance and productivity. The strategy for advancing professional leadership practice across the organization as a whole can be seen in the plan I created for the virtual team: the strategy is focus on increasing morale, communicating the vision, and boosting awareness through feedback and appreciation. In this manner, the strategy for improving leadership can be effective.



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