Description
I am in need of help proof reading and editing my assignment. I also need help finishing the reference properly. Project guidelines are as follows:
OVERVIEW
You have just been hired as the new District Manager for LOCOLA Credit Union Bank with 10 locations under your span of control. In the past 21 months, this district has been experiencing serious communications issues between the previous district manager, corporate office, district office, the supervisors, and employees. Your immediate mandate from the Bank Headquarters is to devise strategies that will improve your district followership communications skills based on the issues noted below. Utilize your leadership communications expertise skills gleaned in this course when developing the strategies. These strategies should also include the role of communication in promoting diversity, ethical behavior, developing leaders, and assessing your own leadership (and followership) styles.
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The communications issues inherent in this district are:
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Constant change in supervisors
Inexperienced supervisors
Conflicting messages sent to the employees from corporate office, district office, and bank supervisors
Ambiguity in communicating specific instructions
Most supervisors have ineffective diverse leadership communications style in the district
Verbal communication conflicts with written communication (e.g. policies and procedures)
Open channels of communication lacking between management and employees
Management does not give verbal directives to employees, but assumes non-Standard Operating Procedures tasks should be inherently executed
Lack of feedback and language barriers
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Your final project will be an 8- to 10-page in-depth analysis of the leadership communication issues noted in LOCOLA Credit Union Bank. Your report should include:
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A description of the situation
Identification of the leadership and communication issues in the situation under investigation
Analysis of the issues using concepts and principles from the course
Assessment of your own leadership (and followership) styles and behaviors
Differentiation between leadership communications’ styles in group, organizational, and public communication contexts
A conclusion based on the analysis that should include an evaluation of the behaviors of the participants and detailed recommendations for how this situation may be resolved
GUIDELINES
The completed case analysis must be in APA format and requires the following:
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Title page that includes your name, title of report, date, course code, and name of the course mentor
Introduction to the case analysis
Main body that clearly explains your analysis and details of the problem-solving process used to reach the recommendations for a solution. (Note: The case study focus is on demonstrating competency in leadership communications.)
Recommendations for the case solution, derived from a methodical analysis of the issues noted
References page
Proper grammar, spelling, and mechanics
Represents original work
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
An Analysis of Communication Strategy At Lacola Bank
Michael Cullum
Professor Richard Dool
Leadership Communication (MAN-376-OL009)
01 February, 2021
1
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
7
An Analysis of Communication Strategy At Lacola Bank
Introduction
The main component of success for any company that hopes to stay in business and remain
profitable should be a keen and sophisticated communication system. The flow of communication
can be the difference between a business that struggles to stay afloat and a business that thrives
and is a leader in its chosen field of operations. Aaron Mandelbaum (Sep 18, 2019) stated that
effective communication could mitigate project delays and help teams stay on time and budget for
projects while ensuring that the business can complete its goals and fulfill its overall objective
according to its business model and strategic plan. At the forefront of a business’s communication
program should be the company’s senior leadership. The senior leadership, from the Chief
executive Officer (CEO) to the local branch manager, should communicate in a cohesive way to
avoid any unclear dialogue that could cause a strategic mishap and cost the business money in the
short and long run. If a company does not have a sound structure of communication, the
information will not perfectly flow to the lowest ranks, which can cause discord in the managerial
levels. Formulating a plan that allows communication to flow seamlessly will set the tone for how
the entire company. It is imperative that the company’s board of executives choose to place
someone who possesses excellent communication skills and places a strong emphasis on having
an orderly, structured flow of communication in power positions. This should be the first step
taken when coming into an organization with know communication flaws. The four management
styles that emphasize communication are visionary, democratic, transformational, and coaching;
thus, a good leader for a business must possess unequaled skills in one or more of these styles and
less of a coercive management style. As in any profitable business model, the flow of
communication should start from the top and move progressively to the lowest employees in the
business, who take the messages in those communications and put them into action. There should
be no reason for the CEO to have any active discussions with a branch manager. If the top leader
in a company goes straight to a local branch manager to communicate what he wants to be done,
then that CEO has effectively cut out the entire chain of command for that company, leaving them
all in the dark with no knowledge of what was said. Once the branch manager starts to implement
what he/she was told to do, their direct manager will question them on what they are doing. Once
the district manager realizes they have been excluded from the flow of communication, they will
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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start to resent the CEO, and this will cause disorganization in the company and lower morale.
Therefore, most of the work a CEO does should be concerning communicating effectively with
their followers.
Now, as the newly minted district manager with ten locations under your supervision, it is
your job to resolve any issues that become apparent to you. By speaking with the various branch
managers, some lower-level employees and going over the yearly reports on each branch, it is clear
that the district is struggling. After speaking with the staff, you can quickly conclude that the main
reason that the departments are working is due to a severe lack of an effective communication
protocol. Having been put in this position due to apparent broad-ranging communicative issues
that have caused the business’s growth to slow down recently, a plan must be made to restore the
flow of communication and return these branches to a level of profitability. Now that you have
been promoted, you must worry about the growth and success at the branch you previously
supervised and focus your attention on the other nine branches. There are many different avenues
of approach when it comes to communicating with your followers. You can communicate face-toface, by e-mail, telephone, or by fax. Of course, the best avenue of correspondence is always faceto-face. However, due to the strenuous workload of a district manager, this is not still an option.
So the most used form of communication will most likely be e-mail since it is quick and can include
many people in the correspondence. You will have to establish which of these communication
forms will be most useful in getting your guidance to the branch managers to implement and
manage their branches successfully.
There have been several district managers before you that could not fix the issues, so you
must learn from their mistakes and set the new tone by leading with enthusiasm and dedication to
each branch. The company has been hiring people to be branch managers without having any
experience working in the banking system. You notice in the reports that there is a lack of
promotions from within the corporation, the turnover rate for your new position is too high,
resulting in a rotating door of district managers. That lack of achieving expected goals is due to
errors in the current climate of communication protocol. This rotating door of managers does not
allow for continuity within the district. Each new manager brings a new set of attributes, goals,
and a new vision to the corporation. Once a new vision becomes apparent, and the branch managers
change the scheme of operations, they must then turn around and cease to work towards that vision,
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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as a new district manager comes into the picture. With every new district, the manager comes
changes to how they want each branch to operate. The constant shift in vision and goals is causing
a strain on the branch managers’ abilities to successfully run their departments. According to Miko
Markovich (Feb 4, 2019), “Employee turnover has a direct impact on company revenue and
profitability. For example, according to the “Organization Science” magazine, the estimated cost
of a lost employee earning $8 per hour at a retail chain store is $3,500 to $25,000. Aspects
contributing to this include hiring expenses, training labor, lost sales, and productivity. Obviously,
the revenue impact can be much higher depending on the industry, employee’s position, and wage.
If a severance package is paid, this is anTheno return on investment. Consider, also, management
labor costs in placing classified ads, reviewing applications, interviewing, and training. Although
some companies utilize a job-pt service, this is still an expense. Additional expenses result from
lost productivity or a lost customer base”. These are all aspects that I need to look at when
analyzing why these branches are not as prosperous as they should be. Still, the large number of
previous district managers is that they all failed to communicate successfully with their followers.
Hence, their job performance was below what was asked of them, resulting in continuous hiring
and firing rotating doors.
The first step in fixing the district’s communication issues would be to have a vast
knowledge of what communication is and why it is so essential to a successful business. According
to Merriam-Webster, the textbook definition of a leader “is that communication is a process by
which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs,
or behavior.” As noticed in the past reports, the lack of communication and management continuity
has caused a decline in overall morale, which must be fixed. The branch managers have noticed
that there hasn’t been much promotion to higher positions within the organization. Instead, the
company has continued to hire individuals with no experience in the banking industry. These
individuals may have been very successful in their chosen career fields outside of banking. Still,
their lack of knowledge and failure to establish an open and transparent communication path has
the corporation struggling to profit amongst these particular branches. After seeing individuals
with lesser qualifications than they possess for the job openings, they feel that they have climbed
as far as they can up the corporate ladder, which can be disheartening. If one is working so hard to
further their career and make their boss look good in the process but feels stagnant in their job, an
incentive to continue working hard will fade, and morale will become lower amongst those
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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managers in the district. According to William Craig, “employees who think they have a positive
work-life balance are more productive and dedicated by 21 percent than those who don’t think so,
according to a survey of 50,000 employees worldwide. To gain these benefits, the employer only
has to offer beneficial work-life services and policies that employees can choose to participate in”.
By increasing the flow of communication within my district, I can help boost morale; by doing
that, I will have more dedicated workers who will be more productive. In return for their
productivity, I will advocate for them to get promoted to higher company levels.
Being in this position, you now have an opportunity to help get the top-performing branch
managers promoted into positions of more responsibility and power. This should help to become
an incentive for more demanding work and higher morale from my district’s branch managers. I
not only give order to my followers, but I also empower them and instill discipline when needed.
I will lead by example so that my followers know that I will never tell them to do something that
I, myself, would not do as well. I will meet monthly with each of the branch managers and give
them feedback on their performances. I will guide them to get better in areas that I see they still
lack in, including a myriad of things, including working on their internal communication systems
at the branch. I will go over the bank reports to discuss any growth or down-turns that have
happened in the last month. I want to be as transparent as possible with my direct followers as I
mentor them to take my job when I am gone. As mentioned previously, I will fight to get
promotions within the company if I feel they are ready to have more responsibility.
My leadership style will be more democratic than my previous authoritative leadership
style. I will give each branch manager the flexibility to manage and lead in whatever way they feel
is most useful. By giving them more control over how their branch is run, I will see who should
be rewarded with promotions based on the performance of their branches. My leadership style will
always incorporate a direct line of communication to myself for them. I understand that issues
arise at all times of the day. If I am not accessible to them when they need me, that will show a
lack of dedication. If I am trying to get my followers to exert more effort and commitment to their
jobs, I must also do the same. I will not be transactional as I believe that is what the leadership
style was for the previous group of district managers; instead, I will lead and mentor those under
me and follow a more transformational approach to leadership.
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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Along with going with a democratic leadership style, I will also vow to be a
transformational leader in this organization. A transformation leader, according to Brandman
University (Feb 12, 2020), “inspires employees to strive beyond required expectations to work
toward a shared vision, whereas transactional leadership focuses more on extrinsic motivation for
the performance of specific job tasks.” As I transition into my role as district manager, I will keep
my vision on the direction I see the banks overseen by myself going. I will always lead by example,
always be available to my employees, and lead with integrity. Leading by example could include
showing up one day and helping to open the branch for daily business or coming in at the end of
the day and helping to clean up the building before everyone leaves for the night. By showing that
I am a team player and am willing to do even the most mundane tasks, I will gain my followers’
respect and confidence. I realize that my employees are working hard, not only for themselves but
for the company and me. I will always keep myself available to them for mentoring, business
issues, or to have a casual conversation to show I care. Leadership does not have to be just on a
business level and a personal level to get to know them better and get to know me better. By
following through on my vision and reaching my goals with my followers’ help, I know that I can
turn these failing branches into a success story, capable of leading the organization to achieve
record profits.
My district’s vision will be to increase customer satisfaction, increase revenue, and
cultivate a safe climate for all employees. My work will include changing the environment as it
relates to issues of equal opportunity for all employees. I will strive to attain a well diverse group
of employees within my district. There will be no toleration for discrimination of any type. With
my vision, I will evaluate my current branch managers regularly and give under-performing
managers guidance on what I expect and a roadmap on how I believe they can attain compliance
and reach what I believe to be their full potential. I must give each manager time to fix their
branch’s issues, but if they are continually failing to meet my standards, I will have to let them go.
Once I fire a branch manager, I will fill the position with the most qualified person already
employed under me; this shows that I mean what I say as it pertains to hiring from within and
changing the previous culture and morale situation. I will make it a point to hire any prospective
employees based on their qualifications and not race, gender, or sexual preferences. By putting the
best, most qualified individuals into positions of power, I will have the best opportunity to be
successful in having everyone work towards my vision for us. The three key reasons why having
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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a company vision is crucial to success are that it is unifying, it is inspiring, and it promotes a focal
point for goal setting and business planning (Matt Bowman, Apr 23, 2019). By setting a clear,
concise vision, my followers will have an incentive to work and a goal to reach for. I believe that
a company vision will be a great way to initiate communication with the branches that I oversee.
There is a possibility that I could run into communication barriers while trying to make my
district better, I will be on the lookout for any possible obstacles that may show themselves. First,
I must make sure that my boss communicates with me only if he needs something from one of my
branch managers. I feel that my boss should have enough respect to let me know what is required
from one of my followers, and trust that I will get the information to my branch managers. I will
then forward any communication back up the chain to my boss; this also works the other way
around, where my followers will not bypass me and go straight to my boss with any questions.
They will come to me with any concerns and forward their concerns to my boss if I can not give
them an answer that pleases them. Secondly, I will set up text messaging groups and an e-mail
group that will be used to distribute any pertinent information that doesn’t need to be given faceto-face. The third way I plan on avoiding any potential communication barriers will be to have an
open-door policy for all of my followers. This open-door policy can be used by any of my
subordinates, from the top down to the lowest level employees. The open-door policy will allow
them to come to me openly without fear of reprisal and give suggestions on how we can make the
job environment better, report cases of misconduct, or even talk about things that are stressing
them. By being readily available to my subordinates, I will gain their trust and show them that I
do care about them as people, not just employees. Now with three systems in place making sure
that communication is distributed throughout the workforce, the employees will be better equipped
to handle their everyday working duties. They will not be wondering what is expected of them
every day. The high turnover rate had left many of the employees second-guessing how their job
should be done since each district manager had a different protocol before I was hired.
There are three main leadership tactics, and they are group leadership, public leadership,
and organizational. Knowing the key differences between these three leadership styles is crucial
in deciding how to lead your subordinates. A public Leadership role is where a person holds a
public office, serves as community guides, or takes charge of an influential role as an activist in
the community. Specific positions in public leadership are mayor, governor, or president. Group
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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leadership is used to lead small groups of people in accomplishing a mission. Students in schools
use group leadership to get a class project complete and used in think groups to solve issues with
a small group of individuals to accomplish a common goal and complete a task. “Organizational
leadership is a management approach in which leaders help set strategic goals for the organization
while motivating individuals within the group to successfully carry out assignments in service to
those goals” (Sofia Tokar). After understanding the difference between the three styles, we can
safely say that I will be approaching my new job as district manager with an organizational
leadership style.
By displaying a keen sense of organizational leadership, I will motivate my employees,
boost morale, and most importantly, increase profit for the company. An organizational leader
must place extreme importance on getting all of their employees to buy into the vision to feel that
their hard work and input matter. Sofia Tokar states that an organizational leader displays
exceptional skills in problem-solving, effective communication, team building, identifying future
opportunities for growth, understanding the business environment, strategic thinking, and inspiring
others to believe in the company vision. I will accomplish all of these tasks by improving verbal
and non-verbal communication while eliminating any language barriers.
In conclusion, I have seen a significant turn-around in my subordinates’ behavior and the
company upper management once the communication issues have slowly been fixed. Instead of
management trying to give directives to my branch managers, we now have a system where they
only communicate with me, and I, in turn, am in charge of passing down that information to my
employees. With such a plan in place, it will be easy to figure out where the system’s lack of
communication is. If I am told something to do by an executive and fail to give my branch
managers orders, it will be undeniable that I have failed to communicate appropriately. I give my
branch managers the directives, and the work fails to be completed. In that case, I can then
determine if the manager could not pass down the information or if the employees just were unable
to follow directions given to them. No business can be successful if it fails to communicate to
employees correctly. The company executives are the people that come up with ideas and
innovated processes that they believe will make the company profitable. Still, the employees are
the ones that are expected to execute the particular tasks to make the executives’ vision come alive.
When communication is failing, the employees will not receive the proper guidance on what is
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
7
expected of them, resulting in workplace frustration, disgruntlement, and a high turnover rate. For
the Locola Credit Union Bank to have any degree of success, they must prioritize getting proper
communication channels improved. As the district manager, I can only rely on my ability to ad-lib
for so long. Guessing what my boss expects from the branches under me will lead to more
frustration within the organization. If I do not have constant clear and concise communicated
directions from my bosses, then it will be apparent that they are not living up to expectations placed
upon them.
Leadership: Final Project, Communication Strategies
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Works cited
Aaron
Mandelbuam
https://www.smbadvisors.com/capabilities/sales-marketing-
integration/insights/the-importance-of-business-communication-in-your-organization
Mikoc
Markovich
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-impacts-high-turnover-rate-
20269.html
William Craig https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamcraig/2017/08/29/how-positive-employeemorale-benefits-your-business/?sh=119204e72549
Matt Bowman https://thriveagency.com/news/business-vision/
Sofia
tokar
https://www.snhu.edu/about-us/newsroom/2018/07/what-is-organizational-
leadership#:~:text=Organizational%20leadership%20is%20a%20management,in%20service%20
to%20those%20goals.
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