Case Study: Leadership Assessment at Robinson Insurance Agency - Research Paper Example

? Case Study: Leadership Assessment at Robinson Insurance Agency a. The key factors for identifying leadership potential It is apparent that due to continued complexity on how organizations are conduction their businesses, the urge to develop and maintain competitive advantage has been on high gear. Equally, the demand for leaders has increasingly outpaced the supply. This means that organizations have to strive in the bid to acquiring and investing in people with great leadership roles. Nevertheless, many organizations have found it difficult to identify and develop leadership potential. The underlying reason to this assertion is that, many organizations lack conviction and commitment (Bassi, et al., 1997). In the case of Todd Robinson, it is important for Todd to understand that there is a need for him to first consider not only the past performance of persons in mind, but also to look at personal attributes that defines ones potential to improve by being flexible with the current trends and demand for leadership traits (Scott & Reynolds, 2010). The process of the identifying potential leaders should focus on hard-to-acquire skills, skills and abilities. This characterizes those who can be able cope with prevailing conditions in order to grow with demanding roles of leadership. Nevertheless, some strategies must be utilised in order to come up with the best options for potential leaders. It is apparent for Todd to come up with a proficient workforce; he must be committed to developing leadership potential and have confident in persons proposed to take over the leadership of the company. Leadership promise Leadership promise should come at the top on the list of factors to consider when choosing persons to take up leadership position in Robinson Insurance Agency. This is arguably true because since Robinson Insurance Agency has been on the mission to broaden its operations by acquiring new agencies, the new leadership must possess promising leadership traits that can play a larger role in both day-to-day and strategies decisions. In fact, given the fact that the new agencies purchased by Robinson Insurance Agency may not fully share the company’s values, there is a need to have leadership that can harmoniously merge the values of the newly acquired agencies with those of the Robinson Insurance Agency. For this to happen, Todd must consider looking for persons with traits such as motivation to lead and brings out the best in people (Scott & Reynolds, 2010). Personal development orientation Personal development orientation is a crucial factor to consider when selecting potential leaders in an organization. Todd needs to look for people who can create a personal process of learning, performance and achievement through education and career development. This would act an assurance that such people have the capacity to improve their performance. Bassi, et al (1997) documented that personal development planning makes leaders independent and more effective thus general skills of such leaders improve. Master of complexity The acquisition of new agencies is a proof of complexity in managing Robinson Insurance Agency. Therefore, this requires leaders with adaptability traits (Scott & Reynolds, 2010). This means that these leaders have to be in a position to adapt to the new emerging challenges. They must possess conceptual thinking, which will allow them to instigate ideas of how to deal with emerging challenges. Balance of values and results It is apparent that for Robinson Insurance Agency having acquired two regional insurance agencies, there is a need for Todd to look for individuals who can effectively manage to fit in the different culture exhibited by new agencies. This allows the new leaders to develop an organizational culture that can accommodate cultures of the newly acquired agencies. An organization that develops an organizational culture that addresses customers’ needs tends to produce top results even in a highly competitive market. b. An assessment-based approach for identifying potential among the managers at Robinson Insurance Agency The assessment approach to be used by Todd needs to measure the level of potential expected by individuals that will match a particular career competence. In this regard, it is up to Todd to decide positions that need to be filled by potentials. For example, there should be a clear distinction of the qualifications needed to fill in vacancies of both middle and senior management positions. This means that the assessment approach should help Todd to identify knowledge and leadership skills for each of the two candidate groups (Bassi, et al., 1997). Competence-based approach Since Robinson Insurance Agency has already established itself and is in the process of establishing long-term success, the recruitment process should be based on the ability of potentials to produce top results exhibited by their professional experience (Ployhart, et al., 2006). This should be used as evidence that the candidate has what it takes take the company into higher niches. The framework of competence based approach tends to focus on three key values; working with others, delivering results and focusing on the future. This is crucial approach for Todd because potentials need to work with others harmoniously in order to develop a teamwork that is associated with development of organizational culture of top results. In addition, these leaders should be able to deliver for the company. Todd has to ensure that individuals selected to fill in the available vacancies have to continue delivering to the company. On the other hand, these potentials have to focus on future expectations of the company. The process of identifying potentials should be clearly designed in order to ensure that fine details of the potentials are met. Competence-based approach process begins with job description and the person specification (Bassi, et al., 1997). Job description should entail gathering information about the nature of the job. Todd need to understand that job description does not only involve tasks involved in the job, but also the purpose of the job. In addition, this would also entail assessing the importance of the post in the organization’s structure. This is what leads to detailing the correct competencies needed to execute duties of the established post. When deciding on the qualifications of potentials, Todd needs to answer the question “what are the precise skills, abilities, experience and competencies needed for potentials?” In this regard, Todd would find it necessary to design an application form, which would help him in identifying previous experience and qualifications. Equally, Todd would also opt for short listing candidates through the use of their curriculum vitae. After short listing potential candidates, Todd should use the interview as assessment instrument. This would help him to test previous experience, knowledge, skills and other competences related to the role of the job (Ployhart, et al., 2006). Interview would help Todd in identifying additional personal attributes that would be of importance in regard to identifying the correct individuals. c. Assessment instruments Test of conceptual thinking skills can be utilised as a career screening tool for long-term potential. Research has indicated that cognitive skills can be related to senior leadership success. The following tools could be used by Todd to evaluate leadership potential: Multirater feedback surveys Identification of future leaders is more than just focusing on individual traits and capabilities (Brundrett & Davies, 2010). In this regard, much focus should be on how the potential can be able to interact with followers. It is with such a concept that Todd should consider collecting potentials data about their leadership impact on others. Potential leaders should be in a position to inspire and motivate their followers (Jackson, et al., 2012). For middle leaders, Todd can decide to have on-site observations instead of using written survey. Some of the tips that could help Todd in identifying middle potentials include assessing individuals in the group that seems to assist other members of the group in various tasks or advice. Todd may also want to identify individuals who can influence others to accept new company policies. 360-degree mulitrater feedback surveys offer an opportunity to observe how individuals adapt conduct themselves. They have been used to evaluate career dimensions including cultural fit. This tool is of importance because most information that cannot be obtained through written survey can easily be identified. Immediate manager evaluation This tool is fit for Todd when nominating individuals to occupy senior leadership positions in his company. This tool emphasizes on focusing on potentials of individuals rather than just focusing on the current skills and abilities. Using this tool, Todd can decide to rate immediate managers on the basis of growth dimensions. Such dimensions may include learning orientation and potential, leadership and cultural fit. This may involve rating immediate managers using special anchored rating scales (Jackson, et al., 2012). On the other hand, the potential may respond to open ended questions, which might be designed with the intent of gathering information of various dimensions. Nevertheless, this tool provides that the selected individuals may be subjected to later assessment, which may include tests, inventories and other assessment tools. Special rating scales Since the process of identifying senior leaders may involve incorporating views and ideas of other managers on how they rate selected individuals and since each manager may bring in different and conflicting ideas about individuals selected, it would be necessary to have a comparison test among the selected individuals. This tool provides that selected individuals may be subjected to comparison of the most preferred candidate in terms of their potentials demonstrate in various dimensions (Landy & Conte, 2010). d. The outcomes, data or information produced With multirater feedback surveys, it is apparent that Todd would be able to gather information that would help him identify potentials to head important departments in the company. Since this tool involves grasping information that cannot be obtained by written surveys or interviews, observation could be termed as an instrument that assist in assessing in-depth traits of potentials. With this kind of a tool, Todd would not require any extra feedback apart from what he will observe from potentials. In fact, this tool could be termed as one of the effective tools that do not require any facilitation of feedback from potentials. In addition, Todd does not require informing potentials that he is in the process of identifying persons to fill in vacant positions. On the other hand, immediate manager evaluation can help Todd in gathering information related to skills and abilities relevant to senior leaders (Bassi, et al., 1997). The rating scale used by this tool would help Todd in evaluating the best candidate. In addition, the outcome of the instrument may produce to results since the selected candidates are subjected to a later evaluation that would lead to selecting appropriate individuals in the senior positions. Obtaining information using this tool is fast since it involves gathering information using rating scales. Special rating scale enables Todd to easily gather information about potentials since he will be assisted by managers in identifying most qualified potentials among the existing employees. In another dimension, identification of potentials using this tool tends to be effective in that selected individuals undergo a series of evaluations by more than one person. e. Practical considerations of your plan The process of potential identification should be as fair as possible. Implementation of assessment plan should be an inclusion of both insiders and outsiders. Nevertheless, it is important for Todd to participate in all assessment plans in order to ensure that every plan implemented meets his expectations. Nevertheless, some assessment plans would require implementation by insiders alone while others would require both insiders and outsiders (Bassi, et al., 1997). For example, when thinking about hiring outsiders, Todd may decide to consult hiring firms in order to assist him in coming up with the most precise persons in the vacant positions. In addition, Todd would also want to include some of his managers to take part in the assessment plan for new entrants. On the other hand, when assessing individuals to occupy senior leadership positions, Todd would not require outsiders to participate in the assessment plan especially if he decides to hire persons within the company. Since the new potentials would be working hand in hand with the already existing managers, it would be important for Todd to consult them and inform of them of the intentions of hiring new potentials (Landy & Conte, 2010). This way, the managers would play a key role in ensuring that Todd has the right persons hired. This is arguably true because since the company has already established its organizational culture, the managers would help Todd in coming up with the correct qualifications of potentials that would fit the existing organizational culture. f. Legal ramifications It is apparent that in the process of identifying and recruiting potentials, Todd would be entitled to observation of legal issues that touches issues of fairness in recruitment and selection. This is arguably true because when it comes to identification off potentials from within the company, issues of individual contribution to the company may arise. Some employees are ambitious when it comes to climbing the promotion ladder. Therefore, Todd should ensure that his identification process if fair and that no bias identification is recorded (Landy & Conte, 2010). The identification process should be perceived as fair and admissible to both the selected potentials and those that will be rejected. In this regard, fairness can be related to the whole identification process including the instrument used in the identification process. Studies indicate that some instruments used in the selection process such as resumes and interviews are highly regarded in comparison to handwriting tests, which are held in low regard (Landy & Conte, 2010). It is also apparent that fairness during identification process extends to discrimination and equal opportunities (Jackson, et al., 2012). Some of the issues tailored and focused by laws against unfair discrimination in workplaces include discrimination on the basis of disability, age, ethnicity, and marital status among others. If Todd can abide by the laid down legal provision during identification process could win the reputation that is associated with corporate social responsibility (Jackson, et al., 2012). This is arguably true because the process of potential identification involves issues revolving around organizational governance, which forms part of corporate social responsibility. Conclusion Many organizations lack conviction and commitment in order to develop leadership potential. Todd should first consider not only the past performance of persons in mind, but also to look at personal attributes that defines ones potential to improve by being flexible with the current trends and demand for leadership traits. The process of the identifying potential leaders should focus on hard-to-acquire skills, skills and abilities. Leadership promise should come at the top on the list of factors to consider when choosing persons to take up leadership position in Robinson Insurance Agency. In addition, personal development orientation is a crucial factor to consider when selecting potential leaders in an organization. Potentials have to be in a position to adapt to the new emerging challenges. The assessment approach to be used by Todd needs to measure the level of potential expected by individuals that will match a particular career competence. Todd should use competence-based approach to identify potentials. The recruitment process should be based on the ability of potentials to produce top results exhibited by their professional experience. Competence-based approach process encompasses job description and the person specification and assessing the importance of the post in the organization’s structure. Reliable instruments that Todd can use include multirater feedback surveys, immediate manager evaluation, and special rating scales. References: Bassi, L., et al. (1997). Assessment, development, and measurement. Alexandria, VA: American Society for Training and Development. Brundrett, M. & Davies, B. (2010). Developing successful leadership. Dordrecht; New York: Springer. Jackson, S., et al. (2012). Managing human resources. [Mason, Ohio]: South Western: cengage learning. Landy, F. & Conte, J. (2010). Work in the 21st century: an introduction to industrial and organizational psychology. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell. Ployhart, R., et al. (2006). Staffing Organizations: Contemporary Practice And Theory. New York: Routledge. Scott, J. C. & Reynolds, H. D. (2010). Handbook of Workplace Assessment. 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