Leadership Training Program Proposal: Barney’s New York
Instructions:-
Introduction
The purpose of the introduction is to introduce the problem to your audience. Be clear and succinct. Answer these questions in a four to five sentence paragraph.
- Why is the current situation not effective?
- Why does it need to be changed, in your opinion? (Brady, n.d.)
Project Plan
In this section of your proposal, explain what you want to do to solve the problem you defined in the introduction. This will be the largest section of your proposal. For a 6-8 page paper in length, this section should be 4 pages minimum.
You may want to use a bulleted list here to list the benefits of your solution. Include your research here. It is very important to provide evidence to justify your proposed plan. Be sure to:
- Make reference to studies in this topic area
- Quote individuals well-known in the field
- Provide data
- Don’t forget to cite all sources (Brady, n.d.)
Qualifications and Experience
In this section, tell you audience why
you are the person to get the job done.
Describe your experience. If you
feel you are not qualified to do the work, describe the person, or type of
person, required. You may also want to describe similar project your
organization has taken on in the past to show why you believe this project will
be successful.
Estimated Budget
This section outlines the budget and an estimate of what the project will cost. Depending on your audience, you may want to include direct and indirect costs. Use general categories to estimate costs. Cost details can be provided later once the project has been approved. (Brady, n.d)
The budget is a very important section of your project. A table that presents the costs in an at-a-glance format is effective for that audience who want to get a general idea of the cost at this point is recommended.
Place budget here
Conclusion
End your proposal by restating the benefits of the
proposal. Keep your conclusion short and concise. Four to five sentences will
most likely be enough.
References
Solution
Leadership Training Program Proposal: Barney’s New York
Introduction
Excellent leadership skills inherently relate to successful business processes (Spanyi, 2010). With the emergent changes in boutique products and women’s beauty products, Barney’s New York is obliged to incorporate its employees to the changes in management and business processes. As such, this paper transcends a business proposal to conduct leadership training program within the organization to help store managers in the 26 outlets across the globe to acquire the necessary leadership skills involved with their relationship with employees and customers. Therefore, there is need to train store managers on leadership skills that will help the business have a competitive advantage over similar companies in the market.
Project Plan
Nature of the Project
As a business proposal, the project will involve a one-month leadership training program plan. The company’s Human Resource Department will undertake the training in collaboration with Robin Sharma, leadership, and management consultant, for the efficient training process. Additionally, the process will take place in the last week of every month from Monday – Friday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. at any hotel within the city, preferably Broadway Plaza Hotel.
Importance of Leadership Training Program
Training can be defined as structured, formalized and planned instructional experiences which focus on developing both knowledge and skills for efficient task performance. Arguably, it is merely through training that workers in a given organization can learn many of the proficiencies they require to complete a task. As such through training approach, leadership skills can be absorbed within our organization.
For Barney’s Company to achieve an excellent corporate culture, this project will enable store managers to undertake training in areas of communication, decision-making process, teamwork building, vision, and planning. These are the most critical areas that affect the business process within our organization. Additionally, when these aspects are practiced effectively by our store managers, our clientele will improve drastically. According to Ahearne, Mathieu, and Rapp (2005), it is evident that leadership empowerment programs have a positive relationship with better customer satisfaction. As such, this research suggests that top supervisors with poor leadership skills predispose a firm to lose customers.
The project schedule will be as follows:
| Week and Month | Time | Activity |
| Week 4 of the First Month | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. | Communication Skills |
| Week 4 of the Second Month | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. | Practice of Decision-making Skills and Vision Setting |
| Week 4 of the Third Month | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. | Team-Building |
| Week 4 of the Fourth Month | 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. | Planning |
As s HR manager, it is important to understand the salient components of the management and leadership that this training program will help the store managers. Additionally, in an analysis of the current situation at the company, it was concluded that most of the complaints from our ever-hardworking employees are associated with the kind of leadership style presented by our store managers. As such, this scenario formed a fundamental part of coming up with the proposal. To address these issues, an analysis of research and scenarios led to choosing the six components mentioned above to make the executive office understand why the company needs a leadership training program.
Communication skills and Employee/Customer Satisfaction
Communication is one of the key factors that describes effective leadership in the corporate world. Per the reviews by Glass Door, a few employees who worked at Barney’s suggested that the communication process between the management and associates of Barney’s New York is poor (Glassdoor, 2016). The HR team concluded that this is the most crucial area to focus on training our store managers on communication skills so as they can gain effective leadership skills that are essential for business growth. To substantiate the communication aspect McNeil and Nevin (2013) suggest that communication plays a role in fostering effective leadership. The authors review concepts in the book, Communication: The Key to Effective Leadership authored by Judith Ann Pauley andJoseph F. Pauley, to advise managers that communication can increase productivity and that managers in supervisory positions must be able to improve their communication with workers. Additionally, the major problems that are associated with poor communication entail late completion of company tasks, misunderstanding in roles at the store, high rate of workers failing to turn to meetings, and inadequate understanding of functions played by employees. After the implementation of this aspect of leadership, it is stipulated that store managers will be aware of the communication skills that are relevant for business productivity.
Some of the importance of communication in business include:
- Communication is a tool that promotes motivation among workers as well as clients.
- It promotes socialization since an individual cannot survive without communication.
- Communication acts as a source of information that helps in better decision-making processes.
- Communication also alters a person’s attitudes because well-informed individuals have better attitudes.
- It assists in “controlling process” as employers and employees can comply with the regulations and policies of the organization.
Decision-Making Practice and Business Success
Decision-making refers to the act of deciding on a critical aspect or scenario within an organization (Certo, 2012). One of the integral components of contemporary management is the making of decisions. As a leader and a manager, one should be able to make rational decisions that do not affect the employee or a client negatively. Both the customer and the employee are essential for the better business productivity. In analyzing the issues regarding decision-making within our organization, we found out that most store managers tend to assume the requirements of the female clientele. They are biased when ordering products for a particular store which leads to poor customer satisfaction. Therefore, as the HR team, training the store managers on issues to deal with making decisions while placing orders is imperative for better customer satisfaction. According to Einarsen, Aasland, and Skogstad (2016), destructive leadership is associated with biased decision-making skills that lead to risky business across the globe. Therefore, it is important that store managers practice better decision-making skills which will, in turn, enable better customer satisfaction, hence, higher profitability levels.
Vision Setting Skills
Barney’s Company has its vision statement as to “provide the best of everything: merchandise, customer service, and innovative people with creative ideas.” Most store managers associated with our company only dwell on the company vision. Leadership itself entails setting of vision for your employees as well rather than relying on the company vision. Furthermore, the vision setting by leaders pervades the workplace environment and is revealed in its actions, values, aims, beliefs of the organization (DuBrin, 2015). The training program will enable store managers to come up with a vision that will direct the employees within their workplace. First, vision setting is important in that it enables one to know where one is headed. Also, it acts as a source of motivation that inspires an individual to complete a task or project. Third, it acts as highway over obstacles at workplaces, as such, it aids leaders to be persistent even if there is a difficulty in thriving businesswise. Also, vision setting is attributed to the provision of focus as leaders can put away the life distractions and concentrate on improving business processes. Last, vision gives a leader and a manager the actual meaning and purpose to what activities they engage in.
Team Building
Leadership is an active process in which a person influences a group or an organization to achieve a goal. Consequently, a team is a group of individual who have a common characteristic and/or a common objective. In regards to our organization, most store managers have a less cohesive team in regards to choosing the designs as well as meeting with other staff. Team building skills are important in managing tasks as well as assigning tasks. The synergetic energy within a group is more profound than just an individual effort, therefore, with this training store managers will be able to add more flavor to their team building skills. Steve Jobs once said that a “My job is to make the whole executive team good enough to be successors, so that’s what I try to do.” (Fortune.com, 2008)
Planning
Planning is one of the most crucial components of management as well as leadership. The program will focus on the aspects of planning in leadership in that store will be given more tips on how they should undertake their duties as managers. Most leaders and managers tend to be more comfortable when they have a plan to carry out a given task. As such, research suggests that it is worth it the time invested in planning for an activity. Additionally, lack of planning has been a major factor contributing to failure in 33% percent of new businesses. (Storey, 2016)
If implemented, this project will initiate a greater help to store managers regarding planning techniques. Listed are some of the core importance of planning that our organization will gain:
- Clear and precise management by goals.
- Improvement in employees’ moral.
- Minimization of uncertainties
- Achievement of economies
- Provision of a competitive superiority
- Encouragement of innovation.
Qualifications and Experience
As the HR manager
as well as having a post graduate degree in Leadership and Management, I have
analyzed the effectiveness of this proposal to the organization. Also, the
project will be initiated with the help of the HR team which had done a
full-scale research pertaining the organizational aspects of leadership and
narrowed down to stipulating this paper. We decided to involve a consultant
management expert, Robin Sharma, who is an established motivational speaker
specialized in helping managers employ leadership styles in their business so
that they can become successful. We considered Robin after the release of his
book, The Leader Who Had No Title. In
his book, he stipulates how employees can become good leaders and manage their
task effectively to help in the improvement of business performance. Also, the
experiences that the company has undergone over the last six years prompted the
formulation of this training programs. Last, we considered that all the
executives would usher in the project to
give the store manager the motivation to attend the training program.
Additionally, we request the top management to put the training a mandatory session for all the outlets; store
managers and at least give the trainees a certificate of participation.
Estimated Budget
The proposal project will entail store managers gathering in the Conference room at the stipulated time mentioned earlier. The table below shows our proposal budget for apt implementation of the project.
| Item (Direct and Indirect Cost)- 4 sessions | Estimated Cost ($) |
| Hiring of the Training Consultant (Robin Sharma) | 2,000 x 4= 8000 |
| Hiring a conference room at a hotel | 624 |
| Meal per head (36 members)- 4 sessions | @50 x 4 sessions = 4,320 |
| Travel Allowance for 36 members | 3,600 x 4 |
| Training Resources | 5,000 |
| Fees and Allowance for internal trainers | 3,000 x 4 = 12000 |
| Technical Equipment | 2,000 |
| Certification | 1,000 |
| Proposed Budget Total | 50, 224 |
Conclusion
As we all know, good leadership is a useful
tool for gaining competitive advantage.
With this program implemented the trainees will be able to acquire the
necessary skills as well as additional expert skills in practicing good
leadership skills within their workplaces. Furthermore, the inclusion of executives
in the training program will help in reviewing company rules and regulations as
well as informing the trainees on the importance of observing policies and
helping them act accordingly to create a good relationship with other
employers. Also, it is a prominent factor
the project that will take at least four months will serve as a strategic measure to improve the business process within
the organization. Leadership is imperative in or everyday life, be it at
workplaces or home with our families. Let
us embrace effective leadership and
achieve our goals effectively.
References
Ahearne, M., Mathieu, J., & Rapp, A. (2005). To empower or not to empower your sales force? An empirical examination of the influence of leadership empowerment behavior on customer satisfaction and performance. Journal of Applied psychology, 90(5), 945.
Certo, S. (2012). Supervision: Concepts and Skill-Building (8th ed.). New York City, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America: Cengage Learning.
Einarsen, S., Aasland, M. S., & Skogstad, A. (2016). The nature and outcomes of destructive leadership behavior in Organizations. In C. L. Cooper, Risky Business: Psychological, Physical and Financial Costs of High Risk Behavior in Organizations (pp. 323-350). Boca Raton, Florida, United States of America: CRC Press.
Fortune.com. (2008, March 7 ). Steve Jobs speaks out. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from Fortune.com: http://archive.fortune.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0803/gallery.jobsqna.fortune/5.html
Glassdoor. (2016, March 31). Company Reviews: Barneys. Retrieved March 6, 2017, from Glass Door: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Reviews/Barneys-communication-between-management-Reviews-EI_IE4070.0,7_KH8,40_IP7.htm
McNeil, M. M., & Nevin, A. I. (2013). Communication: The Key to Effective Leadership: A Review. Journal of Educational Administration., 47(5), 684-687. doi:10.1108/09578230910981161
Spanyi, A. (2010). Operational Leadership. New York, NY: Business Expert Press.
Storey, D. J. (2016). Understanding the small business sector. Park Drive, United Kingdom: Understanding The Small Business Sector.