Creation of an environment to enable others to be creative, innovative and value quality.
Creativity, innovation and value for quality over quantity are important attributes that should be cultivated among employees. When these values are instilled the council is placed at a better position in the market due to the improvement of the council’s image. As regional Minister and chairman, I have a duty to lead by example. I have embraced diversity. Embracing diversity allows people to live together despite their differences. The team employed to work come from different localities and nationalities. These people have passed through different experiences in life and hence have varying views on how things should be done. When the recruitment of employees is being done, the chances of people getting opportunities are only based on their qualifications.
To create an environment that will enhance creativeness, I have established a reward system that will allow for employees to be rewarded for their efforts. Recognition of employees for their efforts and perks to them encourages innovation. The employees are also given a platform to present their ideas from time to time. Further involvement of these employees in decision making implies that they feel part of a team in which they are needed.
Education is a cycle that begins at birth and ends at death. Constant education of the employees through various activities such as workshops and seminars has been implemented. I have ensured that the education that the employees have been receiving is not related to the fields they work in. Educating the employees in other fields and upcoming courses that are likely to better the performance of employees is carried out. There are some new fields which have come up due to the expansive developments in technology. These include data science which has integrated by some of the most successful countries in the world. Learning new courses broadens the knowledge of the employees and facilitates innovation and creativeness. I have also supported the idea of setting up an educational kitty for further studies. Employees who wish to further their studies are supported by the council.
I have devised strategies to look out for the welfare and working conditions of the employees. A clean environment is the most suitable working environment for employees. The employees also have different needs such as insurance covers and retirement benefits. Looking up for the welfare of the employees instils loyalty to the company. Employees can work without concerns of any risks as there is a guarantee from the council that their needs are well looked after.
I have also ensured that the employees are provided with appropriate tools for their work. The council, under my management, has embraced technology to a great extent. Technology makes work easier and improves the quality of work. Technology-based assistance reduces the amount of time required to perform tasks. Technology also allows for the improvement of quality. The reduction of time used to perform tasks allows time for the employees to generate new ideas.
I have ensured that the recruitment plan is strict and only top tier candidates are chosen. The performance of the council is directly dependent on workforce performance. Selecting highly qualifies employees implies that the quality of services offered by the employee to the council goes up. The promotion of employees at the council is purely merit-based. This implies that the employees who contribute most are rewarded with better positions at the company. This fosters hard work and improvement of quality that an employee offers.
Fostering unity in the workplace is important in creating a favourable environment for innovation and creativity. Employees regular go out for team building activities. Team building activities mainly include group activities. Team building activities improve the relationship among the employees. A good relationship among employees creates a conducive environment for coordination between employees working in different departments to come up with ideas that can drive the council forward.
Identify opportunities for change and development.
Achieving high levels of customer satisfaction is the aim of any business. Customer satisfaction indicates the quality of work that the employees are making. To identify an area of change, I have encouraged reviews from our customers. Reviews provide criticism from the company and through this, it is easy to identify areas which are lagging. The performance of individual employees can also be measured according to the reviews they receive. Departments which receive the most negative comments over a substantial period can be identified as areas that need changes.
Through meetings with departmental managers, we have been able to come up with targets for every department. Targets are devised in the presence of the managers who oversee the department. This implies that the targets rolled out by the company are achievable since the managers consented to them. Targets act as benchmarks for performance. Departments that continuously fail to reach their targets without any concrete reasons are areas of weakness where changes are needed.
Opportunities for change and development come up as a reaction to happening in the business world. These activities include the change in government policies, improvement in trade policies among other possible occurrences. Some of these opportunities provide new markets and opportunities to expand the organization. However, in some situations, the implementation of certain policies or happenings do not favour development. Changes need to be enacted in the council to adapt to these changes.
With assistance from other council members, we formulated questionnaires for the employees. The questionnaires were open-ended to allow the employees to express themselves freely. The questionnaires were on areas that the employees felt needed change. The employees are the agents of the council in the market. They, therefore, have an understanding of the day to day running of the council. The consultation of employees implies that they take part in decision making. Criticism of actions undertaken by the management is also encouraged. Through information collected during these activities, it is possible to identify areas that should be developed or changed by the company.
Data is a powerful tool. Processed data gives crucial information that is necessary for decision making. Apart from data that is collected from the employees, data is also needed from a market survey. With assistance from marketing experts, I developed questionnaires and initiated market research. The research was aimed at getting insights on the market. These insights include the performance of other organizations in the same field as the council. The preferences of the customers are also identifiable from the surveys carried out. From surveys, new areas for improvement have been found. Some new trends and market opportunities for development have been identified. Using data eliminates the use of a gut feeling in making decisions.
Through close monitoring of the employees, I have been able to identify areas that need change. The adoption of technology is both a positive and negative to the organization. Some departments have employees who use social media during work time and are often idle while in other departments there is a shortage I manpower. The observation of these behaviours at work points out to areas that need change.
Scope plan and derive change
The organizations have limits which it cannot go beyond. These limits are dependent on workforce capabilities and happenings in the business world. Change has boundaries. Implementing an effective change management strategy is crucial to any organization. To derive change, I identified areas that needed changes. Some of these changes were minor while some others were major. The idleness of employees was a minor issue which did not need to be tabled to stakeholders for discussion. With my recommendation, the organization shuffled its employees increasing the number of employees in very busy offices. However, some changes such as the expansion of the organization after the identification of some opportunities in the market need to be approved by the stakeholders. I presented a business plan for expansion to seek the approval of the stakeholders by convincing them of the viability of the develpment.. For stakeholders to buy the idea for change there needs to be concrete evidence that change is needed and that adopting the changes will benefit the organization.
For the new changes which have been enacted to be highly successful, I communicated the plans of change to the employees. The changes directly affected the employees. The communication with employees provided feedback on their attitude towards the changes. Changes in the business world are challenging for employees. Some try to resist them. However, through communication and the promise to review the changes over time, the employees adopt the idea of change without much resistance. Benefits reaped from embracing the changes should trickle down to the employees. This implies that in case of success of the changes the employees get benefits such as an increase in salaries due to the expansion of the business. Some changes that I recommended were personal for the employees to improve their delivery. For the institution to successfully change, the change has to be everywhere within the organizational structure.
In the implementation of changes, I put into consideration the fact that changes have a chance of failure. To avoid the chances of the changes that we implemented failing and destroying the reputation of the company, the changes are reviewed from time to time. Occurrences that occur unexpectedly as a result of the changes are used to adjust the changes to make them more favourable. I formed an overview committee comprising of employees and consultants to help adjust the changes. The committee recommends the best direction to take to mitigate the risks that come with the occurrence events in the business world.
For funding purposes, I asked the budgeting team to set aside money for funding changes that would be made. Changes and developments require money. Taking the example of underperforming departments, the decision to employ more qualified and skilled professionals will come at a cost. These funds for these costs need to be set aside to facilitate the changes.