MBA 530 Project Guidelines and Rubric
Competency
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competencies:
Craft a communication strategy for internal and external audiences
Leverage internal and external intelligence to inform decision making

Develop an adaptable leadership mindset and skill set
Scenario
You work as a director of leadership and learning for an organization  that makes prosthetics. The organization has been in business since  1999 and employs over 350 people in its Tampa, Florida, headquarters and  three plant locations across the Southwest. While the business is  currently based in the United States, the organization is exploring ways  to move into Canadian markets within the next three years. This year’s  employee engagement survey results for the organization show that some  leadership practices are rated lower, while some practices were rated  higher. The new chief human resources officer (CHRO) met with the team  to discuss the general results. Everyone agrees that the company’s focus  should be on both specific leadership development areas perceived as  strengths and on those rated as areas for improvement, primarily  regarding social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and the  interpersonal skills of effective leaders.

To help this initiative, your manager, the vice president of  leadership and learning, asked you to create an adaptive leadership  toolkit that can be used throughout the organization. To begin this  work, you conducted a personal leadership self-assessment and turned  this into a personal development plan. Then you shared this artifact  with your manager. Your manager was impressed with the thoroughness of  the personal development plan and saw value in incorporating it as an  exemplar within the adaptive leadership toolkit for use by all people  leaders in the organization. After receiving such positive feedback, you  moved forward with creating the rest of the adaptive leadership  toolkit.
Your manager has shared the adaptive leadership toolkit that you  created with the CHRO, and it was well received. The CHRO wants to  distribute this toolkit to all leaders throughout the  organization—supervisors and above—and asks you to create a  communication strategy that will help in the rollout and implementation  of the adaptive leadership toolkit. For this project, you will create  that communication strategy.
Directions
Overview: In this part of the communication  strategy, you will summarize the business problems the organization is  currently experiencing and provide an overview of trends from your  analysis. You will also explain how a personal development plan and  adaptive leadership toolkit can provide solutions to these challenges.
Summarize the business problems the organization is  currently facing and describe how the personal development plan and  adaptive leadership toolkit will address them. 
Why was the personal development plan created?
Why was the adaptive leadership toolkit developed?
Summarize trends in leadership strengths observed  in your analysis of the employee satisfaction survey and describe how  they relate to the leadership skills and behaviors included in the  adaptive leadership toolkit. 

In which areas did leadership score well?

How did your analysis help to inform skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit?
Summarize trends in leadership weaknesses observed  in your analysis of the employee satisfaction survey and describe how  they relate to the leadership skills and behaviors included in the  adaptive leadership toolkit. 

In which areas did leadership not score well?
How did your analysis help to inform skills and behaviors included in the adaptive leadership toolkit?
Personal Development Plan: In this part of the  communication strategy, you will describe the personal development plan  in further detail. You will include how the personal development plan  supports the adaptive leadership toolkit and the value it will bring  once the entire toolkit is rolled out.

Summarize the importance of including a personal development plan in the adaptive leadership toolkit and explain the value it will bring to the organization. 
How does the personal development plan support the adaptive leadership toolkit?

How do the strategies within the personal development plan address the business problems the organization is currently facing?
Explain how the personal development plan and SMART goal setting could help develop the leadership styles of the leaders within the organization.
Adaptive Leadership Toolkit: In this part of the  communication strategy, you will describe the adaptive leadership  toolkit in further detail. You will include how and who the adaptive  leadership toolkit brings value to within the organization.

Describe how the adaptive leadership toolkit will be used and who within the organization will manage it. Your response should address the following: 
Who is the target audience for the adaptive leadership toolkit?

Who are the owners of the adaptive leadership toolkit?
Describe the specific leadership skills and behaviors  that are included in the adaptive leadership toolkit and explain how  developing these skills and behaviors will address the business problems  the organization currently faces. Use trends from the employee  satisfaction survey to support your response.

Rollout and Implementation: In this part of the  communication strategy, you will provide more details around the rollout  and implementation of the adaptive leadership toolkit throughout the  organization.
Provide a timeframe for rollout and implementation  of the adaptive leadership toolkit and justify how this strategy  supports the organization’s goal of improving leadership skills and  behaviors over the next two years.
Describe the metrics and deliverables associated with the rollout and implementation of the adaptive leadership toolkit. Your response should address the following: 

How will the success of this rollout and implementation be measured?

What are some important milestones to consider for tracking progress?
Determine methods for communicating the relevance  of the adaptive leadership toolkit to stakeholders within the  organization. Your response should address the following: 

How should this be communicated to leadership to help gain buy-in?
How should this be communicated to its intended users to help gain buy-in?
Describe the feedback and communication strategy associated with continuous improvements to the adaptive leadership toolkit. Your response should address the following: 

How can employees provide feedback on any roadblocks, issues, or ideas for improvement?
How will updates to the adaptive leadership toolkit be communicated from leadership down to employees?
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Milestone 1 MBA 530
Anquan Patterson
Professor Petroy
Southern New Hampshire University
MBA-530
April 1, 2024
2
Milestone 1 MBA 530
Self-assessment
My own self-evaluation revealed that I had the lowest ranking in the leadership behavior
of “Inspire a Shared Vision.” Having the capacity to create a compelling and inspirational vision
of the future that is in alignment with the aims of the company and connects with the members of
the team is what I consider to be consistent with this conduct. In order to generate a feeling of
purpose and enthusiasm about the direction in which we are traveling, it is necessary to possess
the ability to successfully encourage and mobilize other individuals toward a shared objective.
The development of this area is essential for strengthening abilities connected to leading people
since it lays the groundwork for collaborative action and the accomplishment of goals. People
are motivated to devote their best efforts toward the accomplishment of corporate goals when
leaders are able to inspire a common vision. This creates a feeling of purpose and direction that
drives people to provide their best efforts. By improving my capacity to motivate others to share
a vision, I will be able to better engage and align members of the team, which will result in
increased dedication and excitement toward achieving shared objectives.
On the other side, I achieved the top ranking in the leadership behavior characteristic
known as “Enable Others to Act.” My understanding is that this conduct involves encouraging
cooperation, establishing trust, and providing people with the authority to offer their one-of-akind abilities and points of view to the team. It entails the creation of an atmosphere in which
people have the sense that they are supported and respected, and that they are capable of taking
initiative and making contributions that are valuable.
Through the facilitation of activities such as cooperation, creativity, and individual development,
this area provides support for abilities linked to becoming an effective leader. In situations when
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leaders make it possible for others to take action, they provide members of the team the ability to
take responsibility for their job, improve their abilities, and contribute to the general success of
the business. By making this leadership style a priority, I am able to establish a culture of
empowerment and responsibility inside the team and the company, which in turn encourages
high performance and ongoing progress.
Adaptive leadership toolkit
According to the findings of the Employee Satisfaction Survey, the leadership of the firm
need to concentrate on enhancing leadership behaviors that are associated with “Recognition &
Praise” and “Training & Development.” It is vital to develop these areas in order to solve
company issues such as poor work satisfaction, a lack of recognition, and insufficient training
opportunities, which have been highlighted by employees. It is possible for the business to boost
employee morale, engagement, and overall work satisfaction by increasing the amount of
recognition and praise that is given to employees for their individual achievement and by
providing employees with the training that is necessary for them to efficiently carry out their job
obligations (Kurdi et al., 2020).
Conversely, the organization’s leadership is now effective in maintaining working
conditions that are safe, clean, and orderly, valuing the dignity and diversity of all workers, and
giving people with a feeling of satisfaction, purpose, and security in their positions. Through the
maintenance of these areas, the company will be able to continue to successfully manage
relationships between leaders and their direct reports, therefore cultivating a healthy working
environment that is founded on trust, respect, and mutual support.
LPI Self-Assessment Analysis
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The Leadership Performance Inventory (LPI) Self-Assessment offers useful insights into
one’s leadership habits and areas in which they might develop. Individuals are able to find
strengths to capitalize on and flaws to correct via the process of assessing the data, which
eventually leads in an increase in their effectiveness as leaders. An individual’s leadership
behaviors are compared to those of other leaders who have completed the assessment, and the
percentile rating provides a comparative view on how these behaviors relate to one another
(Chen, 2022).
It is of the utmost importance to see the feedback from the LPI as an opportunity for
learning rather than a judgment of one’s capabilities. It is essential for both personal and
professional development to have the ability to accept comments with an open mind and a desire
to learn. It is possible for people to accept the criticism and take proactive efforts to develop their
leadership abilities if they have the understanding that leadership excellence is a journey that
involves constant learning and progress.
According to the recommendations made by Kouzes and Posner, the process of
developing leadership skills should include both the establishing of objectives and the
solicitation of feedback. It is possible for people to monitor their progress and discover areas in
which they may make additional improvements if they develop specific objectives based on the
input they get from the LPI and seek regular feedback from their colleagues, mentors, and
supervisors.
Additionally, a more thorough view of one’s leadership effectiveness may be obtained by
appreciating the opinions of others and soliciting feedback from a variety of sources. It is
possible that varied observers may provide distinctive insights on the manner in which leadership
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behaviors are seen in a variety of scenarios. This will enable people to modify their leadership
style in accordance with the circumstances.
In conclusion, the Leadership Performance Inventory (LPI) Self-Assessment is an
invaluable instrument that contributes to the evaluation of leadership behaviors, the identification
of strengths and areas for improvement, and the facilitation of both personal and professional
growth. Individuals have the ability to improve their effectiveness as leaders and contribute to
the success of their teams and organizations by capitalizing on their strengths, correcting their
flaws, and soliciting feedback on a continual basis.
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Reference
Chen, J. (2022). Understanding teacher leaders’ behaviours: Development and validation of the
Teacher
Leadership
Inventory. Educational
Management
Administration
&
Leadership, 50(4), 630-648.
Kurdi, B., Alshurideh, M., & Alnaser, A. (2020). The impact of employee satisfaction on customer
satisfaction:
Theoretical
Letters, 10(15), 3561-3570.
and
empirical
underpinning. Management
Science
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Adaptive Leadership Toolkit
Anquan Patterson
Southern New Hampshire University
April 12, 2024
2
Summarize the business problems the organization is currently facing and describe how
the adaptive leadership toolkit will address these problems.
The organization faces a challenge of mistrust among the supervisors. There has been a
communication problem in the organization, making the employees not trust the supervisors.
This challenge can be solved by training the supervisors on effective communication strategies.
Another adaptive leadership toolkit that can address the problem is acknowledgement for work
done by supervisors to the employees. When employees are acknowledged for work done, they
feel motivated.
Based on the employee satisfaction survey, identify the skills and behaviors that are current
strengths exhibited by leadership and explain how these strengths are critical to the success
of the organization
The leadership in place has been able to steer the organization this far. Notwithstanding
the challenges of communication and a lack of trust, the leaders have been able to achieve
various goals. This can be attributed to the various strengths they exhibit. The leaders constantly
strive to offer value to their clients and customers. Offering quality and value to the customers
helps in retaining them and gaining trust with the organization.
Secondly, the leaders have been able to maintain conducive working conditions. They are
orderly and clean. The goals of the organization are clearly defined. Everyone is tasked with
meeting the goals at various stages. Besides having well-defined goals, the leaders have provided
sufficient tools and resources to do the job well. Lastly, the leadership respects and embraces
diversity in the workforce. Diversity brings about innovation and easy problem-solving.
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Based on the employee satisfaction survey, identify the skills and behaviors that are
current areas of weakness for leadership and explain how these areas may be improved by
applying the self-assessment you used to create your own personal development plan.
The leadership of the organization is working hard, day and night, to ensure that the
organizational goals are met. However, the leadership has overlooked some areas that have
become their areas of weakness. First, they have poor communication strategies among the
employees. The leadership has not laid out good communication structures. Also, the leadership
has not offered training to the staff on how to develop good communication skills. Without
proper communication strategies, it has not been easy to communicate the goals of the
organization and follow up with each person.
Secondly, the leadership has not won the full trust of the employees. According to the
survey, some employees do not trust some supervisors. This has delayed the achievement of
some goals. Besides, it has made some employees feel less motivated and affected the culture of
workplace diversity. Some employees are not encouraged and feel demotivated. Besides, their
work is not acknowledged. Failure to acknowledge individual efforts makes them feel
unappreciated, which in turn kills their morale.
However, it is possible to improve on these areas through the application of the selfassessment developed in the personal development plan. Communication problems can be solved
through adequate training of the staff. The training shall equip the staff with skills and
knowledge on how to ensure effective communication is achieved in the organization. Besides,
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the skills imparted during training will help them communicate their goals while promoting
diversity in the workplace.
Mistrust among the employees can be solved through acknowledging the efforts of the
employees. When supervisors recognize the efforts of the employees, they build their trust and
increase their job morale. Also, creating a trustworthy environment helps motivate their
employees.
Describe the importance of including a personal development plan as an exemplar in the
adaptive leadership toolkit and explain how SMART goal setting can help to improve the
areas of weakness for leaders within the organization.
It is of great importance to include a personal development plan in the adaptive
leadership toolkit. The PNP plays the role of a guide for the leaders to follow in their growth and
development journey. The plan demonstrates what is to be done at each stage, the goals of the
various stages of growth and development, and the expectations of each stage. Also, the plan
provides an evaluation mechanism to determine whether the goals were achieved or not. Also, it
gives a way forward on the actions to be taken if the goals are not achieved (Kouzes & Posner,
2017). Integrating PDP and SMART goals setting into the adaptative toolkit will guide the
leaders on how to access their behaviors, as well as shed light on how to set their achievable
goals (Claire McCarthy; and Douglas Eastman; with David E. Garets; Contributing Editor,
2013).
Explain how the personal development plan and SMART goal setting could help
develop the leadership styles of the leaders within the organization
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When setting personal development plans, leaders are supposed to set SMART goals.
Using the SMART framework to set goals helps leaders set achievable goals. Also, it helps them
visualize and follow up on their personal development (Tractenberg, 2024). Also, using the
SMART goals framework, leaders are able to identify gaps in leadership as well as challenges
amongst other people within the organization. Finally, the SMART goals framework can be used
in an organization to change the leader’s mindset and transform them into transformative leaders.
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References
Claire McCarthy; and Douglas Eastman; with David E. Garets; Contributing Editor.
(2013). Change management strategies for an effective EMR implementation. HIMSS.
Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (2017). The leadership challenge: How to make extraordinary
things happen in organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Sepehri, P., Kermanshahani, D., & Mousavi, S. (2010). Implementation of customer relationship
management system in Buhler Iran using Kotter’s change model. SSRN Electronic
Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1632424
Tractenberg, R. E. (2024). Augmented diffusion of innovation (aDOI): A change theory
working with a theory of change management to get what needs to be done
DONE. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/yz89r

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