Three Leadership Practices of the Current Leader (Research Paper Sample)

Personal Leadership Evaluation
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Personal Leadership Evaluation
Description and Objectives
USAA was founded in 1922 when 25 Army officers met in San Antonio to formulate a strategy to insure their automobiles. Today, the organization is one of the largest and fully integrated financial services institutions in the United States, serving over 13 million members. The objective of the company is to serve military members and their families with loyalty, honesty, and integrity. Moreover, the company's goal is to utilize military methods in delivering excellent financial services to its members that add value. USAA is one of the leading providers of banking, insurance, and investment products to United States Army officers and their families and dignified veterans. The institution is committed to offering customized services to its members and their families using the latest technology and innovation to successfully meet their needs.
The organization is a diversified financial services group of companies that are dedicated to increasing its net worth and assets. Additionally, the corporation has put in place structures and policies that enable it to cut down on expenses and achieve better than industry expense ratios. This approach ensures that the organization improves its profitability and increases its competitive advantage. Moreover, the institution has continued to receive recognition and awards from multiple global credit rating agencies due to its visible financial strength. In 2019, the company's total net worth was over $35 billion, which highlights its financial strength and capability across the country. The evidence is that the firm's management has adopted effective strategies in guiding employee commitment and productivity.
The firm has a total workforce of 35000 employees drawn from diverse backgrounds in accordance with the company’s mission. The operations of the organization are directed by its ethos, values, vision, mission, and objectives, as well as unquenchable desire to provide excellent services to its members and achieve financial stability. Additionally, the organization has developed over 50.6 million products that are sold to the members. This endeavor has ensured that the firm pays claims promptly and dividends, and other benefits to its members annually. Paying dividends to the members is a sign of the financial strength of the company.
Describe Three Leadership Practices of the Current Leader
One of the leadership practices of a respected sales manager at USAA is that she believes an effective leader is a person who actively learns something new, transforms their mindset, and changes their personal outlook. This approach is based on the fact that managers encounter various surprises along the way, which help in shaping their understanding of the essentials of leadership by modifying the aspects that do not conform to their pre-existing knowledge. Leaders should have the capability to balance between the realities of management and the initial conception of management, solve employee conflicts, and devise ways of achieving the ambitious organizational goals set by the company executives. She says that the challenges are crucial in enabling managers to develop their identities as they better understand the roles and complexities of the managerial career. Therefore, possessing the competencies needed to learn something new is an essential character trait of effective leaders.
The current sales manager has the responsibility of developing and revising objectives for her team in the sales departments of USAA. She sets both short and long-term goals that are individual and team focused. The objectives that address the financial, organizational, and business aspects of the department. Moreover, the leader believes that to achieve these goals and objectives, it is imperative for managers to collaborate with all stakeholders in the company. In collaboration with leaders of different departments, managers should realize that they contribute to the success of the organization through their intellectual output as opposed to the technical skills required for individuals in the lower ranks. Therefore, the leader has made it her behavior to engage in critical thinking and attending training programs to sharpen her decision-making skills.
The third leadership practice of the sales manager is her belief that it is imperative for managers to drop their autocratic leadership style and adopt a more democratic approach, where employees are praised in public but criticized privately. Moreover, she believes that to exercise formal authority, managers need to master the skill of leading people, prove credibility, and enhance the commitment of the team she supports. Credibility is an essential element that enables the manager to effectively apply their influence and control. Managers should prove their worth and spirit to their teams to earn their trust and respect since employee perceptions of the boss determine whether or not they would forgive the inevitable mistakes committed by the manager. In this regard, the current USAA sales manager recognizes the need for empathy while dealing with her team to gain integrity and trustworthiness. She leads with the company’s core values at all times.
Discuss How the Current Leader Has Affected Organizational Culture
The increasing globalization of product markets has enhanced the dominant role of employees to influence an organization’s competitive advantage. The current leader believes that organizational culture is formed by its vision, language, beliefs, norms, habits, symbols, and systems. Moreover, she subscribes to the school of thought that culture influences the interactions between individuals, whether customers and employees, or employee and manager relationships within an establishment. She adheres to the USAA culture shifts of perusing progress over perfection, creating healthy challenge, drive accountability, and be compliant and manager risk. The current leader has instilled a culture of excellence in all members of the department, which guides their collective behavior and meanings which they attach to their actions. She has made it clear that organizational culture is composed of the unwritten rules that dictate how people interpret and react to various issues in different contexts within the organization. Nonetheless, it is not easy for the manager to implement a concrete culture within the department owing to the complex relationship between culture and employee performance. However, she has tried to create a strong organizational culture to harness employee potential for excellent customer service.
The current leader believes in diversity and inclusion. She promotes respect and trust among all employees since she is aware of the strength that breeds from different beliefs and perspectives. Additionally, the manager has ensured that the department only relies on a merit-based system to attract, retain, and develop talented and diverse professionals who will enable the organization to meet its set goals and objectives. Moreover, the manager has laid down strategies that lead to increased sales revenue, promote innovation, and create of sustainable competitive advantage in the marketplace. She encourages the coaching to behaviors to drive the performance results of her team instead of focusing on the numbers. Furthermore, the manager has created an organizational culture of inclusion and diversity and embedded it into the department's business strategy for improved employee motivation and productivity. The leader taps into the collective strength of unique experiences, characteristics, cultures, backgrounds, skills, and perspectives to grow the company's sales revenue. The sales manager has created a standard behavior in the department to foster a conducive environment for employee creativity and innovation. Finally, the manager has fostered a culture of commitment and accountability across all levels of the sales and marketing department.
B.  Conduct a SWOT Analysis of USAA
Strengths
USAA is known to be a leader in customer service. The firm has developed digital call centers for clients to have their questions attended to by a virtual agent, “click to chat.” This customer service platform is ideal for those military members deployed or stationed overseas. The agents provide impeccable service to all its users, which is smooth, fast, and efficient. The second strength of the company is its competitive technological advantage over rivals through its smartphone application dubbed USAA Mobile. The organization was the first to leverage technological advancements to create a smartphone application for its members to scan and deposit checks from anywhere in the world. This application is crucial to military members and their families who are currently deployed overseas. They have the opportunity to enjoy all the financial services without being present physically in the United States.
The second strength of USAA is its focus on service quality, which leads to excellent claims experience. USAA as one of the largest insurers in the United States, has developed a reputation of handling automobile and home insurance claims faster and more efficiently than any other company in the country. The claims process is smooth since agents are considerate and compassionate about the predicament of the clients. This approach ensures that once members have filled in the title or title documents, they are indemnified within 24 hours for those with savings or check account with the organization, and between 3-5 d...