Cecilia Brown (C.B.)

What are the critical elements of your strategic plan?

Aligning our mission, vision, “values,” and culture in a strategic plan that clearly articulates accountability, ensuring “KPIs accurately reflect what success looks like.” (Wright, 2021) (Welch, 2005)

How will this plan, if successful, advance the mission of the organization?

If successful, the team would have demonstrated tested assumptions backed with an agile, flexible, easy to follow, sustainable roadmap and “data story” connecting the risk, cost, and return on investment in R&D (avoiding “wasting money” on “half-baked ideas”). (Siciliano, 2015) (Duarte, 2019)

Bing Image, 2021
 

Going above and beyond means investing in sustainable solutions stakeholders believe in; this includes being accountable for mistakes.  Our approved R&D budget includes identifying bottlenecks in the process of moving from A.I. to an Explanatory Artificial Intelligence (XAI) infrastructure.  “The power of the stem” will provide agile solutions leading to reduced risks and avoid irreversible damage from floating under the radar.  The team’s plan of action creates an easy-to-follow roadmap with controls decreasing lack of understanding and implementation through identifying training needs with upward mobility infrastructures, timelines, regularities, consistency, and significance of current best practices alignment with stakeholders’ needs. The saying “the cherry on the cake” is a positive topper to good news in casual or business conversations. My imagination pictured a cake with icing and a shiny red cherry on top with a long stem. Then I thought about the stem and wondered if anyone ever inspects the stem?  It reminds me of how the person(s) listening is aware of the ingredients and recipe and has already bought the cake. So, the stem represents critical risks that could fly under the radar with the potential to cause irreversible damage if gone unnoticed. Companies like “Zillow” are paying a hefty price based on overreliance on A.I. (cake) programming (ingredients) and blindly trusting projected ROI resulting in irreversible damage caused by signs of wear that did not register as threatening until it was too late. Zillow lost the trust of stakeholders and employees due to layoffs leading to millions of dollars in write-offs. (Metz, 2021) (Macmillian, 2021)

How will your plan strengthen your organization’s economic moat and create a position of sustainable market leadership that your competitors can’t easily replicate?

Maintaining a competitive advantage over our competitors includes more than just protecting “long-term profits” and “market share.” It’s about building relationships. Taking immediate ownership of mistakes, offering sincere apologies followed by continuous action steps rebuilding trust, loyalty, and showing authentic empathy. In this author’s opinion, companies that do not own up to mistakes increase the risk of losing stakeholders’ trust and loyalty. In 2018 the Starbucks ‘ CEO offered a second apology after the first was not well received by stakeholders. (Bariso, 2018)

An excellent example of the importance of “moat strength” is depicted in a show called “Escape to the Chateau” on the Peacock channel. A couple took the time to research several chateaus in France before deciding on one that happened to have a moat. By taking the time to research, they can explain where they are, what wanted, and an “action” plan on how they will get there. By understanding what they want in a chateau (cake), they gained enough facts that clearly defined their understanding and explanation while thinking outside the box while setting a solid foundation to build on.  Therefore, they foresaw the “power of the stem” in the roof’s condition in their case. The roof was a significant risk they identified with, significantly impacting their bottom line and quality of life.  Therefore, when they found the chateau of their dreams with a roof in good condition, it was “the cherry on the cake.” The team took the time to research and come to a consensus early on an easy-to-follow flexible plan (ingredients) with a clear mission, aligning values and culture (recipe) with sustainable bottom-line results (the cake). By establishing an easy-to-follow flexible decision flowchart/roadmap/timeline with controls aligning with a budget to confidently make fast decisions with the flexibility to recognize and meet adversities (“cherry stem”). For example, when touring chateaus, they started with an inspection of the roof first. If the roof was in bad shape, they gathered ideas from the property for their future purchase without further steps forward on the property viewed with a bad roof. There was a clear stop with an explanation based on facts. They later found that as the show progressed, they learned that the moat’s drainage (cherry stem) area needed regular waste clearance to maintain the health of their moat and avoid flooding of their chateau investment. Hence, the importance for knowing how to get to the root of a problem quickly, communicate an easy-to-follow solution that eliminates bottlenecks (waste), the ability to get rid of waste (blockages), and keep moving forward without losing trust, time, and money. Therefore, action steps (recipe) with precise details align with what stakeholders want to include a flexible, agile risk plan of action. Consequently, the “cherry on the cake” saying underestimates “the power of the stem.” It is essential to include a plan of action to identify significant risks and have a flexible procedure to overcome adversities by implementing controls that spot potential issues (stem) early on with a clear roadmap (controls/best practices/regularity/communication/training) development) and ability to adjust. Jack Welch’s eight leadership rules include having “the courage to make unpopular decisions and gut calls.” It is critical to take the time to research, understand and explain (to the best of your ability) why metrics, data (ROI) (ingredients) are relevant before building a roadmap.  (Brown, 2021) (Davenport, 2013) (Gallant, 2021) (Strawbridge, 2021)

Similarly, providing updates, identifying training and development needs and regular communication with c-level, identifying clear goals and objectives, and answering questions while meeting defined deadlines (recipe) creates a winning solution (cake) for expanding into two new market segments by 2023. (Brown, 2021) (Macmillian, 2021) (Strawbridge, 2021) (Welch, 2005)

I’m working on a accounting question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.

Research accounting scandals and ethics in countries other than the United States. Tell us what you found? Are there as many issues with ethics elsewhere in the world? What about cultural differences?

Watch the video on the crash of Avianca Airlines Flight 52:S02E06 – Avianca 52 “Missing over New York” (46:51/YouTube) (Links to an external site.).

Review the NTSB accident: Avianca, The Airline of Columbia Boeing 707=321b, HK 2016 Fuel Exhaustion Cove Neck, New York January 25, 1990 (PDF – ERAU Hunt Library) (Links to an external site.)

Prepare a 3-5 page paper (APA format, double-spaced, not including cover page) analyzing the crash of Avianca Flight 52. You will evaluate the performance of the crew (and other teammates such as ATC, dispatch, etc.) with respect to this module’s lesson on communication. You are encouraged to discuss other areas of CRM as well but must at least focus on communication. Highlight any positive characteristics as well as areas for improvement. In your analysis, include a discussion of the principles of 6th Generation CRM/Threat and Error Management. Do not just summarize the events; include a critical analysis.

In the CapraTek: Succession Planning simulation, identify the three  best candidates for the plant manager position, interview each  candidate, and select your top choice. Create a career development plan  for the selected candidate.

Introduction

For this assessment, you will use the CapraTek: Succession Planning  simulation. Using this simulation, featuring a fictitious technology  organization, requires you to make decisions about the best candidates  for a plant manager position, to interview the candidates, and to select  your top candidate in order to create a career development plan.

Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.

Personal and Professional Goals

Employees have personal and professional needs. Each employee is an  individual who wants to understand who he or she is, to define his or  her own professional goals, and to devise a plan for how to achieve  these identified goals. It is your responsibility, as a training  professional, to assist employees in meeting both their professional and  personal goals. Ideally, the employee development system will allow  employees to see how their personal goals align with organizational  goals. Furthermore, it will set expectations for employees’ continued  growth within the organization and provide feedback on their progress  toward professional and personal goals. For example, an increasingly  popular and important method of employee assessment is the 360-degree  feedback method. This assessment tool is a multisource assessment that  provides the employee with a chance to receive multi-rater feedback from  peers, managers, and other coworkers and sources that work directly  with the individual, along with a self-evaluation. The results of this  assessment assist the employee with identifying and understanding areas  for improvement.

Career Management

An organization’s most valuable resource is its employees. An  organization that invests time, money, and human resources in caring for  the well-being of employees should receive a return of appreciation  that shows through longevity, continued contribution, performance  improvement, and ROI. Career management is an important issue for  organizations that hope to maintain growth for both the organization and  employees. As our world changes, so does the need for the organization  to maintain pace with advancements in technology and processes.  Organizations must constantly look to the future and anticipate human  capital needs. Similarly, employees should be encouraged to think about  their own long-term goals and how the organization can help them achieve  these goals. A solid career management process will meet both the  organization’s and employee’s needs.

To develop employees for longer-term, continual growth with an  organization, this assessment introduces succession planning and  developing a career management plan.

Preparation

Complete the CapraTek: Succession Planning  simulation activity. Be sure to download your activity log results  after completing this simulation; you will use them in this assessment.

Requirements

For this assessment, complete the following:

• Analyze how succession planning supports an organization’s strategic training plan.
• Articulate why candidates were selected to be interviewed.
• Develop a career development plan for the chosen candidate.
• Analyze the selection of a candidate to hire for a position.

  Blanchard, N. P., & Thacker, J. (2013). Effective training (5th ed.). Prentice Hall. Available in the courseroom via the VitalSource Bookshelf link.Chapter 11.

• Bennett, B. (2003). Job rotation. Training Strategies for Tomorrow, 17(4), 7.
• Garvey, B., & Alred, G. (2000). Developing mentors. Career Development International, 5(4), 216–222.
• Gray, D. (2014). Succession planning 101. Professional Safety, 59(3), 35.
• Hall, D. T. (2004). The protean career: A quarter-century journey. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 65(1), 1–13.
• O’Neil, J., & Marsick, V. J. (2009). Peer mentoring and action learning. Adult Learning, 20(1/2), 19–24.
• Management development methods: How to get the right balance. (2008). Development and Learning in Organizations, 22(6), 29–31