Scenario
Large Technology Corporation (LTC) recently acquired the company Small Technology Company (STC). You currently work on a team of four members at LTC. But, with the acquisition, your team has expanded to 10 members. The new team members have a diverse demographic makeup as well as varying levels of professional experience, both in their careers and at the company. They are also quite diverse in their personalities and backgrounds. With the rapid growth on the team, there have been some growing pains: Several new employees have stated that they feel frustrated and demotivated by the lack of training and clarity in job roles. You and the other original employees are feeling the stress of constantly needing to train and answer questions. With the rapid changes, leadership was not able to foster cohesive team dynamics, so the diversity in personalities and backgrounds has caused a great amount of conflict among the team members. Leadership is aware that there are conflicts on the team. So, they have asked you to develop a communication plan to explain the approaches you would take to collaborate with the team members effectively and cultivate positive team dynamics. Consider the theories and technologies you used in your management plan when preparing the communication plan. To assist you in developing your plan, review the employee personas of the team. Directions Communication Plan You have been asked to create a communication plan for your team. In this plan, you will not only address how you will manage the specific team, but also how you will manage yourself as a leader. To begin, analyze the team dynamics, specifically the cultural and generational differences of the team, as well as situations that may occur with challenging employees. After analyzing the team dynamics, you will analyze your personal approach to management and how you will manage the specific team dynamics. Finally, you will develop collaboration strategies to effectively lead the team. Specifically, you must address the following: Communication Barriers: While developing your plan, consider the impact of cultural and generational differences. Describe the different factors that may act as barriers for effective communication in the team. For example, describe implicit biases that might be at play on the team, and explain how these may impact communication on the team. Personal Approach: As part of your communication plan, explain how you will manage yourself as a leader. Specifically, show how you will use emotional intelligence principles to analyze your personal approach to management. As you describe your personal approach, be sure to address the following: Describe the approach you will take to assess your own strengths and weaknesses as a leader and your plan to continually improve these skills. Explain how you will address your own biases and use empathy when communicating with the diverse team. Explain how you will manage your emotions when working specifically with challenging team members. Collaboration Strategies: Explain your approach to developing collaboration strategies specific to the current team dynamics. Also consider how you will resolve the team conflicts and frustrations that have developed due to the new changes. As you explain your collaboration strategies, be sure to address the following: Describe how you plan to promote effective collaboration within the team, while considering the cultural and generational differences. For example, how will you ensure the communication is relevant and appropriate for all members of the team? Explain how you will create a safe, open environment that encourages feedback to build relationships within the team. For example, will you establish specific group norms? Describe the strategies you will use to facilitate effective collaboration with challenging employees. For example, you might consider how you will manage employees who prefer to work on their own schedules or those who did not get the promotion they were expecting, and so on.
