Effective Leadership and Its Five Key Practices

The leadership challenge is all about how leaders mobilize others to make great things happen in an organization (Kouzes &Posner, 2012). It is based off the leader’s practices and how they work together as a team to innovate, challenge and reward others in any given situation. It’s about getting others to follow the leader and tag along on the leadership journey. There are five practices that Kouzes and Posner discuss in the book and they are as follows: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encouraging the heart. These five practices are what happens when leaders engage with their team and great things happen (Kouzes & Posner, 2012). A leader is known for what they do within an organization.

The experiences some employees encounter in banking are often negative compared to those who work at an organization where leaders truly care. There are many ways that leaders in banking can show employees that they care. This could vary from recognition and a variety of rewards. When leaders care about the work their employees are doing, it results in happier employees. Most banks experience a very high level of turnover. It can be very difficult for some banks to keep employees so it’s important to ensure that everyone is satisfied. Motivation is a critical element when it comes to understanding employee’s level of satisfaction with their job (Fitzpatrick, 2008). Leaders should be motivating employees to ensure everyone remains satisfied. Some of the ways leaders can motivate their employees is to let them know they are doing a good job and if they aren’t, they should be communicating with them on how they could improve. They could also be rewarding employees for meeting sales goals even it’s a simple congratulatory email. From experience, a little gesture can go a long way when it comes to caring for

It is normal for some people to turn away when they see a challenge or a difficult task. Great leaders accept the challenge and see it as a learning tool for not only themselves but for their employees. During the recession, banks were slowing down. While people were still opening everyday checking and savings accounts, investments and loans were on the downward slope. Management had to think of ways of how to increase their numbers while still meeting the needs of the customers. This experience allowed team members to come together to think of ways to improve business. Employees were asked to “shop” around and see what rates were at other competitors. While all rates were down, it allowed some to stay on top on game with competitive rates. There will always been some sort of fear with change because the result is unknown (Shore & Kupferberg, 2014). Change can be viewed as scary but it allows leaders to transform the way things were done previously and get their employees involved in the