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What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of using a template to
work through an operational or leadership issue?

To work through an operational or leadership issue by using a template has many advantages and
disadvantages mentioned as below.
Advantages:
The usage of template,

Enables us to focus upon the scope of the operational and leadership issue.
Clearly identifies the ultimate goal to be achieved.
Helps us to ponder upon all of the operational issues which are causing problems and
inefficiency in the output.
Makes us to list down the problems by inferring the problem and there by leading us to
find the critical leadership and operational issue.
Assists us in identifying the core operational and leadership issue which is linked to the
final goal of the business.

Disadvantages
The usage of template,

Places emphasis upon the high end goal. All of the operational issues may not be directly
related to the high end goal thereby leading us to ignore some operational issues which
can have a rampant impact.
Does not provide any metrics to address the operational issues.
Makes it difficult to conclude the single core operational problem when in actual there
are two to three core operational problems.

When you applied the template on the cases what did you find challenging and what
did you find beneficial?

The below mentioned things are challenging and beneficial while utilizing the templates to solve
the cases.
Challenging Tasks

Identification of high end goal.

Listing down all important operational issues. As the metrics is not available it is more
difficult to point out important operational issues.
Identifying the link between operational and leadership issue.
Concluding the time limit in which the action should be implemented.
Identification of mid-term action plans.
Ranking of the specific criteria.

Benefits

The structure of the template is helpful to identify and solve the critical issues.
The template makes us to work upon the top 14 leadership elements.
Structured analysis of the solution and process
Brief and quite helpful implementation plan.
It is critical for leaders to be able to lead teams in clarifying core issues and
identifying innovative ideas to resolve issues. In what ways do you think this
template accomplishes this?

Yes, it is certainly important for leaders to clearly identify the core issues and come up with an
innovative solution in order to lead their teams in a better way.

The listing down of both the key positive and negative elements of the situation enables
us to clearly clarify the core issues.
Focusing upon the operational issues also assists us in finding out the core leadership
issues.
The top 14 leadership elements makes us to easily clarify the core leadership issues.
Assessing the top 3 leadership ideas drives us towards the innovative ideas to resolve the
issues.
Solution analysis and process also assists us in framing the effective and creative
solution.
The process of strengthening the solution by identifying the strengths and concerns helps
us to make the solution more creative and efficient.
Finding the link between the solution and core leadership issues helps us to resolve the
actual issue.
The top 14 leadership ideas forms the basis for the identification and clarifying the core
issues.
When you review the 14 Leadership topics outlined in the Problem Solving
Template, which is the one that you think is a critical leadership requirement?
Why?

In my point of view the critical leadership requirement out of the 14 leadership topics
outlined is Leadership Communication.
Communication gap is one of the main problems which most of the teams face these days.
The lack of communication leads to poor understanding of the work to be done and reduces
the coordination in teams as well as the efficiency of the teams. A proper leader must ensure
that communication is happening well between a leader and among teams for the smooth run
of the work. Leadership communication helps us to relate and find the link between the team
work and high end strategic goal. The leadership communication also enables the team to

identify the desired expectations of the leader and organization as well. Problems and issues
can be well resolved if there is an effective communication between a leader and his/her team
members. Better leadership communication makes the team to streamline their work. And
also better leadership communication speaks to the emotions and aspirations thereby leading
to the increase in the productivity of the work. A leader who communicates well imparts the
quality of knowledge which increases the standards and skills of the team.
All in all it can be concluded that most of the organizational problems occurred due to gaps
in communication and an effective leadership communication plays a key role in bridging
these gaps and increasing the efficiency and productivity of the work.