Career Development Plan Summary

Kudler Fine Foods is creating new responsibilities for certain teams within the organization. The team that I am responsible for will begin ordering for the Bakeries of all three stores. This is a role that Kathy Kudler has previously held. The responsibility that my team currently has for Kudler Fine Foods is to run the Bakery of the La Jolla, California, store. The team will increase from four to nine employees. This report will provide an explanation of the current and new job responsibilities. Training requirements for the existing and new employees will be provided. The performance evaluation process for both individual associates, and as a team will be reviewed. Challenges that may be presented with the evaluation process will be included. Items such as incentives, benefit packages, career development, and compensation plan will conclude this report. Current and New Roles The Bakery Team of La Jolla’s store currently consists of four employees plus myself. Jeff Lynch and Sue Anderson are both lead Bakers. April Cox and Sarah Byrd are the Bakery Sales associates. The team members who will be ordering for the other two stores will work from the store for which they will be placing orders. The exception will be that they will be expected to attend the bi-weekly team meeting that will be held at the La Jolla store. The new roles added are described below. First Level Manager: Tracey Willingham will fill this role. Tracey has been with Kudler Fine Foods since Kathy Kudler opened the La Jolla Store. She has held many positions during this time. She has a vast knowledge of all areas of the store and will be an asset to the team. She will be the manager of both existing and new associates. Order Clerk for La Jolla Store: Sarah Ross was selected for this role as she has also been with the La Jolla store since the beginning. She began as a cashier and has advanced to her current position of Lead Sales Associate for the Wine Division of the La Jolla Store. Order Clerk for the Del Mar Store: April Fett is new to Kudler Fine Foods. She has experience working with Fine Foods stores in the New York area. She has recently moved to California to be closer to her family. April will continue in this role once the Del Mar store is closed and the transition is made to the Carlsbad store. Order Clerk for Encinitas Store: Jesse Driscoll will be responsible for placing the orders for the Encinitas store. Jesse worked for Kudler Fine Foods when he was in high school as a stocker. He has completed college and will return to Kudler Fine Foods in this new role. Trainer, Reports, Backup: The last position to be filled in the reorganization of the team is to be filled by Mary Johnson. Mary has been with Kudler Fine Foods for three years. She has had experience as a Baking, Fruit, and Wine Sales Associate. She will be responsible for providing training to those who will be ordering. She will also be responsible for tracking the ordering process of all three stores. She will keep Tracey and myself updated each week with the orders that have been placed by each store as well as any trends she finds while creating the reports. Mary will also be a backup order associate for Sarah, April and Jesse when they are take vacation time. Training Plans Because Kathy has always covered the ordering for all stores, our first training steps will be for Mary to spend time with Kathy over the next month to learn the ordering process. After completing this training, the next week she will refresh her memory of how the Bakery operates. Her days will be split between time with the Bakers and the Sales Associates. During this time, she will also ask customers for any suggestions of items they want to see at the Bakery, so that the team can consider making improvements to the items offered. After Mary has finished spending time becoming familiar with what the Bakeries in each store are responsible for and how the ordering process works, she will take two weeks to create training plans. I have asked Mary to create two different training plans. The first will be held for the new members of the team and will provide training of the Bakery process. The second will be held for the current team members so an understanding of the new roles is provided. Tracey and Mary will spend time with each associate after the training sessions are held to provide coaching sessions. April and Jesse will also have online training sessions to complete within the first two weeks of their employment. The courses to be taken will be those required for all associates to complete. The name of the courses are Ethics, Diversity, and Business Conduct. Kathy is also planning a new training course for associates of all stores on Customer Service Skills. Mary will coordinate this training for the La Jolla store and for April and Jesse. Performance Appraisal Systems Feedback Official feedback as a part of the Performance Appraisal System will be completed twice a year. The first will be a mid-year review and the final will be a year-end review. This feedback will be provided in the form of a written performance appraisal. The meetings will be held one-on-one, away from the work area. During the one-on-one meeting the associate and I will discuss feedback received from clients, peers, and me. The feedback process will be a standard process for all associates. The first feed back shared will be from me and will include what I have observed, giving specific examples. The discussion will include speaking of the impact of their performance. This will allow a time for the associate to acknowledge the need for possible improvements. It will be important for the associate and me to come to an agreement on possible improvements or next steps for advancement. The most important part of the feedback discussion will be to reinforce the support that I will provide them and the resources available to him or her (SelfGrowth, 2009, pp. 1 & 2). A job description for the current position as well as other roles within the team will be shared during the review meeting. This will allow the associate to review the current requirements and discover what steps may be needed to advance. This will also offer the employee the opportunity to ask questions about advancing or the benefits of education. The local community college offers several courses for Sales Training. A pamphlet from the local college will be made available to each associate who wishes to learn more about the classes. An additional step toward feedback will be put in place at the same time. This step will be to provide any feedback received at the time it is received. This will apply to both good feedback or suggestions for improvements. Offering this to the associates more than twice a year will help him or her monitor his or her progress. Any feedback received from trainers will also be shared with the associates. Team Evaluation Process and Incentives In addition to be evaluated as an individual, the team will be evaluated for the progress made of working together and to identify any opportunities for improvement. Working as a team is important to the success of Kudler Fine Foods. A team that works well together and supports each other will provide better customer service. The steps of evaluating a team provide needs for a different appraisal system. When evaluating an individual you can address individual goals and progress. With a team, the results are based on more than one person trying to obtain a personal goal. The team has goals and needs each person to help meet the goals. While an individual may be great at his or her own position, the manner in which he or she works within a team could provide issues for the team. The most important part of a team evaluation is to remain fair. While the team is to be evaluated for success, the individual contribution must also be taken into consideration. How each person helps the team meet the goals will be considered. The opportunity to be a good team player has to be offered to each associate. One motivation that will be provided for meeting team goals is by providing a luncheon for the team each quarter if goals are met. The team will be considered for an end of the year bonus if all quarters within the year are met as a team and as a company. Strategies to Discourage Social Loafing Social Loafing in the team environment refers to the team member or members who do not perform his or her fair share of the work. The social loafer on the team may believe that he or she can cruise along whereas the rest of the team performs each member’s given duties, then the loafer expects the same credit as the other members (Dayton Business Journal, 2001). What the loafer in any of the instances fails to realize is that their lack of participation has a negative effect on the other members of the team. To discourage social loafing, all team members should understand that his or her individual performance and participation is observed and assessed. Members, who do not fairly contribute should not expect the same credit. Assessing the contributions of every member of a team eliminates loafing. Besides the team lead or the manager assessing the team member’s performance, each member can have the chance to critique the performance of fellow team members. References http://www.selfgrowth.com/print/583277