Evidence for Gap in Practice

A practice gap constitutes the subliminal lack or absentee component that makes the organizational issues emerge and continue. Kensington auto parts is an example of how the idea can be put to practice where chief executive officer (CEO) Kensington Perry is not interested in initiating new leadership development programs.

The talent turnover has created a rotational talent pool of younger talents, which is directly related to more expensive employee turnover each year (Kensington Auto Parts, 2025). The case shows that the lack of leadership development can have a trickle-down effect on organizations in terms of financial and operational impact.

• Specific Business Problem

The business issue at Kensington Auto Parts is: The high turnover rate among the younger talents in the company as a result of their career development expectations has led to increased annual expenses by the company. The practice gap that results in the problem is: the unwillingness of the CEO Kensington Perry to invest in leadership development programs of the emerging leaders.

The resistance is driven by the fact that CEO Kensington Perry believes in the philosophy of the CEO father, which emphasized on the continuity of the leadership team instead of the talent pipeline development (Kensington Auto Parts, 2025). There has been revolving door situation in the absence of structured leadership development whereby younger employees want chances of growth in their careers.

Gap In Practice

The disconnect in the practice is the reluctance of CEO Kensington Perry to invest in leadership development programs to the future leaders. This gap directly leads to the business issue of high turnover costs per year. Studies indicate that in an event where the failure to invest in leadership development is exhibited by organizations, employees tend to move out to seek improved career prospects.

• Why The Gap Aligns With the Problem

The gap is in accordance with the turnover issue since the issue has de facto cause-and-effect relations. According to Ali et al. (2024), failure by organizations to invest in the development of leaders results in low levels of employee engagement which subsequently lead to turnover.

The same picture can be observed at Kensington, where Perry does not invest in the development of up-and-coming leaders, younger workers do not find any career growth opportunities, they get disengaged, and they leave. The case study verifies the trend, whereby Kensington has a revolving door of younger talent who want opportunities of progression in other places (Kensington Auto Parts, 2025).

The article of Xuecheng et al. (2022) researched family-owned business structures that are similar to Kensington that are small and medium enterprises. The authors established that organisations that fail to invest in leadership development programs have high turnover levels and turnover costs.

The absence of an investment in development is interpreted by the employees as a message that the organization does not attach importance to growth and they will seek employment in other places. The message that Perry is conveying to the younger employees of Kensington is exactly what the philosophy of consistency in his leadership and not coming up with new leaders sends.

• Examples of Current Practitioner Literature

The practice gap is that the CEO Kensington Perry is not keen on investing in leadership development programs for emerging leaders. The business issue is the high turnover of younger talent in terms of employee turnover and high costs every year, because younger talent is seeking career advancement opportunities.

Existing academic sources support the fact that the change in the gap of leadership development is attributed to organizational retention issues. A research by Ali et al. (2024) investigated transformational leadership within the pharmaceutical industry within Bangladesh and discovered that the construct can largely influence the retention of employees. Employee engagement plays the key role in the connection between retention and leadership development.

Organizations fail to form leaders, this leads to a drop in employee engagement and this becomes the cause of turnover. The researchers examined 650 pharmaceutical workers through the structural equation modelling. The identified gap at Kensington Auto Parts is directly supported by the evidence: the lack of willingness by Perry to invest in the concept of an emerging leader would predictively translate to the lack of engagement among ambitious young employees, which would explain the identified turnover problem.

The studies have also established that inadequate leadership development in organizational setups leads to staff turnover. Xuecheng et al. (2022) have examined Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and discovered that training and development programs have a big impact on employee retention. Those companies that fail to invest in systematic development of leaders incur higher costs of turnover and lower competitive advantage.

The authors have included the social exchange theory and situational leadership theory, which gives a theoretical basis to the retention efforts. The study quantified the turnover expenses and the difference in the investment in leadership development is directly converted into the financial cost that Kensington is currently bearing. The case study of Kensington can be explained using the theoretical framework. The young workers who aspire to grow in their careers feel that the company is not investing in development and this is the very situation that contributes to the turnover trend as stated in the case study.

Project of Interest

The companies are frequently forced to confront the problems of retention that might require structural answers instead of cosmetic reactions to already existing spheres of working malevolence. According to the gap in practice observed in Kensington Auto Parts, and given that there is no leadership development performed on emerging leaders, a structured program that focuses directly on mid level managers and high potential employees would effectively provide a solution to the retention crisis.

The future leaders would be targeted to serve the project that would equip them with major leadership skills of managing the teams, being strategic, and possessing emotional intelligence (Rajagopal et al., 2024). The nature of programs may be regarded as much-needed investment in the organizations, and not some unwanted additions to the organizational culture.

This would be implemented by providing mentorship schemes, institutionalized training programs in leadership, and development of succession planning mechanisms to create lasting career development opportunities (Bano et al., 2022). The program would be aimed at providing future leaders with the most important leadership skills, including the ability to manage a team, think strategically, and have emotional intelligence, which are crucial in the organizational success and employee retention.

But, prior to the designing and implementation of a program like this, it is essential to conduct an objective project discovery in order to assure that the solution offered really addresses the needs of the organization and not preconceived solutions (Rajagopal et al., 2024). A successful project discovery entails logical methods of reducing the subjective factors that can undermine the integrity of research and organizational decision-making. Excluding the individual prejudices will guarantee the objective identification of the problem using the data-driven methodologies, stakeholder responses, and evidence-based evaluation, instead of assumptions (Balayn et al., 2021).

In the case of the project discovery at Kensington, the methodology involves structuring interviews with leaving employees, as well as surveying the existing employees on the real advancement needs and not the assumed ones. The removal of bias is accomplished by using structured interviews and quantitative measures and cross-departmental views to justify the challenges of retention instead of using anecdotal evidence (Wipulanusat et al., 2021). The rigor of methods enhances the strength of the project foundations and improves the chances of making improvements in the organization to become sustainable.

The voids in the workplace observations regarding the matters of employee growth always incorporate the absence of correspondence between the organizational rhetoric on the organizational investment in the qualities of leaders and actual investment. This would be implemented by providing mentorship schemes, institutionalized training programs in leadership, and development of succession planning mechanisms to create lasting career development opportunities (Bano et al., 2022).

The program would also aim at preparing future leaders with some of the essential leadership competencies, which include team management, strategic thinking and emotional intelligence competencies, which ought to be justified in the discovery process as really needed and not assumed as being so. The methodology is a response to the documented organizational needs that were identified in the process of the unbiased discovery and applied with the help of the evidence-based intervention that leads to the improved capacity of individuals and the stability of the institutions.

• Advantages of the Proposed Leadership Development Program

Strategic interventions can provide both short-term benefits and long-term benefits to the organization which is worth the investment of resources in the short term. The leadership development initiative is quantifiable in terms of saving turnover expenses, a higher level of employee engagement, and a better opportunity to plan succession (Gohdes et al., 2022). The implementation establishes sustainable career opportunities and develops leadership in the organization, minimizing the recruitment costs and risk of knowledge transfer (Alqatan et al., 2025). The results show distinct value propositions, which are compatible with organizational strategic goals and competitive positioning needs.

• Limitations of the Proposed Leadership Development Program

Organization efforts are often faced with implementation difficulties that can reduce performance regardless of their good design and sufficient resource allocation. The program takes a huge amount of time as both the participants and facilitators are required which may break down the day to day running and cause scheduling problems. Program scope might be constrained by the lack of resources, whereas resistance by the organization towards change might jeopardize the involvement of participants and their acquisition of skills (Zyl et al., 2021). The challenges are demanding and require proper planning and endurance towards the desired retention and development results.

Conclusion

This analysis shows that the gaps in leadership development are core organizational issues that need organized, evidence-based intervention as opposed to a shallow one. The retention needs are reported in the proposed leadership development program, which is met with systematic career development patterns and competency-enhancing programs.

The challenges linked to the implementation are important, but the opportunity of the measurable retention rate increase, employee engagement, and capability of the organization makes the implementation worth the investment. Effective implementation needs objective evaluation of the problem, dedication of the stakeholders, and continued attention to evidence-based practices as opposed to assumptions.

Need help with DB FPX 8610 Assessment 2 Evidence for Gap in Practice? Get reliable academic assistance and succeed now!