Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Abstract

Degree Name

Doctor of Strategic Leadership (DSL)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Joshua Henson

Second Advisor

Dr. Sylvia Blackmon-Roberts

Abstract

Title of Project

Increasing Readiness for the Launch of a New Product Line in a Tenured Organization

Defense Date

October 15th, 2026

Candidate Name

Beatrice Dela Pena

Personal Email Address

[email protected]

First Advisor

Dr. Joshua Henson

Second Advisor

Dr. Sylvia Blackmon-Roberts

Project Type

Seminar

Project Overview

This capstone project was a seminar conducted in a tenured organization to align internal strategies for increased organizational readiness to launch a new product line. The seminar surveyed and captured baseline readiness confidence before and after the seminar using a Likert scale, with one being “Not at all Ready” and five being “Fully Ready.” I analyzed the pre-survey results (N=22) and shared them with the executive team and presenters in pre-seminar planning meetings to maximize the Seminar’s ability to increase readiness. Readiness goals were established, and participants will continue to be surveyed to monitor progress as the organization nears the launch of the new Product. Pre-seminar findings indicated that readiness confidence was higher in an employee’s own area, but lower for the organization because of reduced visibility and awareness outside of an individual's immediate team. Based on the open-ended feedback, the top three areas to address in the seminar to increase organizational readiness were: 1) Cross-functional workflows, 2) Training, and 3) System capabilities. The seminar started with new Product training to build a shared foundation of product knowledge. Next, each major operational area presented its current state, vision, and needs to give participants visibility into workflows. Finally, the seminar included a demonstration of new system capabilities to show the current state of technical capabilities and how each area's user requirements are translating into the systems. Attendees could ask questions and surface related information throughout the seminar. Additionally, as the facilitator, I created a safe environment to raise and explore the primary areas of concern identified in the pre-seminar survey, ensuring the time was valuable and the discussion went beyond surface-level topics into crucial, honest, and transparent conversations.

Project Themes

This capstone project and seminar focused on teamwork, change management, change readiness, leadership alignment, and new products. The complexity of the new product launch required applying these disciplines in practice rather than relying on a single prescribed academic framework.

Contributions to the Field of Leadership

Organizations today are navigating more change than ever before, including new product launches, while facing increased competition. While strategy and product offerings remain critical to a business's success, proper organizational planning and internal execution in complex environments are equally critical. Executing a strategy and launching a new product requires leaders to foster teamwork, stay well-versed in change management practices, build alignment, and establish mechanisms that support communication and change readiness. Siloed areas within an organization must co-create and share implementation strategies across areas to ensure solutions fit together as intended. This approach enables leaders to see the full picture and build confidence in organizational readiness, not just their area. This seminar blended research-based leadership, change management, and related theories to increase organizational readiness to launch a new product. It showed that complex environments require multiple aspects of leadership and organizational theories rather than a single framework or approach. Although the seminar did not directly incorporate faith-based principles, it closely aligned with stewardship. Change management requires stewarding organizational resources and entrusting others with information and opportunities to learn and do more. Unity and collaboration were secondary faith-based principles demonstrated, mirroring the idea of separate parts forming one body. Finally, I used wisdom and discernment to plan this seminar and balance business needs with theory and feedback to increase readiness.

Real-world Implications

A post-survey revealed that, after the seminar, organizational readiness confidence increased by 0.56 percentage points, and 74% of respondents found the session extremely valuable, rating it five out of five. Of the remaining respondents, only one rated the seminar a two for value, and all others rated it four out of five. The improvement was larger than anticipated and placed the organization ahead of the readiness targets it set before the seminar, based on the pre-survey analysis. In addition to re-surveying organizational readiness in the post-seminar survey, participants also rated readiness for each area to better understand future levers to increase readiness by area and address themes. Based on both qualitative and quantitative feedback, the seminar's real-world implications show that leaders and organizations can rapidly increase organizational readiness by conducting cross-functional sessions that address key themes when deploying new products. Launch seminars increase teamwork, communication, alignment, and organizational confidence, leading to more confident leadership.

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