Learning the essence of Situational Leadership through a case study...

At ARC we believe in experiential learning and recognise its unparalleled value. Hence, we have chosen an immersive approach to delve into the topic of Situational Leadership.

Explore the case study below, and stay tuned for our next post where we'll delve deeper into our insights on this matter.

Date: 22nd Jan 2024

"Congratulations, Kabir!" This was a call from Raj.

"Hey Raj, thank you so much. It would be a pleasure working again together."

"Oh yes! It's a global project, and I'm all excited. I've never worked on a global project before. And especially, the nature of this project is very new to me. All the work that I have handled so far was technical, and this is the first time that so many people have been involved. I am keen to see and learn how things shape up."

"Oh Raj, don't you worry. I am sure you'll be able to do this. And it's going to be great learning for both of us.'

"Okay, Kabir, so I'll wait for the kick-off meeting. Let me know what is expected of me. We'll rock it!"

Kabir is a senior leader working in Technocraft Automation. It is a global company with over 50 years of presence in 100 locations globally. In the last 5 decades, the organisation has undergone many transitions, from people to business, product, and market. Kabir's stint with Techno Craft Automation has been well over 15 years. He is a respected leader and is seen as someone who executes projects successfully.

The Management Committee has recently assigned Kabir a Culture Transformation Project. The Management Committee also chooses the team that will work under Kabir's leadership. He didn't have a say in it. This is how things work here. The team consists of Raj, Neha, Sudhir and Shyam. While Kabir had worked with Raj and Sudhir before, he has no prior experience of working with Neha and Shyam.

The project involves doing many activities, including visiting different plants and offices, understanding the local culture, appreciating the diversity, and taking concrete steps to bind all units with a central ethos of the organisation. Kabir has handled such projects before, which involve people, working with different locations and catalysing transformations. This time it's possibly more challenging because the project involves intensive change management. It was just yesterday that this project was assigned to Kabir, and he has already started feeling that a team of 4 members may not be enough to execute a project of this magnitude and intensity. The management committee has already been clear that they cannot assign more people to this project. This means Kabir will have to make the most of the team that is available to him, and every team member would have to contribute their best for the success of this project.

Date: 8th Feb 2024

Kabir was happy to receive a call from Raj, and he was expecting that others would also reach out. Two days have passed since the team was announced, but he didn't hear anything from Neha, Sudhir, and Shyam. He thought of checking with them about their feelings about the project before the kick-off meeting scheduled this Friday.

Kabir met Neha over a lunch conversation in the cafeteria. Neha is a cautious person. She's a senior and is as tenured as him in the organisation. Neha shared the same excitement for the project as Kabir. While sharing stories of different projects they have handled in the past, Neha shared her experience of managing global projects involving working with different people. Kabir started realising that Neha has a rich background in dealing with people and working on transformations. She's talented and efficient and has a track record of getting things done. Kabir realises that Neha can be the top executive on the team. After meeting Neha, Kabir was at ease. Sudhir is equally capable as he and Neha. Only if Kabir could see Sudhir share the same enthusiasm would the project be successful.

The same day Sudhir reached out to Kabir, and he requested a personal conversation before the kick-off meeting. But Kabir, being occupied in back-to-back meetings till the evening, they decided to travel back home in the same car. The evening conversation with Sudhir was disheartening. Sudhir confessed that he had too many things in hand at that moment, and he wouldn't be able to do justice to the Culture Transformation Project. Sudhir and Kabir had worked closely in the past. He knew Sudhir's abilities well. Sudhir was a superb negotiator. He could handle tough conversations with ease and deal with resistance which would often arise due to the nature of this project. He was counting on him to run some crucial phases of the project, and he was capable of doing that.

With Kabir, Sudhir has always been open in his conversations. Kabir was unsure whether Sudhir was avoiding this project or was genuinely busy. He recommended Sudhir to go back to the management committee and explain the situation to get somebody else working in his place. Surprisingly, Sudhir refused his suggestion. He didn't want to be in the bad books of the management committee. That evening, Kabir could sense the project falling apart even before it began. He, along with Neha, could accomplish very little. The only person left to talk to was Shyam, and Kabir was not in the mood to talk to him after these three conversations. He decided to let things be as they were till the kick-off meeting.

Date: 25th Feb 2024, The day of the kick-off meeting.

Kabir knew that today was his chance to get everyone's buy-in into the project, and he was all set to pep up the team.

At 4 pm, Kabir and the four members of the Culture Transformation Team gathered in the big board room on the first floor. Kabir had prepared for the presentation in which he explained the desired outcomes, phases, team members' roles and some top-level activities of the yearlong project. He also shared a detailed plan for the coming month. It is unusual for Kabir to get into micro-management. But this time, he really got into details as he didn't want any loose ends in the launch phase.

Though he was feeling a little low, he knew that he couldn't let others know that as a leader. He presented the plan with excitement and rigour. After 30 minutes, he left the discussion open to the other four members. Shyam was silent most of the time during the discussion. Everyone else contributed to elaborating on the stages, deliberating what would be required in each stage, and clarifying responsibilities and risks.

Kabir realised that Shyam lacked ideas and had not worked on a people's project before. But he wasn't keen as well. Kabir closed the meeting with an agreement to review the progress daily for the coming month, and everyone agreed to it.

One month later.

The project had lost steam. The energy of the team is low. The team members are missing commitments and hiding faces, and they are giving "practical" explanations for their failing commitments.

There is a considerable gap between Shyam's expectations and actual performance.

Neha had an out-bursting conversation with Kabir last week. She was frustrated and reluctant to give daily updates. She said that she is feeling worse than a kid in school.

Sudhir is inconsistent in his deliverables and conveniently tells Kabir, "I told you, I won't be able to contribute much."

Raj usually completes his tasks on time. However his work has many errors, and he is unable to convince other team members for interdependent tasks. Kabir has ended up reworking most of the work assigned to Raj.

Kabir realised that this project would be his next lesson in leading teams. He will have to devise a strategy to work with his team members.

Kabir calls you. He considers you as his mentor.

What approach and recommendations would you give him for dealing with each of his team members and the situation?

Raj

Shyam

Neha

Sudhir

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