Rankin's leadership style and team management challenges

Case Study

1. Rankin\\\\\\\'s leadership style is almost laissez-faire. He does not appear to have great insight into what his team members are feeling, and how they are handling their work. His favorite team, the one in LA, is the one that doesn\\\\\\\'t bother him with anything. He works hard, and simply expects that everybody else on the team will work as hard, and without complaint as he does, which is unrealistic. If there is any other element, it is more autocratic in the sense that he expects people to just do what he asks of them. His response to Sally, while honest, certainly expected that she would simply follow his instructions. He did not engage with her – when she asked about her pathway he really offered her nothing, so it was not surprising that she would make a move – most employees with an ounce of ambition would make a lateral move, or even take a step back, to put themselves in a position to continue growing. For this situation, I would employ a participative leadership style. There\\\\\\\'s a couple of reasons for this. First, he needs to get the two remaining Chicago people to start working together again – that is going to be critical to both complete the project and to avoid losing more people. The participative style would also put him in a better position to know what\\\\\\\'s going on with his team members, since clearly that is a problem for Harry. The other major benefit of the participative leadership style is that Harry would then take the same approach going up as he would with his team. His team needs clarity about the vision for the project, and a timeframe. Harry has allowed his bosses to work his team hard without getting this information, so they are losing their motivation. Even the guys in LA who are executing might not have much motivation for this work if they don\\\\\\\'t have a timeframe to bring the project to an end. Harry needs to participate upwards as well as downwards here in order to get everybody on the same page, and provide an vision that his team can buy into.

2. If I was Rankin now, the first step I would take is to address my team members. I would sit down, probably individually, and get their feedback – as honest and open feedback as they are willing to provide. The reality is that he needs to know where his team stands. He needs to know whether anybody else is a flight risk. He needs to know what their pain points are. Then he needs to inform all members of his team that he will address their concerns with senior management. Nichole literally asked him \\\\\\\"what\\\\\\\'s wrong with the team?\\\\\\\" and he should provide her with an answer and his proposed solution. One of the best ways to bring about more enthusiasm for the project is to provide a clear vision and timeline. Even if the team doesn\\\\\\\'t hit the timeline, one of the major motivational issues that they are presently facing is that they have no particular sense of where the project stands – it is difficult to sustain long hours without an end point in site, so the biggest motivator for Harry will be to define for his team that endpoint, and if possible, even to provide a carrot for his team in terms of recognition or reward for successful completion. I would also engage in more active communication. Harry\\\\\\\'s leadership style is not active enough, and this could get him into trouble in the sense that his team needs an active leader – just because they are technically competent doesn\\\\\\\'t mean they are going to succeed.