Leadership and Management Case Study #1

Laura is the Associate Director of a non-profit agency that provides assistance to children and
families. She is the head of a department that focuses on evaluating the skill-building programs
the agency provides to families. She reports directly to the agency leadership. As a whole, the
agency has been cautious in hiring this year because of increased competition for federal grant
funding. However, they have also suffered high staff turnover. Two directors have left as well as
three key research staff and one staff person from the finance department.

Laura has a demanding schedule that requires frequent travel; however, she supervises two
managers who in turn are responsible for five staff members each. Both managers have been
appointed within the last six months.

 Manager 1: Kelly has a specific background in research. She manages staff who provide
research support to another department that delivers behavioral health services to youth.
Kelly supports her staff and is very organized; however, she often takes a very black and
white view of issues. Upper level leadership values Kelly’s latest research on the
therapeutic division’s services. Kelly is very motivated and driven and expects the same
from her staff.
 Manager 2: Linda has a strong background in social science research and evaluation.
She manages staff that work on different projects within the agency. She is known as a
problem solver and is extremely supportive of her staff. She is very organized and has a
wealth of experience in evaluation of family services. Linda is very capable and can
sometimes take on too much.

The managers are sensing that staff are becoming over worked as everyone takes on increased
responsibilities due to high staff turnover. Staff have also mentioned that Laura’s “glass half-
empty” conversation style leaves them feeling dejected. In addition, Laura has not shared
budgets with her managers, so they are having difficulty appropriately allocating work to staff.
Laura said she has not received sufficient information from the finance department to complete
the budgets. The finance department said they have sent her all the information they have
available.

As staffs become distressed, the managers are becoming frustrated. They feel like they are
unable to advocate for their staff or problem solve without key information like the departmental
budget.

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 Discussion Questions:

How can Laura most effectively use both management and leadership skills in her role as
associate director? What combination of the two do you think would work best in this setting?

 A director could be both a leader and manager. However, given that the two mangers are
very capable and directly manage all the department staff, Laura should focus on being a
leader. She should delegate managerial responsibilities to the two managers. This strategy
will build the managers’ confidence, allowing them to problem-solve for their staff. It
will also free Laura to focus on building a greater sense of staff commitment to mission
and vision.
 What steps could be taken to build staff confidence?
 Staff seems uncertain about the future due to high turnover and Laura’s negative
conversation style. Building staff confidence could involve:
 Giving managers more autonomy and the needed information to manage their staff
 Communicating regularly with staff about changes
 Encouraging staff to pursue professional development and learning opportunities and
providing time for them to do so
 Engaging in team building exercises and interactions
 Incentivizing excellent performance
 Addressing Laura’s conversation style directly, explaining to her how it impacts staff
perceptions
 Involving staff in the hiring process where possible as team vacancies are filled
 Talking to staff directly and without retribution about the issues they think contribute to
high-turnover

What advice would you give Laura on improving her leadership skills and to the managers on
improving their management skills?

 It might help for both Laura and the managers to take a personality or
leadership/management assessment. This way the mangers can ascertain their individual
skills, learn how they can best support employees, and figure out how they can work
together to use each other's strengths to run the department. Using a Style approach,
Manager 1 appears to utilize a task oriented approach and Manager 2 demonstrates a
relationship oriented style. These two orientations could be structured to support one
another.
 Laura can focus on building leadership skills by building on her current strengths. In
addition, Laura may want to revisit the roles and responsibilities of each position and
how her division's work aligns with the overall organizational mission. Aligning with the
overall mission and communicating it to staff may help improve morale and provide
clarity on the department's role and direction.

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 Which leadership style do you think a leader would need to be effective in this situation?

Several leadership approaches may be suited for the position described in the scenario:

 Skills: Centers on the ability to solve complex problems. The non-profit is having several
difficulties at the organizational level, including high-turnover.
 Path Goal: Motivates employees by defining goals, clarifying paths, removing obstacles,
and providing support. This type of leadership may work well in building employee
morale.
 Transformational: Treats employees as complete human beings, considers emotions and
perspectives. Builds motivation by providing a clear vision, acting as a social architect,
building trust, and positive self-regard.

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