Running Head: LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

Boosting Teamwork
Team Building Bridges
Laura Adams
Michael Badali
Christopher DuBay
Siena Heights University
Masters of Healthcare Administration
LDR 601
Presented to Professor John Fick
October 7, 2016

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

How can Ashley be a more effective team leader?

It is important to discuss what Ashley and her supervisor, James, should have done upfront during the launch of the new team to have a proper kick-off. This would have, clearly, been
an opportunity to inform the team of the why and then provide them with the how to execute
the plan. Furthermore, James should have had the emotional intelligence to assess if Ashley was
really up to the challenge of being a team lead. Without more information, its hard to determine
from the case study if Ashley did indeed possess the right skills and charisma. Had James, as the
team sponsor, worked with Ashley up-front to prepare as Cloud (2006) describes as readying, the
launch and buy-in from the team could have been much better. Additionally, by spending a little
more time early on, the both of them could have created the shared need with the team and then
mobilized the commitment of the team. The tactic of proper planning could have paid-off
significantly in this scenario. This would have been an excellent opportunity to have a formal
kickoff. (DuBrin, 2014), Speaks to the importance of an initiating ritual and ceremony, such as a
team kickoff or a retreat. It would have also been wise to have done some team building prior to,
or early on, during the launch of the team to foster teamwork. More importantly, this would have
helped with cascading the business level goals, which would be derived from the balanced
scorecard, to the department and team goals.
James and Ashley should have realized that they were implementing very big changes;
reorganizing the work from individual silo-based to team based, and reducing the need for
authorizations, which meant more autonomy to satisfy customer requirements. There should
have also been discussion around the current state, including current turnaround times, and the
goals; sales, production, and customer service metrics. They should have provided examples of

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

how there needed to be teamwork to accomplish the team goals. DuBrin (2014) discusses the
importance of team and teamwork, along with the differences. It would have also been important
to explain to the team that they would accomplish many collective work products, whereas
group members sometime work slightly more independent (DuBrin, 2014, p. 278).
While the background and supporting documentation that we have is limited in the case
study, our interpretation is that Ashley is not a dynamic team leader and lacks charisma. That
being said, there are still opportunities for Ashley to become a more effective team leader.
Ashley needs to learn how to lead in new ways (DuBrin, 2014, p. 279). Her new role is not to
simply help problem solve, but to coach and mentor her team. She needs to become the biggest
cheerleader for her team - she needs to become the chief motivator. This will, in turn, foster
teamwork and a spirit of trust and collaboration within the team. Ashley will need to manage
differently and James will need to support her and the team. James also has a vested interest in
the success of this team, which is ultimately his team too.
As we have determined, Ashley is not a dynamic and charismatic leader. These are things
for Ashley to work on over time. In the meantime, Ashley needs to insure that her and her team
is successful in the near term. Ashley can motivate and encourage her team by modeling a can
do attitude and working within the team to problem-solve in real-time. Another thing that she
can do is define the process for how the work will need to get done, team-based, as opposed to
how it was previously done. We would recommend that Ashley develop standard work
documents that are as clear and concise as can be, so that the entire team has a good
understanding for the new work and deliverables.

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

There are other important things that Ashley can do to become a more effective team
leader such as, defining the teams mission. A starting point in developing teamwork is to
specify the teams mission (DuBrin, 2014, p. 281). Having a team mission and an
understanding of the goals are critical to the success of the team. By doing this up-front, the
team will be able to better understand what is to be accomplished and what their role is in
ensuring success. Even though Ashley did not do this, or rather do this well, during the kickoff,
it is not too late. With the team being off to a rocky start and not totally embracing the team
concept, this is a good time for Ashley to huddle up with her team and level-set what the goals
are. DuBrin (2014) spoke about this as being able to breathe new life into the team (p. 281).
Another important thing for Ashley to do is to establish a climate of trust (DuBrin, 2014, p.
282). It is likely that the team members are leery of the new process and their team. Therefore
Ashley could and the team could benefit from some team building exercises. Unless team
members trust each other, they will not be dependent on each other and therefore will not work
well as a team (DuBrin, 2014, p. 282). The more trust that Ashley can build with her team, and
the more that her team can begin to trust Ashley and their teammates, the more successful the
team will be.
It is also important that during this startup phase, as well as into the future, that the
team be able to openly identify problems with the process. We would recommend that the team
start each day with a team-huddle to identify the goals for the day, any potential barriers to
success, and to review the accomplishments of the previous day. In addition to a daily briefing,
we would also suggest a daily debriefing at the end of each day to discuss what worked well and
what needs to be improved. All of these things will promote trust among the team, help to
accomplish team goals, and create an environment of transparency (DuBrin, 2014).

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

What can Ashley do to get her team more interested in functioning as a team?
Ashleys team was not functioning as a team or taking ownership of the project. Team
members were making negative statements since the kickoff of the project. Ashley herself was
not being an effective team leader. Effective team leaders interact with and influence a variety of
personalities (Levinson, 2008). The team leaders role in the team project was to build trust and
inspire teamwork, coach team members towards higher levels of performance, facilitate and
support the teams decisions and expand the capabilities of the team (DuBrin, 2014).
The definition or scope of the project was never clearly communicated to the members.
Ashleys response to individuals initial questions downplayed the focus or scope of the project.
Team leaders should establish and clearly embed the team project tasks in the scope of work,
document and communicate with the team members (Seraratne & Hewamanage, 2008).
Ashley needs to get her team engaged in performing as a team, and as such should
incorporate a few different tactics. First and foremost, she needs to employ the cooperation
theory, where collaboration rather than competitiveness (DuBrin, 2014, p. 282) are used to
build teamwork. To accomplish this, Ashley can encourage the team to treat each other as
internal customers, make the goals of the team crystal clear, treating everyone as colleagues as
opposed to subordinates, and establish ground rules for the team. Additionally, she can
incorporate the team into leadership decisions by using consensus (DuBrin, 2014, p. 283), which
is a form if shared decision making. Shared decision making will help with reinforcing with the
team that they control part of their destiny in that they are not being micromanaged, but rather
creating the processes, roles, and timelines. Finally, Ashley can increase the output or team

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

function by being present and supporting her team. In addition to engaging her team and being
present, Ashley needs to set clear performance standards and goals. Perhaps in order to meet the
overall goals, or stretch goals, Ashley could set near, medium, and longer-term goals that would
build upon themselves. This would give her team a sense of accomplishment and help them to
feel as if though they were making progress towards the ultimate goal. DuBrin (2014) describes
this as emphasizing group recognition and rewards. We would recommend that Ashley involve
senior leaders in the goal achievement recognitions and celebrations. This will reinforce with the
team that the goals are important and meaningful to the organization, and critical to the success
of the organization.
Based on whatever information you have found in the case, what is your evaluation of
Ashleys charisma?
If one were to take only the information gleaned from the case study in question, Ashley
would not be a good example of someone that had great charisma. Charisma is a special quality
of leaders whose purposes, powers, and extraordinary determination differentiate them from
others (DuBrin, 2014, p. 74). Although Ashley had good intentions and made an above average
to average effort at motivating the group; ultimately she failed as a group or team leader in this
example for several reasons. She was not able to inspire her group toward a common goal, she
was not able to get the group to want to follow her and finally, she lacked the ability to get the
group to work together and function at a high level of productivity.
The members of her group simply did not want to be led by her. She made note of this in
the case study, by alluding to the fact that everyone still did their work as usual and still worked
alone (DuBrin 2014, p. 305). A charismatic leader would have painted such a beautiful picture

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

of what a successful team looked like, that they would have no choice but to follow her. Fanelli,
& Misangyi, (2006), describes charismatic behaviors such as visionary, frame-alignment, and
image-building that act as a conceptual roadmap to connect subordinates personal and social
identities to the collective (p. 1050). If Ashley would have even attempted to connect with her
group, one should assume that there would be some level of team cohesiveness and enhanced
productivity.
Ashley further failed the group with impression management. Impression management
depicts ones ability to connect with the newly formed team and how wonderful their successes
are going to be (DuBrin, 2014). Indeed, a charismatic leader would be the face of the team in
every aspect imaginable. Charismatic leaders are even known to dress a certain way, interact
with their team a certain way, etc. (DuBrin, 2014). Ashley lost the battle of making a lasting
first impression when she used the phrase, the company decided this was the way to go
(DuBrin, 2014, p. 303). She never solidified the need for this team to the group. By making
such a corporate statement, she lost the ability to create that much needed emotional tie with
her team members. She never truly believed in the concept of this new group and thus, neither
did her teammates.
This is not to say that Ashley needed to be a rock star of the organization and the face
of the group. DuBrin (2014) discusses three different types of charismatic leaders. Socialized,
personalized and celebrity. Socialized, a leader that restrains power and lets their group work
autonomously, personalized, a leader that only wishes to help ones own cause, and celebrity,
which is self-explanatory. Ashley did attempt to give her group autonomy and a sense of trust, as
would indicate a socialized charismatic leader (DuBrin, 2014, p. 76). However, since she was

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

never able to inspire them in the first place, this simply led to the group feeling like it was
business as usual.
Overall, Ashley did display the beginnings of the foundational traits of a charismatic
leader, especially traits of a socialized charismatic. She attempted to show cause for the newly
found teams by rationalizing with her teammates and she attempted to give them structure yet
autonomy. However, she was not able inspire the team, was not a good example for the team and
could not genuinely articulate why there was a need for the team. In that regard, she would not
be considered a charismatic leader as described by DuBrin (2014). As her teammates described,
it was business as usual.

LEADERSHIP CASE PROBLEM B

References
Cloud, D. H. (2006). Integrity the courage to meet the demands of reality. New York: Harper.
DuBrin, A. J. (2014). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston. MA:
Cengage Learning.
Fanelli, A., & Misangyi, V. (2006). Bringing out Charisma: CEO Charisma and External
Stakeholders. The Academy of Management Review, 31(4), 1049-1061. Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org/stable/20159265
Senaratne, S., & Hewamanage, P. R. (2015). The role of team leadership in achieving LEED
certification in a green building project. Built Environment Project and Asset
Management, 5(2), 170-183. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/1672615004?accountid=28644
Levinson (2008), http://www.cio.com/article/2433916/project-management/six-attributes-ofsuccessful-project-managers.html