CASE STUDY

Cecil and Daisy are in the customer service department. The manager assigned Daisy the
responsibility of teaching Cecil a new process. This was an excellent opportunity for Daisy to step up
to a leadership role and for Cecil to become a more valuable member of the team.

Daisy, the “go-to person” in the department, is pleased to be tapped to teach Cecil all the details of
the new process and even creates several exercises for Cecil. Cecil is a person who always wants to
do his best but also puts himself under a lot of pressure to excel.

Things start out smoothly while Daisy explains the new process. Cecil listens and takes notes but is
soon overwhelmed by the amount of information. Cecil asks questions about details to enable
relating to one another to make connections, but Daisy seems disinterested.

Daisy explains again, this time a little slower and a little louder. Detecting undertones of impatience,
Cecil becomes even more confused. He is concerned that Daisy thinks she is stupid, and Daisy cannot
understand why Cecil is not getting it. She has broken down the concepts to their most elementary
levels, so Cecil should be able to grasp them. She thinks that Cecil’s questions show that he is not
able to understand even simple parts.

Daisy goes back to the beginning again, however, Cecil is overwhelmed and doubts his ability to
understand the concepts being presented—now for the third time. His brain is spinning with
thoughts about his inability to learn, the word of his failure being the source of gossip throughout
the company, and the fear of ultimately being fired from the company. These thoughts take over
Cecil’s ability to pay attention to Daisy’s detailed explanation. He tries to keep calm but cannot stop
the runaway thoughts of uselessness and stupidity that are overwhelming him. He stormed out of
the meeting and headed to his car, kicking a wayside dustbin near the lift. He calls his supervisor
from his car and tells her he has left work and won’t be back today and maybe not tomorrow.

Daisy has no idea what happened. She was just doing her job. She was just teaching the details of
the process when Cecil jumped up and ran out of the room. Daisy shrugs and goes to lunch with
some friends and is still puzzled when she returns to work.

THE RESULT

Cecil was out of work for two weeks. He wanted to resign but was convinced to return after he saw
his counselor. Daisy and Cecil do not talk or communicate with one another. Daisy was put on a
Performance Improvement Plan for her poor performance on this and other situations where she
interacted with others in the company.