SCENARIO:
Candice, the new director, was getting ready to walk into her first departmental meeting and reviewing her notes. She had already been on the job for three weeks, although she had been "doing homework" extensively for several weeks before that. She was a bit nervous because she not only had a lot to cover, but she had some important messages to deliver to the professionals and staff in her department immediately. She really wanted to get the right balance in her message too. While she did not see any radical changes in how business was being carried out, she clearly needed to send the message that the department must tighten up its operating procedures, adhere more strictly to professional norms, and reintegrate a team spirit that resulted in greater accountability. Roles had become fuzzy with many people concluding that they had "put in their time," that they already had selected their own special project to work on, and that others would need to pick up the slack on the many matters that a department of professionals must handle jointly and collegially.
Several months before when she had been interviewing, she had seen the sloppiness of the department. With several department directors leaving in rapid succession, things had just gotten loose. One director had gotten ill and then suddenly retired. Another served on an interim basis for six months, and then was reassigned outside the unit. Nonetheless, when she interviewed the looseness of the department was not the most prominent feature; rather, the opportunities for expansion and national recognition seemed more important. But the more she got to know the department, the more the problems and potential liabilities became apparent. Without better coordination and discipline, the national recognition would be unrealistic and the opportunities would turn into burdens.
She had been working 12 to 14 hour days (seven days a week) to get a handle on the various issues of the department. She had tried not to make any major decisions so early in her tenure as director, but she felt compelled to become directly involved in one enormous special project that involved a federal grant. The grant was so large that it involved a number of departments, but hers was the most affected. Technically the grant was being managed by one of her subordinates, but she had decided to play a substantial role and become highly involved. Because of the understaffing of the project and the requirement for high-level professionals in much of the design and implementation, she was also playing a significant role as technical expert in several portions of the project. Normally she would have never taken on such detailed responsibilities as a director but she needed to know more about the details of the project and the project was critically understaffed. Yet she also knew that it really meant that she essentially had two jobs her first year.
In the three weeks that she had been on the job, as well as the informal period when she had been getting up to speed before that, she had been careful to meet with all the professionals and support personnel personally. She had asked them all to tell her about what they were trying to accomplish, what opportunities for improvement that the department had, and what was most critical. Up until now she had been uniformly encouraging as she listened carefully to the many messages (some of which were "mixed messages") that she received. She now had a fairly good idea of the issues that she wanted to tackle, and the priorities. Her assessment would need to be refined in the next few months, but she had come to the conclusion that she must start to set out both her broad plan for the upcoming two years, as well as test some of the more specific goals and objectives.
So walking into the meeting Candice self-consciously breathed regularly and kept herself relaxed. She had done this type of job--and much tougher ones--before. The department had received the agenda the day before, and a tentative agenda the week before. Two staff member had included items during that time. She started with staff announcements. All portions of the meeting had allotted times, and she gently closed discussions down that went more than a few minutes over. In her portion of the meeting, she first expressed her gratitude for being able to serve in the position. She next covered strengths and wonderful opportunities building on these strengths. She followed that up quickly with a discussion of weaknesses of the department. She indicated that the priorities of areas to improve were up for discussion in all except two cases that needed immediate attention. She provided examples of why those areas were critical to improve immediately. Finally, she reviewed professional norms and contractual obligations. Although she was aware of laxness and perhaps some minor abuse, she laid out the basic issues as a standard review of the required norms. Although inoffensive and abstract, she wanted to be on record as caring deeply about professional practices and willing to follow up if necessary. Because the public sector system offered very strong civil service and union rights, and was not a merit-based system, she knew that some professionals and staff might think that they were out-of-reach. Therefore, she wanted to rely primarily on persuasion and appeals to their ideals. However, she wanted to hint that she would use every bit of her authority and power if negligence occurred and instances she noted were not corrected.
When the meeting was adjourned most of the department continued to chat. Several members thanked Candice for a good session. Candice was confident that she had accomplished a lot and set a good tone. She did not seem to have angered anyone, and she avoided any squabbles or diatribes. She felt very good about the first meeting, and congratulated herself. Nonetheless, in the back of her mind she could not help but wonder whether she should have been even more blunt about the need for individual discipline for the good of the whole. Ah well, there would be plenty of time for that.
QUESTION:
The leadership action cycle provides a detailed map of most of the major leadership functions. One of the functional areas emphasized in this mini-case on Candice is leader assessment. Use the leader assessment to analyze this scenario, excluding leader priorities. (Minimum 12 sentences)