Leadership Defined Case Study Reflection

1. Listen to the Leadership Defined Case Study Audio(4 mins)

2. Read the following details about the case study:

What was the situation:

The previous animal services director was heavily involved in the daily management and activities of the animal shelter. Staff looked to her for every decision and presented her with the most minute issues. She would often get to work very early to manage the community cat program and was burning the candle at both ends. She had to look at all of the paperwork for each surgery and okay every payment. At least once a week after reporting to work at 4 am, she would bring home a large stack of invoices to review and approve. She rarely attended conferences and did not have any energy for learning and development.

Why was it a problem:

The field of animal services was rapidly evolving and because this director had her head down focused on operations every day, she could not keep track of proven lifesaving practices and changes. The save rate for the shelter was only 74%. That meant that 26% of the pets coming to the animal shelter were losing their lives in one of the more affluent communities in the nation. The staff were not getting access to information regarding changes in animal services and were operating in antiquated ways. Killing healthy, adoptable and rehabilitatable pets was stressful. There were performance and behavior issues throughout the ranks and some staff would even call out sick for mental health days.

What changed:

The director retired and a new director was hired. The new director was surprised that 26% of pets were losing their lives for reasons that seemed unacceptable and preventable. The new director focused on personnel issues immediately, but more importantly looked for root causes. She realized that far too many pets were being killed and it was not euthanasia, so she turned her attention to that process. She met with staff and addressed mental health issues. She also established a social media account so that the community was tied to the shelter and all of their hard work was more obvious to others. She changed the end of life standard: The only pets that were being euthanized or having their lives humanely ended were pets irremediably suffering or absolutely not safe to adopt out. She reached out to industry leaders like Best Friends Animal Society and Animal Farm Foundation for immediate assistance and attended research symposiums bringing lifesaving proven practices back to the team. She examined policies and procedures and focused on changing anything that was in the way of lifesaving and providing a safe community. Over the course of a couple years, morale and performance improved. Some staff quit or were separated from employment and new staff were brought on board as a healthy, transparent, and lifesaving culture was developed from the ground all the way up to the leadership in the county.

What was the underlying issue?

The previous director was a strong manager and was most comfortable being involved in operations. She gravitated to the daily goings on in the animal shelter and she was also risk adverse. While she was adept at keeping things going, she was not comfortable with entrepreneurial leadership. The animal shelter was stuck in antiquated practices because she thought killing pets was related to community safety which was bolstered by a risk adverse animal control department. She was a strong manager that came from a human resources background so projects and processes was where she was dwelled. The new director that was hired was comfortable with leading change and was devoted to professional excellence. A lifelong learner, she set about becoming an expert in contemporary animal services to ensure that their county was a model for others to emulate. She invested in low cost training and development to bring the team up to speed. Once lifesaving standard operating procedures were established, she empowered the team to make daily operational decisions. The new director held regular meetings and made sure to highlight lifesaving milestones publicly to get the community involved in volunteering, fostering, donating, enrichment and serving as ambassadors for the organization.

After listening to and reading about the case study, create a reflection based on the prompt below:

What might be a good way to keep both skill sets (management and leadership) in the mix in order to keep an organization focused on both mission, vision and strategy as well as highly sound operationally?