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AVIA 535

Case Study Situations

This document contains the case study situations for the discipling, mentoring, and coaching new and developing leaders Mini Case Study Assignments. For a given York leadership trait (Wisdom, Vision, Teamwork, Character, Attitude, Conduct), if there is more than one case situation presented, the student should choose one of the situations for his or her case study assignment. Each case situation is based on actual situations, most of which were received from students in AVIA undergraduate courses and incorporated with their permission. The names, places, and some details in each case situation have been modified to fit the academic situation and to protect the actual participants. See the assignment instructions and grading rubric for details on accomplishing the assignments. Lessons derived from each mini case study analysis may be used in the final assignment: Mentoring, Discipling, and Coaching Plan for Developing Aviation Leaders. It is advisable to review the Mentoring, Discipling, and Coaching Plan for Developing Aviation Leaders assignment instructions now, and you can begin to outline the paper as you begin your Mini Case Study assignments.

(1). Wisdom Case Study Situations – choose one of the two situations presented

Thematic Question: How do leaders give value while mentoring, discipling, and coaching subordinate leaders through wisdom?

Wisdom Case Study: Crushed Aspirations

The Players

· Second Lieutenant (2LT) Billy Mitchell, young Air Force officer in fighter aircraft initial training

· Captain Chuck Yeager, mid-level Air Force officer Flight Commander and flight instructor (2Lt Mitchell’s Flight Commander)

· Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Hap Arnold, senior Air Force officer and training squadron commander (Captain Yeager and 2Lt Mitchell’s squadron commander)

The Situation

2Lt Mitchell is in the basic fighter maneuvers (visual dog fighting) phase of his fighter aircraft initial training. Already in the training course for a few weeks, he has been struggling to meet the performance standards required to pass his current phase of training and move on to more complex mission training. He made it through the first phase, called offensive basic fighter maneuvers, but he is now stuck and struggling through the second phase called defensive basic fighter maneuvers (BFM), in which the pilot must survive and defeat an attack from a fighter aircraft approaching from behind. 2Lt Mitchell had graduated at the top of his initial pilot training class, and as a result, he was assigned to the Air Force’s top performing fighter aircraft. There is no doubt that he has excellent pilot knowledge and skills. His flight commander in the fighter training squadron, a mid-level officer, had been flying with him during his training, but a new flight commander, Captain Chuck Yeager, just took over the flight. Assessing the situation with 2Lt Mitchell, Captain Yeager decided to become 2Lt Mitchell’s flight instructor. Captain Yeager’s immediate supervisor, his squadron commander Lt Col Arnold, agreed with this course of action.

Seeing that 2Lt Mitchell had been struggling in both offensive and defensive BFM, Captain Yeager decided to first conduct an offensive BFM training flight with 2Lt Mitchell, in which Captain Yeager would ride with 2Lt Mitchell in the back seat of one of the squadron’s two-seat training aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell passed the training flight, but not without some deficiencies noted by Captain Yeager. Next, it was on to defensive BFM. In the defensive BFM phase, in which the student pilot must learn to maneuver the aircraft in relation to an attacking aircraft that is behind the defender, 2Lt Mitchell could not achieve any standard of performance. In this phase, the students have four training flights, and on the fourth flight the student must achieve proficiency in all required tasks to move to the next training phase. On the fourth and final flight in the phase, due to concerns about performance, Captain Yeager again flew in the backseat of 2Lt Mitchell’s aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell not only did not achieve proficiency, he attempted a maneuver that most likely would have resulted in a fatal accident if Captain Yeager had not intervened. It was this flight that convinced Captain Yeager that the most likely source of 2Lt Mitchell’s performance issues was that he, for some unknown reason, was unable to physically achieve the required G’s to maneuver the aircraft in a way that would achieve the training and mission objectives. A pilot flying a high performance fighter aircraft must be able to pull and sustain eight to nine G’s without graying or blacking out, while maintaining sight of the adversary aircraft. 2Lt Mitchell was only achieving a maximum of six G’s consistently, and he was easily defeated by the adversary aircraft.

Captain Yeager found himself in a dilemma as a new training squadron flight commander and leader for the instructors and training students in his flight. His decisions regarding Mitchell would affect Mitchell’s career and Air Force Leadership development. They would also have and effect on how he handled future cases involving student training. Captain Yeager daily went to God in prayer and Scripture for help and guidance in his decision making. Mitchell was an excellent pilot, but he could not achieve the required performance in the high G maneuvering flight environment. Yeager needed more than knowledge to handle this situation and to successfully do his part in developing Mitchell into an Air Force leader; Yeager needed wisdom. He sought that wisdom through prayer, Scripture, and seeking counsel from others, including his direct supervisor, Lt Col Arnold.

Based on the diagnosis regarding deficiencies in maneuvering the aircraft at maximum performance, the squadron commander in consultation with his higher commander recommended additional G-force training at the Air Force’s centrifuge facility rather than immediate removal from training. Captain Yeager believed that 2Lt Mitchell had already demonstrated an inherent inability to achieve the required performance for fighter aircraft and should be reassigned to a different aircraft, but he was overruled by his higher commanders. After additional centrifuge training, 2Lt Mitchell returned to the fighter training squadron to resume his training. It was immediately apparent that he was unable to translate the centrifuge training back into the aircraft, and he was removed from fighter aircraft training and reassigned to an Air Force aircraft that was not high performance in terms of G capability and requirements. Six months later, Captain Yeager received a phone call from 2Lt Mitchell thanking Captain Yeager for helping him out of the fighter aircraft and into his current aircraft. In the Air Force system at that time, if a student pilot self-eliminated from training, the student pilot was removed from flight status as a pilot and could not be assigned a different aircraft. Because he was removed from his fighter aircraft training by the training squadron and the reason for removal was specific to fighter aircraft, he could be reassigned to a different aircraft.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by the mid-level leader, Captain Yeager. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module One leadership trait of wisdom as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of wisdom in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 1: Wisdom to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons.

4. Within your mini case study, contrast this situation with Paul’s words and instructions in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 and 3:18-23. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise wisdom in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

5. Describe and explain lessons derived from your case study analysis that may be applied and practiced in a future similar situation in which you may mentor, disciple, and coach others in their leadership development.

Wisdom Case Study: Between a Rock and a Hard Place

The Players

· Cheryl, maintenance supervisor at a medium size aircraft repair facility (Bob’s supervisor)

· John, owner of the aircraft repair facility

· Bob, aircraft maintenance technician in the aircraft repair facility

The Situation

Aviation Excellence, Inc. is a medium size Part 145 aircraft repair facility at a fairly busy airport. They maintain steady work from a mix of corporate and private aircraft owner customers, some of whom base their aircraft on the airport, and many others who come from other locations throughout the region. They also provide maintenance support to a small private flight school on the airport.

Business has recently slowed, and John, the owner of the aircraft repair facility, has been cutting costs in various ways in an effort to avoid layoffs. Cheryl, the maintenance supervisor is concerned about John’s subtle hints to her that appear to be an insistence on cutting corners to reduce the amount of time spent on work orders. Cheryl has been mentoring and coaching Bob, one of her best aircraft maintenance technicians, for increased responsibility and for potential promotion into a supervisor role. She sees the situation as a good mentoring opportunity for Bob on one hand, and a potential negative issue on the other hand if the cost cutting measures become an ethics issue for her and the company. She desires to uphold the utmost integrity in their work and for the company, and she does not want her technicians to believe it is OK to complete a job that is less than outstanding even if it takes longer than expected by the tech orders. If a technician forgets to perform a step in the tech order, and the aircraft must be opened up again to do the work right, she will happily do that to promote learning, a good safety mindset, and a culture of integrity and reporting. Before such a scenario happens, she wants to have a good conversation with the owner to avoid an after the fact confrontation with an upset owner looking at additional expenses. She feels like she is between a rock and a hard place, and she does not want to remain there; nor does she want her technicians to feel the same way.

She also wants to have a conversation with Bob because she trusts his judgement, and he is well regarded among the technicians in the shop. She believes such a conversation will also be a benefit to his leadership mentoring and coaching if she handles it well. She holds Bob in high regard, and she sees excellent potential for him to become a maintenance supervisor. He is an excellent mechanic, and he already demonstrates excellent leadership skills, and she does not want his integrity and attitude to be negatively affected by cost cutting confrontations. Cheryl needs wisdom every day she walks into the shop.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by Cheryl. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

4. Contrast this situation with Paul’s words and instructions in 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 and 3:18-23. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise wisdom in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

5. Describe and explain lessons derived from your critical analysis that may be applied and practiced in a future similar situation in which you may mentor, disciple, and coach others in their leadership development.

Vision Case Study Situations

Thematic Question: How do leaders use vision to influence the direction and commitment of leadership?

Vision Case Study: Creating Kingdom-Building Opportunities

The Players

· Paul, Department Head in the Hap Arnold University School of Aeronautics

· John, Director of the Aircraft Maintenance Technician Program in the School of Aeronautics

The Situation

The Hap Arnold University School of Aeronautics Aircraft Maintenance Technician Program (AMTP) has long been recognized locally as an outstanding program in which every graduate of the Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) certification program has a good job waiting for them upon graduation. Employers love the graduates for their values and work ethic going into the workplace. Despite those outstanding metrics, the program was struggling to fill its classes and remain a solvent program in the university. It seemed everything that John, the Director of the program, did to market the school and recruit students was making no impact, and enrollment continued to decrease despite the nationally publicized shortage of aircraft mechanics for the foreseeable future. John was working overtime as Program Director and as the primary program recruiter visiting high schools, trade shows, and other venues. Industry leaders and recruiters came to the school on a regular basis looking for students to hire, offering scholarships, and offering assistance in recruiting more students to the outstanding program. The program had great people and excellent resources, but not enough students to remain solvent. Something was missing and a solution was needed. Actually, what was needed was a vision.

As the School of Aeronautics grew in overall student enrollment in its other degree programs, the school was able to add a Department Head position, which would oversee degree programs associated with aviation maintenance and other disciplines, as well as the AMTP, as part of the department portfolio. The new Department Head, Paul, had been a part of the AMTP since coming to the school several years prior as a faculty member, and he knew the AMTP very well, including all of its strengths and weaknesses. In the new construct of Departments within the School of Aeronautics, John as Program Director reported directly to Paul, and John still supervised the AMTP instructors and staff. Paul immediately set out to develop a vision for his Department and for the AMTP with a goal not only to increase enrollment, but also to make a strong positive impact on the local community by creating opportunities for local high school students to obtain a marketable certification in the aviation field and obtain a higher education degree, thus also providing a pipeline of workers for aviation companies in the region and beyond.

Pauls’ vision for the AMTP was well aligned with the School of Aeronautics vision, which is: to impact the world for Christ as the preeminent center of aerospace education. He conceptualized the vision, and he focused recruitment programs to the area high schools, while also utilizing available resources being offered by industry and government sources. One initiative included offering a portion of the A&P certification program curriculum to students while still in high school giving them high school and college credit, thus saving them college tuition money. Paul did not do everything on his own. His vision became a shared vision with the entire department and school. Everyone in the department knew what was at stake, and they became committed to the vision and to following Paul’s lead for increasing student enrollment, as well as stepping beyond their normal boundaries by taking their curriculum to the high schools. Commitment to the vison was seen when every staff member voluntarily and enthusiastically participated in evening open houses at the AMTP facilities. Translating Paul’s vision into action generated interested and enthusiastic responses, generating increasing enrollment. While a big goal was to get enrollment up, Paul never lost sight of the ultimate university vision of training and developing champions for Christ, i.e. making disciple makers. As new AMTP instructors and staff came into the program, Paul would have to ensure they also would understand the vision and would have opportunities and mentoring to develop into leaders themselves. A growing program demands new leaders who can lead competently and continue to take the vision well into the future.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by the Academic Department Head, Paul in developing the leaders under his supervision. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module Two leadership trait of Vision as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of vision in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 2: Vision to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons.

4. Contrast this situation with the situation Luke 9:51-62 and/or in Joshua 24:1-28. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise vision in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Teamwork Case Study Situations – choose one of the two situations presented

Thematic Question: How do leaders use teamwork to influence the magnitude of leadership?

Teamwork Case Study: Working Toward a Common Goal

The Players

· Jack, Department Head of the university Aviation Department.

· Evangelina, young staff member in the Aviation Department

The Situation

The aviation department at a large university had been growing rapidly in the midst of a growing economy, a growing airline industry, and an increasingly acute shortage of pilots in the industry. When the aviation department was small, as it had been for many years relative to this new period of rapid growth, it was easy to get everyone, i.e., faculty, staff, flight instructors, etc., to agree to and follow policies and procedures. As the department grew and moved into different facilities, the people became more separated and additional levels of leadership and management were added. At certain points, sections within the aviation department desired to develop their own identity as a way to become more focused on their specific roles in the overall aviation department. One identity issue became an issue of establishing unique dress codes and uniforms in some sections. Some people wanted formal and prescribed uniforms for their sections, and others wanted a more casual and informal choice for work dress. Others wanted a distinctive look that would make them and their section more identifiable, such as colors of shirts and pants. One dilemma was that of establishing a dress code that portrayed the professionalism desired of a professional aviation program and that also aligned to an increasingly informal university dress code while still meeting the specific needs of each work area and environment. A second dilemma was one of maintaining a cohesive team across the board that kept the school mission in front of unique section identity as well as unique dress and appearance.

Previous dress and appearance policies at the aviation department had been created by the top leadership and then published for compliance by all. The dress and appearance policies needed updating because they were long in words and somewhat out of line with the size of the department and with the diversity of the types of work areas and conditions. With a desire to bring all of the sections together for a unified solution, Jack decided to create a working group with representation from each section. There was flight operations, in which the flight instructors spend much of their time outside on the flight line and in aircraft. There was the aircraft maintenance technician program, in which most of the work is with dirty aircraft parts and heavy equipment and tools. There were the office workers and the faculty, and there were the flight simulator technicians, who also work around heavy, but highly technical equipment and indoors mostly.

The working group was given specific mandates, parameters, expectations, and a timeline to help focus the work. Volunteers stepped up from each section in the department. A staff member was selected to chair the working group and to ensure the group maintained the proper focus. Jack selected Evangelina, who was the youngest member of the group, but who had already demonstrated competent leadership and an ability to keep a group on track to accomplishing goals. He also saw this as an opportunity to give her a leadership challenge in which she could develop her leadership skills, and she enthusiastically responded. Evangelina, as the working group leader reported directly to Jack with updates on their work. Working group sessions were sometimes lively and sometimes contentious, but everyone was always respectful of each other. Evangelina kept things focused with the intent to produce a good product everyone would appreciate. When completed, the working group produced a one-page dress and appearance policy that was in line with the university policies and that everyone could understand and easily follow. More importantly, each section within the department felt like they had a say in the process and decisions.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by Jack and Evangelina. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module Three leadership trait of Teamwork as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of teamwork in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 3: Teamwork to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons.

4. Contrast this situation with the situation in Nehemiah 4. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise teamwork in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Teamwork Case Study: Reflections of a Flight Instructor

The Players

· Sally, a flight instructor at a large flight school

The Situation

We often simply view leadership as the action of leading a group of people or an organization, in other words a team. However, there can be a good leader and a bad leader leading the team. We can say that a good leader relies on teamwork and focuses on the strengths of his or her teammates rather than the weaknesses. The good leader also seeks to build strong relationships with the team members. On the other hand, author and leadership coach Dan York says, “A selfish leader remains unconcerned about others unless his disregard may poorly impact him in the eyes of his superiors.” Sally, a flight instructor encountered such a leader while a student at a large flight school. The chief instructor of the flight school was selfish and only cared about his own success. Employees working under him had no motivation to perform well, which in turn was detrimental to their students. The organizational attitude fostered by the chief instructor led to an overall decrease in instructor and student performance. Eventually, the chief instructor had received enough complaints to raise eyebrows among the top management of the school, and he started writing reports about how his students (those who had complained) were uncooperative and would show up late to flight lessons, as well as other deficiencies. He lied on reports to make himself look better and to save himself in his job. Eventually, his boss at the flight school noticed what he was doing, and he was fired. Sally developed a belief that too often people like this particular chief instructor slip through the cracks and work their way up to the top unnoticed. Sally is a big believer in teamwork. She has learned that leaders use teamwork to influence the magnitude of leadership, in other words the effectiveness of leadership to benefit the entire team. Teamwork is a trait that is affected by all the other traits, either positively or negatively. It is difficult for a team to operative as an effective team without vision, for example. Also, if the leader has poor character, the team can develop poor character, and so forth.

A leader that utilizes good teamwork for the benefit of the team is more likely to achieve good results for the team and the organization. Sally believed the school’s team members performed poorly because they saw how the chief flight instructor was treating others. A new chief flight instructor was hired, and within a week’s time, he had gained the respect of the team. He developed a vision to make that flight school one of the best locations of all the flight schools in that company. His actions spoke louder than words, and he focused on relationship building among the team members and their customers, the flight students. Sally recalled what York wrote: “…we must remember, we need the cooperation of people to succeed.” This new leader’s drive for excellence and his commitment to the well-being of his subordinates motivated to them to excel in their work and performance. Every employee wanted to excel in whatever task was given to them because they wanted to please their boss out of respect for him.

Leaders who are prideful impact team performance in negative ways. Sally related that one of her flight instructors, when he did not know the answer to a question, would say, “I don’t know, let’s look it up together”. She said knowing her instructor didn’t know everything and was willing to admit it gave her a sense of comfort and a willingness to also be an active participant on that learning team. It gave her courage to ask more questions because he would admit he did not know instead of saying, “Go look it up yourself”, as if she should already know what to do. She said her first instructor did this and would make her feel stupid and afraid to ask any more questions. York wrote, “Strong leaders overcome team members’ fear of conflict by demonstrating the ability to both allow for disagreement and to teach their subordinates or peers that decision-making is actually improved by inviting dissenting views.” Sally said the chief flight instructor previously discussed would argue with anyone who disagreed with him, even if they were right. Eventually, everyone stopped trying to correct what he was teaching even if he was wrong, simply to avoid conflict, which was detrimental to the student and to everyone in the organization.

As a flight instructor herself now, Sally reflects that being able to observe many different types of good and bad leaders throughout her life has shown her the type of leader she wants to be and how she would want to teach new leaders. She knows that she is doing more than teaching flying skills. She is laying the foundation in her students to become aviation leaders themselves with good decision making skills and good character traits. James 4:6 (ESV) says, “But he gives more grace. Therefore, it says, ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’.” Sally desires and works at being a humble leader, striving to put her pride aside no matter the situation and live by God’s Word. She says it is hard because sometimes we are selfish, and we don’t even realize it. God was selfless in his act of dying for our sins and suffering on the cross, so shouldn’t we always strive to be selfless too?

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced or observed by Sally. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

Character Case Study Situations

Thematic Question: How do leaders use character to influence the nature and quality of leadership?

Character Case Study: The Tyrant

The Players

· Colonel Richards, Chief of a multi-service military office in a U.S. Diplomatic Mission in the capital of a foreign country

· Colonel Johnson, Chief of the military service he represents in a U.S. Diplomatic Mission in the capital of a foreign country, and directly subordinate to Colonel Richards

· Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) Mandel, Chief of the Support Section in the multi-service military office in a U.S. Diplomatic Mission in the capital of a foreign country, and directly subordinate to Colonel Richards

· Colonel Belmont, sent to lead the U.S. Mission military office after Colonel Richards was recalled for cause. Colonel Belmont became the Acting Chief of the office until a permanent replacement could be sent

· CWO Samson, sent to lead the Support Section after CWO Mandel was recalled for cause

· The multi-service office also includes four additional military officers and three additional senior enlisted personnel from various military services.

The Situation (warning: this is a complex situation)

Colonel Richards was a tyrant in the multi-service military office he led in the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in a foreign country. He was demanding and unforgiving of mistakes and errors. He was demeaning to everyone in the office, particularly when things did not go the way in which he wanted them to go. One high ranking military officer said that he paused and put his head against the door frame each morning before he entered the office area, just to steel himself for what may come at him from Colonel Richards as he entered and began his daily work.

CWO Mandel was an efficient and energetic supervisor and worker who produced excellent work, and by all reports, was a well-respected leader in the U.S. military office and the overall U.S. Diplomatic Mission. He supervised other high-ranking enlisted personnel from multiple military services, and he maintained good relations with the personnel in the offices of other U.S. Government agencies in the U.S. Diplomatic Mission. He supported the military officers well in their mission. The overall office was, however, known to be a low performing office relative to other U.S. military missions in the region and relative to headquarters expectations.

At a particular point in time, the office was tasked to support a U.S. Naval operation coming into the region. Colonel Johnson was responsible for oversight of the Naval air forces coordination with the host nation officials. During the coordination, a discrepancy came up regarding what the U.S. Military wanted to do and what the host nation was permitting. Colonel Johnson informed Colonel Richards and told him that he planned to report the situation up the chain of command. Colonel Richards, apparently concerned the discrepancy would reflect badly on him and his mission, told Colonel Johnson to not report anything. Further discussion between the two Colonels ensued, then a verbal argument, and then anger and incidental physical contact as the two senior officers reached their respective boiling points. Colonel Johnson left the office, proceeded directly to the head of the U.S. Diplomatic Mission, and reported the altercation. Within a week, Colonel Richards was recalled to the U.S. There was also discussion at high levels as to whether or not Colonel Johnson should also be recalled, but the decision was made to leave him in place. The decision to leave Colonel Johnson in place was not without controversy at the supervisory level of the Headquarters. Headquarters deployed a Colonel from the U.S. to the military office in the foreign country to take charge for the next few months until a permanent replacement could arrive.

Three months later, CWO Mandel’s world came crashing down as it became known that he, a married man, was having an affair with a local woman, who had become pregnant. Subsequently it became known that he had been fraudulently misusing U.S. Government resources, and he had not really been doing such a stellar job maintaining the office in good administrative order. It seems Colonel Richards and CWO Mandel had the goods on each other so neither held the other accountable for good military order and discipline.

Four months after Colonel Richards had been recalled and one month after CWO Mandel had been recalled, the first replacement Colonel had to return to the U.S. due to other commitments. Because a permanent replacement was still three months away, a second temporary replacement, Colonel Belmont, was sent to lead the office as the Chief of the office. When Colonel Belmont arrived, he found the personnel in the office still somewhat shell shocked and timid in their conduct and work. About the same time, a temporary replacement for CWO Mandel arrived to lead the support section in the office, CWO Samson. Colonel Belmont and CWO Samson immediately established an accountability and encouragement relationship between each other, and they set to work to rebuild the morale in the office as they also worked to re-establish good operating procedures. Their efforts focused on giving the other personnel in the office ownership of their individual roles and responsibilities and providing encouragement for their efforts. Ownership was something the office personnel had not previously experienced in that office, let alone encouragement and praise. Each of the other military members of the office would be expected to go on to other leadership roles, and they certainly needed some strong leadership development at the current time.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas faced by Colonel Belmont and CWO Samson in this situation. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module Four leadership trait of Character as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of character in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 4: Character to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons you choose. Comment on how the leadership development of the other personnel in the office may have been affected in such a toxic and dysfunctional working environment.

4. Contrast this situation with the words of Samuel in 1 Samuel 12:1-5 and/or the character described of Job in Job 2:1-9. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise character in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Attitude Case Study Situations – choose one of the two situations presented

Thematic Question: How does a leader’s attitude influence the spirit, force, and will of leadership?

Attitude Case Study: Soft Landing

The Players

· Sam, Chief Pilot in a corporate flight department

· William, a young line pilot in a corporate flight department

The Situation

Sam is the Chief Pilot of the flight department in his corporation. As a chief pilot, Sam is in constant struggle in helping the other pilots to continually to grow and become better in their roles as company pilots and leaders in the aircraft and in the department. He has flown with other Chief Pilots in the past, and he found most of them very difficult to work with. They would either belittle you for not being able to perform at their level or create so much pressure that you could not perform well. When Sam became a Chief Pilot, he vowed to never set up his pilots for failure or belittle them. He also maintained an attitude that his pilots may become chief pilots in the future, and he wanted to help them prepare for that opportunity.

Sam learned good leadership characteristics from others around him, and he has been given many opportunities to develop his leadership skills. Recently, the owner of one of the aircraft Sam manages in the corporation forwarded an email to him about a hangar that was available. Earlier in the month the aircraft owner mentioned that he didn’t want to be as involved in the decision making of his aircraft, and unless it was huge issue or a very large expense, Sam could make the decisions without consulting him. When Sam received the email, he responded with some thoughts about why he didn’t think they should move the aircraft. The aircraft owner’s response was, “Your decision.” It was his leadership way of getting Sam to make the decisions he did not want to make anymore and for Sam to pick up the ball and run with it.

In the flight department, Sam has a young pilot he highly respects and admires. His name is William, and he was Sam’s personal selection when the opportunity came to add another pilot to the company. William was a relatively inexperienced corporate pilot with only about a thousand hours in jets and no pilot-in-command time. Sam selected him because he felt like he would be teachable, and he would be able to get him to fly the company aircraft the way he requires all the pilots to fly… smooth. The flight department boss is very particular about how smoothly the pilots fly and especially how consistently they make good landings. William is also a personal friend of Sam. During the hiring process, Sam’s boss left it up to him to make the decision to hire or not hire William. This made Sam accountable for William’s flying skills in the eyes of the boss.

Over the past few months, William has been struggling to consistently make smooth landings. Sam knows that not all landings will be smooth, but the range of William’s landings has not been consistent. Sam noticed every time the corporation boss jokes about William’s landing, William regresses and becomes more nervous the next time he’s flying. Instead of feeding into this negative spiral, Sam took time to observe William on his next couple of landings. He explained to William how he, at one time, had similar issues and gave him some things to work toward for improvement. For example, whenever Sam is accomplishing a landing, he verbally explains what he is doing and why he is doing it. Sam found it is easier to get someone to do things the way you want by encouragement instead of employing a firm fist.

For the first six months, William demonstrated that he was maturing and improving, and his flying was getting better every week. Sam prides himself on being a patient teacher, and he tries to include praise with any criticism. Over the past couple months, William has been regressing. The regression started when the boss started to make comments on how abrupt he flew the plane or making jokes with others onboard whenever William made a hard landing. One day, Sam’s boss got up after the flight, and he and the Vice President of the company were joking about how their backs hurt from the hard landing. Sam was upset with this because it was creating an environment William was not comfortable with. As this began to happen more and more, William’s flying and landings started getting worse, and he began making poor decisions. Sam realized how unproductive and unencouraging this critical behavior was for the pilot.

As Sam struggled to find positive solutions to encourage William to continue to progress in his flying abilities, he leaned to the concept of cheerful optimism. He didn’t let the reactions of the boss change the way he molded this pilot. Sam called William and explained to him that his attitude is what will make or break him. If he let these comments get under his skin, they would definitely get the better of him. If he could brush them off and continue to work hard and accept constructive criticism as well as praise, then it would all start coming together. Then Sam read the verse from Proverbs 17:22 to William: “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”

Sam recalled his knowledge of Just Culture, and he realized the errors William was making were just that…errors. William always comes to work prepared, and he has thought through the weather and performance, so Sam knew that William does not have an at-risk behavior. He knows that William does not make reckless choices. Sam believes that William’s lack of experience are the reasons he is not making consistently smooth landings and that improper inputs from the boss were affecting his ability to progress and improve.

As Sam began to think about how he would apply a Just Culture to his flight department, he realized he needed to deal with William by coaching him to learn from his errors. He decided he would not say anything when William makes a mistake or has a bad landing, unless it is something that might cause a much bigger problem. He would just take notes, and then when they were on the ground and have put the plane away, they would debrief. In the debrief, he would start with all of the great things William did during the flight including the proper decisions he made, and then they would discuss the errors together, and finish back on a high note by discussing some more successes. Sam would ask William if he realized he had made those errors, and almost every time William said yes. Sam asked him how he planned on improving. This method worked well with William, and William’s recent flights have been excellent. Sam jots down a few things each flight, good and bad, and now he is just dealing with minor items.

Sam believes in the pilots in his department. He can be the difference maker and ensure everyone continues to improve while creating a desired Just Culture. Sam says his identity is in Jesus Christ. Sam knows who he is, and his pilots understand he is accountable not only for his own actions but also theirs, so they already take safety and performance seriously. Sam likes to reflect on the following Bible verse: “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17).”

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by Chief Pilot Sam as he leads his flight department pilots. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module Five leadership trait of Attitude as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of attitude in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 5: Attitude to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons you choose.

4. Contrast this situation with Paul’s words and instructions in Philippians 2:1-11. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise attitude in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Attitude Case Study: Observations of a Young CFI

The Players

· Janet, a new scheduler/dispatcher at a large flight school; also, a flight instructor.

· Gerald, a senior scheduler/dispatcher at a large flight school

· Nancy, a new director at a large flight school

· Brett, an aircraft mechanic at a large flight school

The Situation

Janet is a new scheduler/dispatcher at a large flight school, and she is also a flight instructor. She experienced a great opportunity to witness her coworker, Gerald, lead in his role as a senior scheduler/dispatcher. It had been a long couple of weeks in the office due to the hiring of a new school director. It seemed as if everyone was having a hard time relating to the new school director because she is not a pilot. Gerald, however, recognized her strengths as a leader who looks for her subordinate’s strengths and utilizes them, encouraging teamwork above all else. Instead of resisting the changes she brought, he defended them and carried them out with a smile. This was inspiring to Janet, particularly because Gilbert is a close friend of the previous director who was transferred to another flight school in another state, and no one wanted him transferred. To see Gerald embrace the new director with utmost support demonstrated his excellent attitude despite the less than optimally desired circumstances.

Working with Gerald and watching him commit to the team was refreshing for Janet and inspired her to work for the team also. As a fellow Christian, Gerald has not been shy about encouraging Janet to trust in God’s plan as he has done. Janet often wondered what God’s plan was for her. There she was, freshly past her 27th birthday, and working as a new dispatcher and flight instructor at a flight school that had just hired someone with no aviation exposure or experience to run the business. Janet realized she must be patient and say yes to the opportunities God has given her, just as Gilbert has done.

A few weeks later, Janet’s boss asked a sister location to send a qualified check instructor to help their school location catch up on stage checks for the flight students. The borrowed check airmen travelled a long distance to their location and worked with two to three students each day, each in two- to four-hour blocks. As the week went on, they realized that most of the students scheduled for the end of the week weren’t quite signed off or feeling ready for the mock-check ride atmosphere. Janet related that they had this happen once in the past when they jumped the gun asking to borrow a check instructor, and the borrowed instructor was furious that his days were to be empty instead of filled with flight instruction. This new check instructor, however, smiled and helped them create a solution. Rather than be angry, he showed them a spreadsheet he uses that can help the scheduling staff, school director, and flight instructors keep track of who is ready for stage checks and who needs more work. He also accepted lessons, ground or flight oriented, with struggling students to help build their confidence and offer new viewpoints to the lessons they didn’t understand. It was great to see a leader in the company exercise adaptability with a positive attitude, and it helped the entire organization grow as a team.

From a personal perspective on practicing attitude in leadership, Janet also volunteered to stay late on a few shifts at the flight school to help her coworkers. The flu had been passed around, and quite a few instructors and office staff needed to stay home to recover or watch their sick children. Janet was inspired by the borrowed check instructor and wanted to help everyone in any way she could. Some of her days ended up being 12-hour days, and some of her flight lessons turned into ground lessons while she covered the front desk. She didn’t mind, because the extra work relieved some pressure from those who needed to be home.

Janet also started tutoring a student on complex aircraft systems. Multiple instructors had tried to teach this student in varying ways to no avail. Through simple conversation, Janet perceived that the student’s learning style was much like her own. Janet showed her how to draw out the flight systems using simple schematics and helped her understand how she could practice drawing them during self-study. By the end of the week, the chief instructor was impressed with the student’s new understanding of the complex systems, and how she was able to not only explain them, but correlate the knowledge in flight. The tutoring sessions, extra shifts, and turning her flight lessons into ground lessons while manning the front desk were all ways that Janet exercised adaptability and selflessness. Moving forward, Janet desires to continue offering her time and positivity when her teammates need a helping hand.

Another person at the flight school who has inspired Janet recently is one of the aircraft mechanics at the school. Brett is a hard worker. He often works 14-hour days and comes in on his days off to keep the airplanes flying for the students. He truly feels terrible whenever something breaks, even if it clearly wasn’t his fault. He takes his job and flight training seriously, though these aren’t even the most inspiring things about Brett. Janet noticed that Brett always has a smile on, even when she calls him in at 6:00am on his day off. She has never heard him complain or speak badly of the workplace or anyone in it. He respects each person and all of the opportunities presented, tremendously and consistently. As everyone becomes more familiar with this shy mechanic, he is becoming a well-respected leader in the workplace. Janet believes his strength lies within his humility and beliefs. You see, Brett always has a Bible in the pocket of his cargo pants. He quietly bows his head and prays before every meal, even when they have group dinners and no one else joins his prayer. His attitude models his values daily. Janet is extremely inspired by Brett’s positivity and quiet, calm, and steady demeanor. She is thankful to have the opportunity to work with him, and she hopes to develop a stronger sense of humility like his.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced or observed by Janet and others in her flight school. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

4. Contrast this situation with the situation Joseph faced in Genesis 39-40. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise attitude in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Conduct Case Study Situations – choose one of the two situations presented

Thematic Question: How does a leader’s conduct influence the behavior of leadership?

Conduct Case Study: A New Day

The Players

· Scott, an aircraft sales representative for a large aircraft manufacturing company

· Wendy, an aircraft sales representative for a large aircraft manufacturing company

· Roger, a sales division chief for a large aircraft manufacturing company, and Scott and Wendy’s supervisor

The Situation

Scott had been the aircraft sales representative in the training aircraft division of a large aircraft manufacturing company for the past five years, and he had developed quite a large portfolio of customers and sales successes in his sector of new training aircraft sales. He was well known in the training aircraft business, well liked and respected in the company, and he had developed a great reputation with his customers. He had started with the company as an intern during his college years as an aviation major. Although he had intended to become an airline pilot, he developed a love for the aircraft manufacturing and sales business, and he was still able to fly for the company. The company was great for its leadership development and for providing job skill training and promotion opportunities for its members. The company also held high performance expectations for its members in the high stakes and rapidly changing aviation industry. Scott was known as one who consistently exceeded those expectations. Everything was going great, and he had full support of his bosses.

Two things happened that changed Scott’s direction at the company. The first occurred over a long period of time. A new company leader came in, and this leader changed the focus of the company drastically. Instead of focusing on training aircraft, which had been a large part of the company for decades, the leader changed the primary focus to business jet aircraft. This change in focus tended to leave the training aircraft division less supported and with fewer resources for marketing and innovation. The second occurrence happened in one day, as far as Scott and his boss, Roger, were concerned. A competing aircraft manufacturing company announced the sale of a significant number of training aircraft to a flight training organization that had been Scott’s largest customer in the nation. Scott and his company were taken completely by surprise. Within days, Scott was reassigned to another division, and a brand new employee, Wendy, was put into his sales representative position and given his entire portfolio.

Scott was devastated. All his years of hard travelling, being away from home, and developing relationships and sales contracts were gone and given to someone else. Roger felt under the gun also as Chief of that sales division. It was not his decision to replace Scott, and certainly not his decision to bring in a new employee, who was not experienced in the aircraft sales business. Her inexperience was evident when she met with her customers for the first time, as she obviously had not done her research on each of her customers. She displayed a lack of knowledge of who they were and what they needed. Also, as the company continued to scale back its customer support and sales incentives in the training aircraft division, she appeared more as a messenger than a dedicated sales and customer support advocate to the company’s loyal customers. Roger’s assessment was that Wendy demonstrated good potential to do well in the position, and with focused mentoring and coaching she could certainly grow into the position to become an excellent and successful sales representative. Roger set to work in guiding Wendy in her new role. He also spent a good deal of time counseling Scott and reassuring him that he still had a great future in the company. He reminded Scott that the aviation business is a fast moving, dynamic business, and that Scott should be ready to move and grow with it. He maintained high regard for Scott, and he helped him in his transition to a new role in the company. Scott took the advice and counseling well, and he is now excelling in his new role. The change also enabled him to gain valuable experience in different areas of the company. Probably the biggest key to his success after such a change with the way he responded to the loss of his position. Those closest to him in the company witnessed his excellent conduct, as well as the conduct of Roger in responding to the situation. Wendy was a fast learner, and she quickly developed into a very good sales representative with Roger’s guidance and support. Although the company had lost a big customer, within a couple of years they had more business than they could handle, which in itself brought additional challenges.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by Scott and Roger. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick.

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

3. Using the Module Six leadership trait of Conduct as the conceptual foundation for your mini case study, analyze and explain the importance of conduct in dealing with this situation in terms of mentoring, discipling, and coaching others for leadership. Use at least five lesson topics in Workbook 6: Conduct to support your analysis and explanation. You should utilize and cite concrete support from the Scripture, Stories, and/or Principles to Absorb sections of the Workbook lessons you choose.

4. Contrast this situation with Paul’s words and instructions in 1 Thessalonians Chapter 2. Thought Question: How does God want us to exercise conduct in our relationship with Him as leaders and in mentoring, discipling, and coaching others to become leaders?

Conduct Case Study: Walking on Thin Ice

The Players

· Cathy, an aircraft maintenance technician at a medium sized repair facility

· James, an aircraft maintenance supervisor at a medium sized repair facility

· Terry, an aircraft maintenance supervisor at a medium sized repair facility

The Situation

Cathy is an aircraft maintenance technician at a medium sized repair facility. She is a bit frustrated in her job. When she initially joined the company as a mechanic, her maintenance team supervisor, as she put it, was very kind, emotionally stable (not moody), and someone who knew how to get the job done. James was his name, and he genuinely cared for his mechanics’ well-being and their professional development. Cathy really enjoyed working for him, especially since she was rather new and green when she was put on his crew. In the same company, another maintenance supervisor, Terry, saw her working for James, and he decided to poach Cathy for his own crew. Therefore, Cathy now works on Terry’s team.

Cathy loved working on James’s team. James was kind and relaxed and worked with his mechanics to make sure they had everything they needed. But more than that, he spent time talking with each of the team members, listening to them and genuinely caring for them. His gracious and caring conduct was well known in the company. He made it a point to learn personal aspects about each of his mechanics, and he let them into his personal life. James’s team is known as a relaxed and highly effective team. Everyone worked together to accomplish their work, nearly always achieving on-time performance or better.

Cathy’s experience is that Terry’s team is nothing like her previous team. Terry micromanages depending on his mood and he doesn’t really know his mechanics like James does. In addition, prior to being moved to Terry’s crew, Cathy heard a rumor about Terry’s unfaithful ventures in stepping out of his marriage. This rumor concerned Cathy very much, being a female and Terry specifically having her moved to his crew. Up until recently, Cathy wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt since everything she had heard was just rumor, even though it appeared very credible based on what she had seen and heard. While speaking with a teammate the subject came up, and her teammate confirmed the rumors about Terry based on his personal conversations with Terry. So, not only did Cathy work for a man who assumes negative intent first, is a supervisor she considers to be a bully and cannot be wrong, but one who is also unfaithful in his marriage with children.

Considering the situation, Cathy feels like she needs to always be on her toes and ready for social damage control when dealing with Terry. She enjoys being treated like one of the guys, and she gets along with practically everyone. When it comes to her supervisor however, she feels like she can’t fully relax socially and that she always has to be ultra sensitive to his misinterpreting social cues or dropping ones she needs to be wary of. Cathy is married, and she keeps her husband in the loop about all of her dealings with Terry. She believes she must work extra hard at not conveying the wrong impression to Terry.

Cathy often reflects on the variances in leadership she personally observes in James and Terry. As far as all this goes in regard to leadership, she believes James to be a wonderful leader. She identifies with James’s method of leadership, and she sees Terry as an example of how not to lead and behave in the workplace.

Questions for the Case Study

1. Identify two leadership issues or dilemmas, faced by Cathy and James. Explain your reasoning for picking the issues you pick. How may James help Cathy in her leadership development even though she is no longer on his team?

2. Compare and contrast this situation to a similar situation you may have personally faced, experienced, or observed as a leader, or as one being led, or as an observer on the side-lines.

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