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4-2 Case Study: Manager Eduardo
Southern New Hampshire University
MBA-530-Q1698 Leading People & Organizations
Dr. Sam Sanders, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, SWP, HCS
October 14, 2023
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Eduardo was recently promoted to management level and has reached out for guidance
on developing his leadership skills after his first quarterly review. Eduardo has communicated
that he knows he is intelligent and believes that because he is typically quick to reach a solution
before others, this has unintendedly caused a disconnect between him and his team. He indicates
that he has been advised work with his team to empower them, however he tends to become
frustrated with the lack of responsiveness. With all of this, it can cause insecurity and lead his
team to feel as though they are unable to achieve Eduardo’s expectations. This case study will
focus on identifying leadership skills that Eduardo needs to develop, while providing steps for
this development, as well as a creating a strategy to enable Eduardo in using the flywheel effect.
This will assist in Eduardo in becoming a more effective leader.
Strategic thinking is a behavior that all employees, at any level and across all functions,
continually scan for new ways to contribute to the organization’s success (Molloy, 2021). This
means that employees, including leadership, should be focused on the future and not only what is
in the present. Employees across all functions can identify opportunities by challenging
processes within the organization and among all functional areas.
In Eduardo’s conversation, he indicated that is it typical for him to reach solutions before
others, and he identifies that he moves quickly to implementing a solution while the organization
is two steps behind. This tells me that he is not strategically thinking. While Eduardo believes
that he is accomplishing a goal, he is hurting himself and the organization by not working with
those across the organization to reach goals. This is not a form of effective team leadership, as
Eduardo is not focusing on the future with his team to scan for new ways to contribute.
Eduardo’s supervisor expressed that Eduardo often ignores valid input and alternative points of
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view. If both Eduardo and his supervisor identify this behavior, it is confirmed that Eduardo
should focus on building his strategic thinking skills.
To improve strategic thinking, Eduardo should implement a plan to ask questions with his
team. In conjunction of asking questions, it is important that he allow time for his team to answer
these questions. This would allow him identify areas of opportunity, while empowering the team
by the team feeling heard and valued. Additionally, Eduardo should focus on improving his
consideration of opposing ideas. Eduardo is quick to make decisions without discussion with
among the organization, unaware how this could impact others and other areas. By considering
opposing sides, the can provide opportunity to identify other options or ideas, as well as identify
any possible weaknesses, prior to moving forward with decisions.
Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to understand and manage your emotions,
as well as recognize and influence the emotions of those around you. This is a very important
interpersonal skill, which includes four components: self-awareness, self-management, social
awareness, and relationship management. Self-awareness is the ability to understand strengths
and weaknesses, as well as recognize emotions and how they affect you and your team. Self-
management is the ability to manage your emotions and remain positive despite setbacks. Social
awareness is the ability to recognize others’ emotions, and relationship management is the ability
to influence, coach, mentor, and resolve conflicts effectively (Landry, 2019).
Evaluating the information provided by Eduardo and his supervisor, it is apparent that
Eduardo lacks in emotional intelligence. While he is self-aware that he is quick to reach
solutions, he is unable to recognize that he should improve in all four components of emotional
intelligence. Eduardo is insufficient in understanding how his actions can affect the team, as an
example he states that he becomes frustrated with the lack of responsiveness from his team and
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organization, however his supervisor has expressed to him that his team feels that they cannot
live up to his expectations. This can result in low job satisfaction. When a team does not feel
valued or heard, this can impact productivity and morale. This also confirms that Eduardo
should focus on social awareness, as it is evident that he does not see how his actions and
emotions are impacting the organization and team. In conjunction with social awareness,
Eduardo lacks the ability to manage relationships. His supervisor has stated that Eduardo’s
‘professional arrogance’ has created more of a dictatorial leadership style, which is not
conducive to a leader who influences, coaches, mentors, and resolves conflict.
To improve Eduardo’s emotional intelligence, he should focus on listening closely to his
team and leadership. This means active listening, considering another perspective, and doing so
without judgement. This may be difficult at first, as Eduardo lacks in his ability for self-
awareness. In addition, Eduardo should work on connecting with his team on a personal level.
By connecting with his team, he will be showing his team that he cares and values them as
individuals. Showing empathy can increase relationships within an organization, allowing
employees to work well together.
Communication skills in leadership is imperative to gain trust, inspire positive change,
and align efforts in the pursuit of goals. If communication is lacking, this can cause information
to be misinterpreted, in which relationships can suffer, and create barriers that can hinder
progress (Landry, 2019). There are eight communication skills that are essential for leaders:
ability to adapt communication style, active listening, transparency, clarity, ability to ask open-
ended questions, empathy, open body language, and receiving and implementing feedback.
Eduardo’s communication skills are significantly lacking when it comes to his team. He
did not self-identify that there was a disconnect between him and his team, instead it was advised
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to him by his supervisor, and then confirmed by his supervisor to me. His supervisor has stated
that Eduardo often loses patience and misses input of others on the team. With this behavior,
there is little to no opportunity to influence or inspire team members, creating a tense work
environment. This type of environment can result in employees leaving the organization and high
turnover.
It is evident that Eduardo needs to improve his communication skills in the feedback
from his supervisor. As indicated, Eduardo ignores valid input and alternative points of view.
One step that Eduardo should take towards developing this skill is being present in interactions.
This includes removing distractions and being aware of his own communication style and how it
relates to others. Team members will feel valued if they are able to communicate with Eduardo
and can lead to higher work environment morale, in turn increased inspiration of the team.
Another step that Eduardo can take is to listen more than speaking. Active listening encourages
open and honest communication as a leader. Understanding the motivation, preferred
communication styles, and learning styles would allow Eduardo to adapt his message to the
team, leading to increased effective communication.
If Eduardo were to implement the noted steps to grow as a leader, it will assist in onset of
his flywheel. A flywheel is a concept, developed in the book Good to Great, that states there is
no single defining action, but rather a process of relentlessly pushing a giant, heavy flywheel,
turn by turn, building momentum until a point of breakthrough (Collins, 2007). Should Eduardo
focus on the improvement of his emotional intelligence, communication, and strategic thinking,
his flywheel will begin to move faster and more efficiently.
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References
Collins, J. (2007) Good to great. Women in Business, 59(5)
Landry, L. (2019a, April 3).:Emotional intelligence in leadership: Why it’s important. Business
Insights Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/emotional-intelligence-in-leadership:
Landry, L. (2019b, November 14).:8 Essential Leadership Communication Skills: HBS Online.
Business Insights Blog. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/leadership-communication:
Molloy, J. (2021, September 14).:Strategic thinking for leaders. Harvard Business Publishing.
https://www.harvardbusiness.org/strategic-thinking-because-good-ideas-can-come-from-
anywhere/:
