Guiding Coalition Selection
Milestone One
MBA 699
Brittny Sena
Introduction
One of the largest life science organizations has produced a successful new cancer drug
and are currently contemplating their options for the future. The owners feel the time is right to
sell while the board of directors does not agree. As part of the strategic planning team, a guiding
coalition will be assembled to help lead change within the organization and sustain the selling of
the company.
Recommendation
To build a strong guiding coalition, several factors must be taken into consideration.
According to Kotter (2012), the most important behaviors of a leader in a guiding coalition are
having a good mix of introversion and extroversion to be able to gather all types of feedback, and
having unconventional thinkers who are innovative and creative. Based on the hierarchy within
the organization as well as the employee personas, the recommendation for the guiding coalition
members include Stan, Omar, John, Elaine, and Chris.
Justification of Team Members
Each team member was selected based on their position within the company, tenure,
department, and leadership or change experience.
The first team member is Stan, who operates as a human resources manager, and will be
an individual contributor to the guiding coalition. He has been with the company for eight years,
though he has low job satisfaction with the organization. Stan does work within the human
resources department and has a connection to all employees within the organization. He has
previous experience as a guiding coalition member and knows what does and does not work well
in these situations.
The second team member is Omar, who is the manufacturing director and manages 580
manufacturing workers within the organization. Omar has been with the company for three years,
since he joined through an acquisition, and has the highest job satisfaction of any coalition
member. He is highly successful in manufacturing and has experience opening new supply
chains. With his experience in the industry as well as his connection to the manufacturing
employees, Omar is a great asset for the guiding coalition.
The third member is John, who is a hard-working research director who has been part of
the team working on the oncology drug. John has been with the company since its founding 22
years prior and manages multiple research labs in multiple companies with a staff of 100
researchers. With John’s experience, he has prior company experience with organizational
change, witnessing multiple mergers whether they succeed or fail. John will have good insight
into the company as a whole and can get first-hand information from the researchers he leads.
The fourth team member is Elaine, who serves as the acting director that manages 18
senior managers that directly report to her, including the marketing manager. Elaine has been
with the company for ten years and is satisfied with her job within the organization. She is a
strong leader in terms of adapting and change and will be able to successful guide others with
changes that will be coming. Elaine is a “true visionary” and complements others who strengths
differ from her own. With her presence in multiple departments throughout the organization, she
is a great asset to have on the guiding coalition.
The final team member is Chris, who is a sales executive within the organization and
manages more than 150 sales representatives worldwide. He has been involved with several
acquisitions with previous companies and knows his weaknesses and limitations professionally.
Chris has been with the company for ten years and has average satisfaction with his job. Chris
will be a valuable asset to gain feedback from external stakeholders to the organization in terms
of change.
Team-Building Strategies
When bringing a team together, ensuring the team can bond and build trust is important
to the success of the guiding coalition. Several things will need to happen to make a successful
team including developing SMART goals, hosting retreats to develop coalition team members,
and creating urgency for the situation. According to Stokes (2024), building high-performing
teams needs clear objectives and SMART goals and a collaborative culture is key to ensure
success. Coalition team members should attend specific retreats that will not only allow for team
building activities but will help develop effective communication strategies and align coalition
members to the ultimate goal of selling the organization. Urgency will be created within the team
at the formation of the coalition so team members will know coming into the group how
important being urgent is to the decision. This will be done by educating team members on the
why behind the what and relating it to them as people within the company. Including the team in
the important aspects of the coalition such as the development of goals and strategies will build
trust for the team as well as themselves, putting them in the driver’s seat of leading change and
creating a common goal with the coalition group.
References
Kotter. (2012, February 17). Guiding Coalition: a dream team to help you implement strategy
quickly. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2012/02/08/guiding-coalition-
a-dream-team-to-help-you-implement-strategy-quickly/?sh=4f0d2202b294
Stokes, L. (2024, February 26). Building High-Performing Teams: 10 Strategies for Success -
Focus People. Focus People. https://www.focuspeople.com/2024/02/23/building-high-
performing-teams-x-strategies-for-success/
