Case study

In the year 2003, three friends came together based on a recognized need in the economy, their Multi-passionate personalities, a common vision and leadership capabilities to form Champ Synergy Solutions Limited (CSSL), a service-oriented organization.

Levi, Faruk and Tor left their respective organizations based on different culture and leadership challenges. While Levi had made efforts for about 3 years to get a new job, before he started an online logistics business. Faruk and Tor on the other hand got new engagements after 4 weeks of exiting their former jobs. It was well known that among the 3, Levi seemed calm, emotionally subdued, laid back, yet most open to new ideas.

Tor and Faruk were the conventional hard driving business owners, emotionally stable, who often had intense, dispassionate arguments but would never allow it affect business decisions. They had good understanding of business management, partnership and friendship, which was very obvious, admirable and earned them the name “Trinity2”.

Within a few years, “Trinity2” started planning business transitions, structuring for growth and expansion

– it was indeed a painful, slow process with extreme emotional, personal and team sacrifices, but they were committed to the vision. They had the vision to build an enduring, self-propelling organization with young minds pushing new products and services to the ever-changing customer demography.

Faruk, spent Tuesday and Thursday mornings ardently communicating the vision, values and future of the organization to the team and also inspired the team about the future possibilities. Weekly learning and training sessions also held for the different team levels, special coaching sessions for the next generation of leaders, SOPs and brand expression programs were also held to inject the emotions, culture and ideology into the team.

Though business was tough, market entrance was constricted with huge competition especially from the larger companies, yet the team persisted as a culture. It was at this point that the “Learning –Practice – Money Making Model” (LPM Model) was launched, a business model that inspired the team on how to become learning teams, how to express the shared culture, appropriate behavior, going beyond boundaries and how to make profit on all projects.

They suddenly became inspirational and servant-leaders during this transition period; they pulled up line managers, special talents and monitored how others were encouraged to succeed. CSSL experienced a phenomenal people driven growth at this point. Learning advocacy was high, team engagement went up to about 90% even though, the firm was financially challenged. Champ Synergy Solutions Limited stayed afloat, alive and kept pushing new ideas forward regardless of the persistent business challenges, establishing a new layer of leaders in the company – NextGen2.

Three years later, CSSL consistent culture paid off, as a =N=500 Million Naira project was awarded to Champ Synergy Solutions Limited with 60% advance payment, projected gross margin of 42%, required capabilities and expertise were already trained and resident within the organization and supporting partners. The project inspired significant growth and development of the teams, the leaders and therefore the organization.

For over 7 years, the company continued to win several 9-digit contract figures, reaching an annual revenue of 9.6 billion Naira, and expanding the business frontiers regionally and internationally, it was therefore time for Levi to supervise the selection of the Next Generation of leaders in CSSL – the NextGen3, to lead the new business initiatives regionally. This meant that the founders were expected to take on investor roles and become less operational in the daily running of the business.

From the business planning and business continuity manuals, it is required that NextGen2 provide a 4-month hand-holding succession and practical knowledge sharing session with NextGen3. Soon after the NextGen3 leadership selection was completed, the business strategy was recrafted and cascaded with the new Organizational roadmap.

In other to fulfill the structure and operational needs of the businesses and to execute another World Bank Project – Africa ZERD for 49-weeks, 15 new project managers were hired to join the CSSL team after a rigorous recruitment exercise taking the total staff strength to 21 executive management team, 95 middle management professionals and 350 technical support team.

Sixteen weeks after NextGen3 induction, the organization’s growth and performance indices began to nose dive and the engine thrust was losing steam mid-air. One NextGen2 leader felt like a “potent virus had inoculated the team”. The NextGen Leadership Criteria such as; upper credit scores, higher degrees, international exposures, certifications, prestigious associations and experiences from other reputable organizations had been accurately predictable since the business inception. The training process was extensive and coaching given to further strengthen the new teams. What could have gone amiss within such a short period and why?

CSSL new team members are young generation Z smart talents, inspired, self-aware, colorful, focused, fun-loving individuals that are comfortable with uncertainties, free minded, curious beings, available supporters, co-creators, classy techy, automation savvy, top performers, spirited entrepreneurs with rooftop -implementable ideas and high sense of risk and adventure. These new spirits were added to the executive management and the middle management team levels.

The business leaders realized that within 34 weeks of starting the new projects 9 of the 15 new entrants had resigned and Africa ZERD project timeline and cost began to rise significantly. Ki lo si le.

Discussion

1. What are the leadership and emotional intelligence Highs and lows?