Leadership Without Easy Answers
Case study: From Vision to Reality: Reducing Redundant Roles and Cutting Costs
Work through the five steps in order. Read the case, take a perspective, map who is at the table, make a first move, then submit your reflection through the form. Your progress stays with you while this page is open.
1Read the case
Sheila serves as the VP of Human Talent for Sunshine Industries and has just been alerted to promote her human resources generalists to the title of “Human Resources People Manager.” She knows most of her generalists are trained in very specific skills, typically very process driven, with little room for adaptive leadership moves.
The CEO recently stated in a meeting:
“We don’t need redundant titles and fat at the top. The HR generalists can be trained to manage their teams.”
Sheila knew many of them had no training to lead and manage teams of 20+ people. Yet, she knows there is not necessarily an “option” to tell the CEO “NO.”
Pause and notice: what is really happening here?
- The stated vision: fewer redundant titles and lower costs at the top.
- The assumption: process-driven specialists can be trained into people managers.
- The scale: teams of 20+ people, led by people with no management training.
- The pressure: “No” does not feel like an available answer.
Key term: adaptive leadership
Some challenges have known solutions that can be followed as a process. Others have no easy answer and require people to learn, change habits, and work through tension together. This case sits in the second category.
2Take a perspective
Choose a lens. Each one carries a different kind of influence and a different set of risks.
Thinking prompts
- What can Sheila agree to, and what does she need to negotiate?
- What would her generalists need before, during, and after the title change?
- What evidence could she bring to the CEO about readiness and risk?
Thinking prompts
- How does your long relationship with the VPs shape what you can say?
- What professional learning would new people managers need, and on what timeline?
- How might you help the VPs and the CEO see the same problem?
3Who’s at the table?
The case names two groups and leaves a third open. Add the people and groups you believe are affected. Drag cards between columns, or use the suggestions below.
Employees and their families at all levels of the corporation.
Constituents who utilize Sunshine Industries products, services, and processes.
Who else is impacted in communities across the world when organizations abruptly take a vision to reality?
4Make your first move
There is no single correct answer. Pick the first move closest to your instinct, then read what it opens up and what it risks.
5Next steps
When you think about a vision you have or the organization you work within has, how does the vision become a reality?
Who is involved and invited to the table in the decision-making process?
Bring your drafts into the reflection form. This preview adds responses to a session-only demonstration table, not a shared Notion database.
📝 Open the Case Reflection Form