CASE :

When a New Manager Stumbles, Who’s at

Fault?

Ainab Zaidi | H21003

Ashray Sharma | H21012
Farheen Neyaz | H21017
Shivansh Gupta | H21049
 Case characters
Rafferty Goldstone Jim Slake
Sales Representative for 8 Head of Human Resources
years at Bulwark Securities

Paul Mackinley Christopher Woodbone

Bulwark’s CEO
Ex-Manager of Goldstone

Gloria Ludlow Bill Durkee, Juba Puckett,

Regional Director Tony Skrow
Sales Representatives
 Case Background
Goldstone was promoted to the position of Manager and transferred to the Framingham
branch of Bulwark Securities. He is asked by his regional director, Gloria Ludlow to
maintain his quota and that his performance lies majorly in how his sales reps performed.

Couldn’t fulfill his quota in the first quarter even after “Sales were off, reps were doing
long hours, a thousand a week”

He feels out of tune with the new products, and fails to have interpersonal relations with his
reps. He is under pressure from Gloria now, who suggests him an employee development
program. ​

The situations worsen and he starts facing attrition from reps and lack of motivation in
others who work overtime with no bonuses. ​
In the 2nd quarter, the quota is met but overall, it is a downward slope for him with losing
one rep to the competitor and some others in line of conflicts and attrition. Feels disconnect
with the idea of management.
Now, he needs to figure out his performance and do something about it within a week, as
specified by Gloria​
Goldstone not performing well
Why?
01 The team could not meet the targets

Why?
02 The team was not convinced and motivated to work

• Competency mismatch for Goldstone 

Why?
• Lacked ownership of product
03 • Inability to sell, incompetence of reps

Why? • Lack of succession planning and grooming new managers

04 • Lacunae in communicating what the new product entails
• No work on competency development of reps and manager

Why? • Lack of involvement of HR and senior management

05 • Absence of a strategy to sell a new product
• Lack of feedbacks and performance reviews for the reps and manager
 Problems Identified:

Lack of on-the-job
No proper assessments Lack of job description No focus on person-job training rendering
while promoting clearly articulating the fit; a good sales rep new managers unable
employees to a expectations and might not turn into a to handle practical
managerial level requirements good manager challenges

Too much time New product with Sole emphasis on Inconsistent

dedicated to emphasis on service targets and none performance reviews
administrative required to be sold and feedbacks
on how to go
work for Goldstone without providing about achieving
adequate training​ them​
 Immediate Solutions: For Goldstone

01 02
Communicate Enable
Goldstone should identify gaps in his Take a step back on
performance and communicate what can be micromanaging his team
delegated consulting the management members and provide them
enough space and time to be
able to show their worth

03 04
Train Seek Mentorship
Facilitate training of the representatives Identify a role model in the
in his team by analyzing their organization who has shown
expertise and has enough
performances and giving consistent
experience in the role
feedback

05
Build a Team
Goldstone could conduct team-building exercises
with support of the management, which help
everyone from Skrow to Durkee to come together
and work together as a team.
 Solutions: Strategic
01
Performance Reviews
Perform regular, timely and interactive 360-
degree performance reviews
Define KPI’s to evaluate person-job fit
03
On-job Training
Allow Goldstone to shadow a person
who is in the same capacity as he is but
has more experience in handling such
situations
05
Enhance Product Ownership
Impart what the product entails to the sales
reps, enhance ownership through in depth
knowledge of the product, gather feedback
from reps about the customer demand
02
Mentorship Program
Assign Goldstone a mentor or a
buddy within the organization
whom he can reach out to without
any hesitation
04
Redesign Training Programs
Align training to emphasize more on
application than theory
Evaluation models to gauge the training
outcomes and ROI
06
Succession Planning
Introduce formal processes where new
managers are groomed to take on new roles
Chart an extensive career trajectory and help
employees also visualize it with the help of
a mentor
Thank you!