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Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
Case 3.2: A Shift for Lieutenant Colonel
Adams
Case Synopsis and Analysis
Lt. Adams is a successful engineer in the Air Force who has been recognized for his
accomplishments. He recently led small teams successfully and was promoted to lieutenant
colonel earlier than his peers. About 6 months ago, he was given a new position, outside of
engineering, where he served as commanding officer of administration in an airbase with
over 5,000 personnel. He was the senior human resources officer in this new position.
About 6 months ago, the government mandated significant reductions and the closures of a
number of bases. Base X was being closed as an airbase and assigned to the Army. Adams
was tasked with overseeing much of this transition, including relocations, staff reductions,
and voluntary retirement.
While Adams has many individual attributes that contribute to successful leadership, his lack
of career experience in human resources contributed to diminished skill competency. He
lacked effective problem-solving skills, social judgment, and knowledge, and appears to have
missed the “bigger picture.”
This case study provides a clear example of the relationship between career experience and
skill competency. Students should be able to see the strength of Skill Model and understand
that traits are not sufficient to lead to success in complex leadership situations.
Learning objectives:
• Students should be able to analyze an individual’s skills and deficiencies under
the Skills Model.
• Students should begin to develop strategies to help an individual improve his/her
skills.
• Students should understand the link between career experience and skill
competency.
Answers to questions in the text:
1. Based on the skills model, how would you assess Lt. Col. John Adams’s ability to
meet the challenges of the base administration position?
Lt. Adams has many of the individual attributes that impact leadership skills and
knowledge. He seems to be intelligent, has high levels of general cognitive ability,
and has motivation to excel. One could argue that he has crystallized cognitive
ability, because he has been able to learn new skills through experience and has some
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
2. How would you assess his ability to meet the additional tasks he faced regarding the
conversion of the base?
His ability to meet the additional tasks is quite limited. Adams lacks human resources
3. If you were to coach Adams on how he could improve his leadership, what would you
tell him?
I would encourage working on his skill competencies, and I would urge him to seek a
good deal of immediate assistance on human resources matters. Indeed, until he has
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
more experience, he should regularly seek advice and counsel from others who have
Potential teaching approaches:
This case study is conducive to group discussions and exercises.
Below is a way to structure a class based on the skills approach and Case Study 3.2:
• Lecture on skills approach and the skills model.
• Read Case 3.2.
• Consider doing one or all of the exercises listed below.
• Discuss Questions 1 and 2 in the case study as a class.
• Discuss Question 3 from the case study in small groups and then with the larger class.
• Finally, the professor may choose to conduct in-class exercises listed below.
Exercises for this case study:
1) Debate: Break the class into small groups or have a large-group debate about Lt.
Adams. One group argues that he should be immediately demoted. Another argues for
continuation of his role at Base X.
2) Lt. Adams lacks problem-solving, social judgment skills, and knowledge. Yet he is a
3) In small groups, students should do the following:
You are a human resources consultant tasked with assessing this situation and
4) Role-Play: Students break into pairs. One student is Adams and the other is a
leadership coach. After discussing all the questions from the case study, students role-
Northouse, Leadership 8e
SAGE Publications, 2019
5) Assume the role of Lt. Adams and write a 200–250-word reflection on how your
