WhenTwoLeadersontheSeniorTeamHateEachOtherHarvardBusinessReviewCaseStudy-2019

The feedback in the 360-degree reviews was supposed to be anonymous. But it was crystal clearwho'dmadethenegativecomments inthe assessmentofoneexecutive.

Lance Best, the CEO of Barker Sports Apparel, was meeting with Nina Kelk, the company'sgeneral counsel, who also oversaw human resources. It had been a long day at the company'sBirmingham, England, headquarters, and in the early evening, the two were going over theevaluations of each of Lance's direct reports. Lance was struck by what he saw in CFO DamonEwen's file. Most of the input was neutral, which was to be expected. Though brilliant and wellrespected, Damon wasn't the warmest of colleagues. But one person had given him the lowestratings possible,andfromthewritten marks,LancecouldtellthatitwasAhmedLund,Barker'sheadofsales. Oneread:"I'venever workedwithabigger controlfreak in mylife."

"Thesecommentsareprettyvicious," Lancesaid."You're surprised?"Ninaasked.

"Iguessnot,"Lanceacknowledged.

His CFO and his sales chief had been at loggerheads for a while. Ahmed's 360 also contained afewpointedcomplaintsabouthisworking style1nodoubtfromDamon.Lance sighed.Fiveyears earlier,whenhe'dsteppedintohisrole,he'dbeenfocusedongrowingthecompanythathisfather, Ericthe previous CEOhad founded. Barker licensed the rights to put sports leagues' logos onmerchandiseandpartneredwithlargebrands toproduceitforretail markets,andwhenLancetookthecompany over,itsrevenues wereabout100million.Soonafter,he'dlandedthefirm'sbiggest partner, Howell. Negotiating the deal with the global brand had been a challenge, but it increasedbusiness so much that Lance and his direct reports still felt they didn't have enough hours in thedayto get everything done. Theycertainly didn't havetime for infightinglike this.²

but Ido expect them to becivil."

Nina nodded, but Lance sensed she was biting her tongue. "You can be honest with me, Nina. Ineedyourcounsel."

"Well,"shesaidtentatively,"Ithinkthat's partoftheproblem.Theexpectationisthatwere civil,but that doesn't translate to collaboration. We all trust you, but there isn't a whole lot of trustbetweenthe team members.³

"SodoeseveryonethinkDamonisawful?"heasked,pointing tothereport.

Nina shook her head. "It's not just about him. You can see from the feedback that Ahmed isn't asaint either. He picks fights with Damon, and the tension between themand their teamshasbeenhaving arippleeffect ontherestofus.Youseethefinger-pointing.Itseemslikeeveryoneisout forthemselves."

Although Lance hated hearing this, it wasn't news. He'd just tried to convince himself that theproblems were growing pains and would sort themselves out. After all, sales and finance wereoftenat odds inorganizations, and theconflict hadn't had abig impact onBarker's

revenues.They'd grown22%thepreviousyear and 28%the yearbefore that.

Of course, none of that growth had come quickly, and opportunities had certainly been missed.Barkerhaddropped theballoninquiriesfromseveralretailersinterestedinitsproductsbyfailingtocoordinategetting themintothecompany'ssystemquickly.Now,Lancerealized thatmightbea sign of more fallout to come. He needed to fix this. "My dad always wanted to make one of thoseteam-buildingretreats,"⁴he said,smiling.Thishadbeenarunning jokeamongBarker'sexecutivesfor years. Whenever Eric had sensed tension, he would mention the idea, but he never followedthrough.

Ninashrugged."Thisisthefirsttime I'vebeenthroughthisprocessmyself."

"Right. Clearly I've got to do something, though. I know that Ahmed and Damon aren't mates,

question - explain what is at stake here ?