Collaborative Leadership - Rob Waldron at Score

Collaborative Leadership

Introduction

Rob Waldron at Score was a part time education center for students from grade 1 to 8 to improve their marks in school Score was founded in 1992 by Alan Tripp, a Stanford MBA with a dream of revolutionizing education in the United States. Within three years Tripp grew the business from a single center with two employees serving a few dozen children to 14 centers with more than 40 employees serving over 3,000 students throughout California. One of the essential elements in Score was hiring academic couches. As a leader Alan Tripp had a great concept, and incredibly talented and dedicated people for working for him. Waldron took over Score in 1996. After taking over he had to ensure that the first thing he had to gain trust from employees, throughout their help, he can get to know the company much better. He also had to deal with some problems that he company was facing, which are:-

Problem

One of the major problems that SCORE encountered is the fact that they had a difficult time keeping their employees although there was a lot talented people hired and the people who got hired were the best in their jobs as some coaches were saying "come hang out for two years and then figure out what you want to do with your life" and then leave after. This problem was first recognized when 14 of 70 employees resigned in the first couple of months of 1997. As the new president of SCORE, Waldron was to change the structure of what the company used to do. On the other hand he did not want to destroy what has been already built in the company because with the opportunities came tremendous amount of responsibilities which he was good in some of them.

Alan Tripp was the founder and CEO of SCORE Corporation. After a while Waldron who was an outsider, became the new president of SCORE! It took him some time to get use to his new staff and new rules and manners of the company.

There were some complains raised by some of the coaches. The complains were due to these three major problems: 1) Low Pay wages to compare with other competitors,2) Inexperienced management of the new facilities and demanding a lot of work and less attention to how the quality of work was done for coaches like sponsoring the little leagues PTA meetings meeting with the parents and mainly spend time with the kids.

In order for opening an additional 38 centers in 1998, company needed to hire 200 employees within 12 months which was really a short period to find the best.

This company faced many problems; working shifts was the major problem, because the employees had to work seven days a week but they never got any bonuses for their extra work and they were promised to get higher rank which never got and they had no tome to spend with their families or do anything else.

SCORE! Company was about to expand the business into the higher level as soon as possible because of the expansion. According to Rob Waldron, "Alan's skill was creating a special place for children, and a special place for every employee. I was capable of managing it professionally and spreading it around the nation" but he had a good vision on where he going but he was succeeding because the parents were relatively paying attention to their children's education. We assume that, Waldron was too rushed of thinking about expanding the company into a higher level.

Rationale

By the end of the 1990s Waldron was faced with an aggressive expansion plan for SCORE!, however, several hurdles still remained, and he was faced with an increasingly high turnover of employees. Simply put, Waldron was concentrating more on profitability and expansion rather that on the sustainability and satisfaction of their most valuable asset, people. His approach was more job-centered than employee centered. Specifically, the regular meetings were clashing with employee interests while consideration was not being shown to all employees, new and old.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

If one looks at Maslow's theories it is evident that SCORE! Has to appeal to several of his theories, the potential to be disastrous.

Self-Actualization and Self-Esteem

SCORE! Coaches were being recruited from the elite institutions in the United States. Waldron found that "recruits from places like Harvard and Stanford were somewhat arrogant about their careers. They had multiple job offers and wanted to know what we would do for them, rather than how they could contribute." SCORE! Was a small, unknown institution. Although the work experience was valuable, coaches felt a lack of prestige at SCORE!. This combined with low pay, and the demanding nature of the job had drastic effects on the morale of employees. Many of them felt that SCORE! Was just a stepping stone to better things, and that they would not reach their potential at SCORE!. Some coaches also found that their salary was embarrassing, "coaches in their second year wanted to know that they were making over $30,000, as were their friends. In other words, coaches did not want to go to a party and say, 'I make $26 but have a bonus potential.'". This low base wage also contributed to low self-esteem and morale.

Similarly, the fact that Rob started hiring people from the outside to top-level management positions took away from the camaraderie that existed in the organization. People started feeling that their commitment to the organization was no longer being appreciated with promotions. One coach had this to say, 'I felt like I had been stripped of my role as a leader in the center, and as if the team dynamic had disappeared."

Physiological

Many of the coaches also felt that the job itself was extremely demanding. "Several region managers had complained to [Waldron] that spirits were low in the centers. Coaches at all levels were feeling "burned out", and quite a few had approached their region manager to request transfers". Many coaches were not renewing contracts for the simple reason that they could not handle the job. It is not only due to the long hours, coaches found that working with children was exhausting, and as a result many were anxious to move on after their two year contract. One coach noted that working at SCORE! Was "like hosting a birthday party eight hours a day."

Other Factors

* Low salary and ineffective bonuses were not only detrimental

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