Leadership Program Case
I had spent about 3 months in my new job at JP Morgan, Singapore, as a business analyst in the clearing and settlement project management team. I was handling a critical and high-budget project spanning over 4 different locations. Pleased with my work and the team player attributes I had shown in the few months, my Executive Director called me into his cabin and offered me an additional responsibility.
He said that he had started an “Offshore Test Centre (OTC)” initiative and he felt that it needed a manager and a leader to get it streamlined and functioning well. In addition to my work as an analyst in my project, I would be given the manager position for the OTC team.
Thinking that it would be a great opportunity to hone my team leadership skills, I accepted.
The OTC or the Offshore Test Centre was a team of consultants from Polaris who were working for JP Morgan. The team comprised of 4 people from Mumbai and 3 people from Hyderabad, in India, 1 person in London, UK and 2 people in North America. I was situated in Singapore.
When, I officially took over, I was made aware of the problems immediately. The person who was leading the team before me had little experience in the clearing and settlement technology area and was not able to provide the required level of expertise. He was let go and I was the replacement manager.
The main issues I encountered were:
1.) It was a new team and until now there had been no one to structure it or establish any guidelines. There was no team cohesion and feeling of camaraderie within the team was absent.
2.) The members had not received any training or formal knowledge sessions related to technology and business.
3.) There was no recognition for the team as it hadn’t been able to carve a niche for itself. The technology team did their own quality testing as there was no trust and hence no dependency.
4.) They already had a team leader at offshore who was handling the administration activities for Polaris, and he
He said that he had started an “Offshore Test Centre (OTC)” initiative and he felt that it needed a manager and a leader to get it streamlined and functioning well. In addition to my work as an analyst in my project, I would be given the manager position for the OTC team.
Thinking that it would be a great opportunity to hone my team leadership skills, I accepted.
The OTC or the Offshore Test Centre was a team of consultants from Polaris who were working for JP Morgan. The team comprised of 4 people from Mumbai and 3 people from Hyderabad, in India, 1 person in London, UK and 2 people in North America. I was situated in Singapore.
When, I officially took over, I was made aware of the problems immediately. The person who was leading the team before me had little experience in the clearing and settlement technology area and was not able to provide the required level of expertise. He was let go and I was the replacement manager.
The main issues I encountered were:
1.) It was a new team and until now there had been no one to structure it or establish any guidelines. There was no team cohesion and feeling of camaraderie within the team was absent.
2.) The members had not received any training or formal knowledge sessions related to technology and business.
3.) There was no recognition for the team as it hadn’t been able to carve a niche for itself. The technology team did their own quality testing as there was no trust and hence no dependency.
4.) They already had a team leader at offshore who was handling the administration activities for Polaris, and he