team collaboration case study/ leadership speaker sandi coryell

Project NASCAR

Leadership Simulation Workshop

How do you gain insights into performance gaps?

How do you determine areas for improvement?

How do you identify

future stars?

“I feel like I got a pile of cattle chasing my ass, and

I’m pedaling as hard as I can to stay in front of ‘em.”

-- Rusty Wallace, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Champion

This project was run with an advertising agency to:

• Identify future stars

• Tighten up performance gaps

• Improve collaboration

The six-week project entailed a simulation of a new business

pitch in which NASCAR* was their potential ‘client.’ It recreated

real-world conditions in a safe learning environment.

Project background

*NASCAR was not a participant in this project.

To test and observe the leadership, collaboration, and

innovation skills of team members by recreating real

world dynamics of high pressure, tight timelines, and

competing demands under ‘safe’ learning conditions.

• High-pressure • Time-constrained

• Real-world situations • Non-defined hierarchy

Goal

Case study: Project NASCAR

Participants must:

• Take on totally unfamiliar roles

• Get up to speed quickly

• Strategize changing conditions

• Organize themselves independently

• Combine people into unexpected teams

Execution



• Ability to communicate ideas and direction easily

• Decisive and timely decision making

• Ability to influence action with diverse group of people

• Innovative ideas

• Strategic thinking and convincing presentation

• Adaptability under changing conditions

• Collaboration and open sharing of ideas

Critical success factors

“Highly successful participants sized people up,

connected with them in a way that developed an

influence to get buy- in to their ideas and move

them into action.”

Critical success factors


“The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car; it’s the one who refuses to lose.” -- Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR Champion

“The winner ain’t the one with the fastest car;

it’s the one who refuses to lose.”

-- Dale Earnhardt, NASCAR Champion

1. Change

• Identify everyone’s roles in the assignment

• Seek out knowledge and insights

• Find mentors in unexpected places

• Be supportive and open to new ideas

• Celebrate wins

• Evaluate processes and adjust

How to Establish Leadership


“Driving a race car is like dancing with a chainsaw.”

-- Cale Yarborough, NASCAR Winston Cup Driver

2. Collaboration

• Drive to a common goal

• Embrace new ways of thinking

• Incorporate diverse perspectives effectively

• Develop a process that embodies

collaboration and support

• Support each other in risk taking

How to develop collaborative teams


“I never lost my job while I was leading a race.”

-- Buddy Baker, Two-time NASCAR Winner

3. Influence

• Understand what fires you up to get others excited also

• Be clear about your mission and communicate it concisely

• Ensure people feel safe to bring out what

makes them different

• Build connections and network of support

• Create partnerships

How to influence action for a result

• Revealed hidden talent and exposed future stars

• Developed confidence

• Improved understanding of how to incorporate

different perspectives

• Exposed complacent habits

• Improved decision making and adaptability

under pressure

• Identified flaws in process that facilitates

collaboration and innovation

What were the results?

• Two people were tapped as high potentials

• One person was reassigned to another position

• Initiated processes to recognize, reward, and

celebrate innovative ideas and risk taking on

daily basis

What actions were taken?

“A switch was suddenly flipped in people’s

brains. They now understood how different

ways of thinking and different approaches to

solving problems operate as ‘advantages’ and

work in concert to achieve a common goal.”

If you would like to identify your future stars, close performance gaps,

and set your team up for success, contact Sandi Coryell at 818-288-3483

Thank you.

Visit www.thecoryellgroup.com

team collaboration case study/ leadership speaker sandi coryell

Leadership & Management