Cavlent

CASE STUDY: SPV & Manager Team Diagnostic

- by Cavlent's Marketing and Communication Team
Case Study

"Is my Manager actually acting like a Supervisor?"

The Context

Organization Profile

  • Industry Context: A company operating in the retail industry, relying on strict daily operational oversight, the ability to manage frontline teams, and coordination between operations, sales, and supply chain.
  • OD Initiative: In the current year's Organizational Development (OD) initiative, the company conducted mapping for Supervisors and Managers (approx. 51 individuals) to understand:
    • Leadership readiness.
    • Behavioral strengths and blind spots.
    • Role fit regarding operational demands.
    • Areas requiring coaching intervention and restructuring.

Challenges Faced

  • Unstable Performance: High variation in performance between branches/areas.
  • Lack of Control: Supervisors do not consistently carry out daily control and execution functions.
  • Weak Drive: Managers have not provided sufficient leadership drive.
  • Slow Decisions: High operational workload results in slow decision-making.
  • Owner Dependency: The Owner/Board still has to intervene in cross-departmental coordination.
  • Role Mismatch: Indications of a mismatch between individual leadership styles and the role requirements, which demand firmness, a fast work rhythm, and cross-team communication skills.

Management Expectations Before Cavlent Mapping

Behavioral mapping was conducted on ±51 SPVs and Managers to validate root causes before the company determines OD intervention steps:

  • Do Supervisors & Managers already possess behavioral patterns suitable for roles demanding control, execution, and coordination?
  • Do performance gaps arise from skills, mindset, or a behavioral mismatch?
  • Who is ready to step up, who needs intensive coaching, and who is fundamentally unsuitable for a supervisory role?
  • Do the structure and scope of work need adjustment?
  • How can a relevant coaching program be designed based on behavioral data, not just perception?
Disclaimer
  • This report maps soft skill tendencies and behaviors, not the technical abilities or experience of the team, to understand the macro patterns currently occurring.
  • The data displayed reflects current behavioral tendencies, which may change according to context, experience, and work environment. Thus, this is not a permanent label, but baseline data to view work patterns.
  • OD & restructuring decisions must still consider business goals, company culture, financial conditions, current priorities, and other external considerations.
  • Cavlent functions as an initial data navigator, not the sole basis for promotion, demotion, or placement.

Key Findings from Cavlent Mapping

Work Roles are Dominated by 'Strategic' Profiles (43.14%), Not 'Controlling'

  • Role Distribution: Strategic 43.14%, Execution 23.53%, Relationship 31.37%, and Controlling 1.96% (almost non-existent).
  • Supervisors & Managers in this industry turn out to be patterned more as planners than controllers. They can see the big picture, but the rhythm of daily control is weak, execution discipline is inconsistent, and monitoring functions do not run optimally.
  • With the 'Controlling' role at only 1.96%, it means the SPV/Manager functions meant to maintain SOPs, team discipline, and report accuracy do not happen naturally. This is the root cause of why many owners feel: "There is already a Supervisor, but I still have to be the one checking."

Managerial Qualifications Dominated by 'Adequate' Level (66.67%)

  • The majority of SPVs/Managers possess basic potential but are not yet mature in 3 key aspects: decision-making, building work urgency, and managing escalations and conflict.
  • This explains why the middle-management team sometimes fails to act as "strategic message conduits" from top to bottom, often delays decisions, and fails to be an effective extension of management.

Work Motivation Dominated by Social Motivation (39.22%)

  • The majority are motivated by relationships and togetherness, rather than targets, competition, or financial rewards.
  • Management approaches that rely too heavily on rewards, target-based KPIs, or penalty systems will be less effective if the primary motivation is social connection.
  • This creates a middle-management pattern that tends to be less aggressive regarding results.

Mindset: Moderate Finishing & Targets, but Weak Rule-Following

  • Supervisors & Managers are quite good at completing work, but lack drive in chasing targets, show low growth mindset, and are relatively undisciplined regarding rules and SOPs.
  • In the retail industry, weak rule-following causes SOPs to be implemented inconsistently across areas, differing work standards per branch, and difficulty in standardizing operations.

Skill Gap: Weak Leadership, Strong Data, Low Firmness

  • These findings confirm an imbalance where the managerial team is skilled at reading data and making plans, but lacks firmness, is disorderly in execution, unstable in making quick decisions, and not strong enough in leading operational teams.
  • This is what often leads to many meetings but few changes, good plans but incomplete follow-through, slow decisions, prolonged conflicts, and the Board having to "step in" to ensure execution.

Patterns Observed Across the Entire SPV & Manager Team

Strong Communication, but Weak Leadership Execution

They can explain things, but that does not automatically mobilize the team.

Many Plans, Little Implementation

High strategic tendency is not accompanied by the firmness to ensure plans run.

Good Relationships, but Not Automatically Productive

Due to high social motivation, there is a tendency to focus more on harmony than results.

Strong Data, Weak Action

Data analysis tends to be good, but decisions are slow and execution impact is minimal.

Inconsistent SOP Compliance

Low rule-following triggers performance variations between areas.

Relevance of Mapping Results For:

Business Coach

This case demonstrates that SPV/Manager performance issues often stick to behavioral mismatches, not merely skill or experience.

Coaches can perform more precise interventions. For example (based on findings in this company):

  • Strengthening firmness & execution rhythm.
  • Building work urgency.
  • Context-based decision-making.
  • Leadership coaching for middle-management.
  • Role segmentation: planner vs. executor vs. people-leader.

Relevance of Mapping Results For:

Owner & Top Management

See the Root Cause: Owners can see the root, not the symptom. It is not that "The Supervisor isn't firm enough," but that the role & behavior do not align.

Precise OD Decisions: Includes restructuring SPVs/Managers, promotions, SOP redesigns, and scope-of-work division.

Reduce Dependency on Owner: By understanding who needs tight control, who is independent, and who needs repositioning.

Reduce Cost of Wrong Placement: Leadership placement is now based on behavioral data, not seniority.

About Cavlent

For decision-makers prioritizing speed and precision, Cavlent is a transformation navigator offering behavior-based team mapping. We identify soft skill mismatches and hidden risks in team dynamics through same-day insights, compared to traditional methods that are time-consuming and rely on manual processes.

For more information, contact:

  • Ayu / +62.851.8655.0077 (WA)
  • Afi / +62.852.1521.0077 (WA)
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