Most CEOs have experienced frustrations in building their senior teams (as characterized by the statements below) but they often struggle to solve the problem.
If your team suffers from any of the following challenges – lack of symmetry, mediocre results, struggle to learn, or an inability to recover from natural struggles – it is time to jump-start your leadership team by refining the team’s structural foundation and creating an environment where productive dialogue will thrive.
How does your team stack up?
Refine the Structural Foundation
We define structure as the arrangement and organization of the tangible interrelated elements of a leadership team – purpose, composition & roles, coordination & communication, and expectations & norms. A well thought out leadership team structure serves as in important catalyst for greater leadership team impact. Good structure can help foster innovation, strengthen the quality of decision-making, and enhance cross-organizational collaboration. Poor structure, on the other hand, holds teams back causing them to miss opportunities, duplicate efforts, and increase pressure on relationships. As an example, when incentive structures inadvertently create unhealthy competition among teammates relationships tend to suffer.
Actions to build or repair a solid structural foundation…
Establish an Environment Where Productive Dialogue Can Thrive
Creating a sold structural foundation is critical but not sufficient to building a great leadership team. Specifically, even with a great structure a team can suffer if its relational dynamics are in disrepair. In our experience the number one issue facing leadership teams is their inability to engage in productive dialogue. They struggle to consistently challenge, debate and discuss their most important issues in a manner that progresses the issues and leaves minimal relational scars. The keys to creating an environment where productive dialogue can thrive – self-awareness, trust, curiosity, listening, seeking to understand other perspectives – are what some might refer to as the soft side of building a team. In reality this is the hardest part of building a great team as it forces adults to examine and adjust life-long behaviors.
Have you experienced any of these symptoms of non-productive dialogue?
Actions to create an environment where productive dialogue thrives…
There is no doubt that building a great leadership team is hard work and there are always other ‘business’ challenges that become a priority. However, if you agree with the premise that great leadership teams are instrumental to an organization’s ability to grow successfully then make it a priority and commit to jump-start your leadership team.
Related: Trust Is What Fuels Great Leadership Teams
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