We recently worked with a company that had been experiencing tremendous growth in its first five years. Riding on that success, the client had never formalized its leadership team.

Business decisions were made on the fly by a few people known as the company’s dealmakers or “rainmakers” – basically, the ones “bringing in the money”. The heads of the other departments – legal, HR, finance, and marketing – were not part of the decision-making. The underlying assumption was that, as these were cost centers for the business, they shouldn’t have a seat at the table.

While this approach had worked for a while, the company was now looking to get to the next level and the cracks were starting to show and affect performance:

• The business lacked vision and a long-term strategy
• The heads of the department weren’t clear on how their role supported the company and couldn’t lead their teams effectively because of the general lack of direction
• Chaos, disagreements, and money-wasting were percolating through every level of the organization.

That’s when the CEO decided to form an Executive Leadership Team composed of all the department leaders – not just the dealmakers – and brought us in to facilitate the transition.

THE BENEFITS OF HAVING AN EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Having a cohesive senior leadership team running the business ensures that all the separate functions within the organization are aligned around a common vision and business objectives and working together, not in silos, to achieve results.

The goal is for the team to discuss and debate, letting every member have their voice heard and embracing differences of opinion to arrive at well-vetted decisions. They seek each other’s input when needed and make sure everyone is on the same page and understands the direction in which they are going, so they can communicate it to their teams.

When done right, the benefits of having an Executive Leadership Team are immense:

• Priorities are in sync, reducing conflict and in-fighting
• Everyone shares the same vision and knows their role in executing short-term and long-term strategies
• Trust and communication improve throughout the entire organization
• Productivity and efficiency increase, allowing the company to scale and face challenges more effectively.

HOW TO MAKE A LEADERSHIP TEAM A REAL “TEAM”

Developing a high-performing senior leadership team doesn’t happen overnight, which is why our client needed our support.

The CEO and CHRO had to manage the pushback from some of the rainmakers who were resisting the newly defined team. All team members had to let go of previous ways of working and shift their mindset to see that they now had two roles, as leaders of their functions and leaders of the organization. They had to learn to work together and trust each other and see that the time spent on being a team is crucial.

To facilitate the process, we introduced leadership strengths assessments. We worked with each leader individually to understand their unique contributions and their challenges in adapting to the new team. We facilitated several team offsites to allow them to get to know each other as individuals, have honest and open dialogue about the direction of the company, and create team norms.

Through coaching, assessments, and feedback, the team now has a much clearer idea of who they are as leaders, what each person contributes to the growth of the business, and the benefit of working together as a team. 

Is it time for your organization to have a more defined Executive Leadership Team? 

What support do you need to make that team high-performing and aligned around strategy and results?

Let’s talk about how to get you there.