How Effective Is Your Leadership Team?

Leading organizations happens across the leadership team. We often focus on leadership at the individual level — is John a strong leader? What about Samantha? To really assess the strength of leadership in your organization, you need to look across the leadership team. Each individual may be a strong leader but as a team is the sum greater than the parts?
 

Effective leadership teams are able to take the strength of the leaders on the team and focus them on optimizing the entire business not just their individual balance sheets.

To optimize the leadership team you need:

• Shared goals: What’s the reason they all need to come together?
• Compelling purpose: Is the reason we are coming together compelling enough for me to make this team a priority?
• Clear roles: Are we clear what each of us brings to the table and the role we play on the team?
• Trust and respect: Do we value what each other brings or are some parts of the business second class citizens?
• Process: Many leadership teams abhor process. Without it, are you just spinning your wheels?
• Candor: Do we have a team environment that is transparent and open and not destructive?
• Metrics and accountability: Does achieving those shared goals mean anything or are my rewards still about individual performance?
• Decision making: Do we spend our time making decisions or simply sharing information? Can each individual influence the outcomes?

So, how’s your team doing?