Are you taking measures to build your senior leadership team? If you are, you need to remember that you, too, are a member of the team.
Over the years, I have worked with a number of senior leadership teams to address various aspects of SLT effectiveness. I’ve also had many more conversations with leaders who would like to see change in their team. If you’re leading a senior leadership team, perhaps you can identify with some of the issues that come up, which include:
- Members of the team work in silos and rarely collaborate. When we have to discuss a decision, very few of them can think beyond the needs of their area to explore what’s best for the business;
- One or more of the members of the team is in some way less than fully competent. Perhaps s/he has strong technical skills but lacks the skills to lead or influence effectively. Perhaps s/he is a whizz in his or her areas of expertise, but lacks insight into the business more generally. At times, it can be hard to recruit members to the team who have the level of capability needed to be effective;
- There is conflict in the team and unhelpful politics which reflects personal agendas. One or more members of the team are trying to undermine other members of the team – maybe even the leader. Managing the politics of the team takes valuable time and energy away from the job of working together to run the organisation;
- Communication amongst team members is poor in some way. Perhaps there is a lack of the kind of deep thinking amongst team members that is necessary as the basis for effective communication. Perhaps team members are unwilling to share all the information they have as the basis for effective communication and decision-making.
As I sit here, I find myself reflecting on the experiences I have had over the years of working with senior teams and on my own learning in this area. One conclusion I have reached is that, without exception, a dysfunctional senior leadership team is led by someone who has something to learn. Here are a few examples – with amendments made to protect confidentiality:
- One CEO complained that members of his team never came up with any good ideas. Members of his team reported that they’d stopped putting ideas forward because it was always the CEO’s ideas that prevailed. They also described him as someone who dismissed other people’s ideas without taking any steps to understand them. This CEO was consciously espousing a desire for his team’s ideas but his behaviours were contrary to his aspirations;
- One leader was deeply frustrated with his team and asked for help to develop team members. Yet the same team leader had taken a diagnostic that showed he needed to adapt his leadership style and include more use of the coaching style. A second diagnostic, 18 months later, showed no change in his behaviour;
- One CEO commissioned an audit of the leadership capability of team members. The results for one team member raised concerns – his leadership capability was poor. It was also apparent that, over time, the CEO had gradually removed any substantive responsibilities from this team member and replaced them with projects which could do no damage to the business. This had been done without ever holding any conversations with the individual about the fact that his performance wasn’t up to par;
- One Managing Director was deeply unhappy with his leadership team and seemed to be lurching from crisis to crisis. Each crisis was deeply distressing for the team as a whole and still, as soon as the crisis was over, the MD went back to business as usual. He found it terrifying to look at the fundamental causes of these ‘mini-crises’ and even more terrifying to consider that the cause of each crisis – or at least the responsibility for creating the conditions in which further crises would be averted – was his responsibility.
As I write, I notice how much I enjoy working with teams at this level and how much I appreciate the opportunities I have to sit around the table with senior leaders. Right now, I have a space opening up for a new project of this kind. At the same time, as I respond to invitations to discuss work with potential clients I am very clear about one thing: any leader who is not yet ready to be Chief Learner in his or her team is going to struggle to achieve his or her aspirations to develop a high-performing, high-functioning Senior Leadership Team.