When we think about leadership, it’s often related to an individual. The word conjures up a person who provides direction, who inspires and encourages others and who gets results.
Many people in leadership roles find it a daunting prospect. It’s easy to get caught up in the idea of famous and fabled leaders and to find oneself wanting in the comparison.
This is where the value of a leadership team comes in.
A leadership team is a group of peers who provide direction to a department or organisation. They inspire and encourage people – including each other – and they get results.
Sadly, a lot of executive teams never really achieve the distinction of being a Leadership Team. They may be good leaders individually, but collectively they fail to experience the sought-after ‘whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ functioning of a team.
Part of the problem is often to do with different approaches to leadership and diverse ways of thinking. In an average team, the differences between people can be a source of frustration and irritation. A great leadership team will work on the basis that those differences are a strength and the diversity within the team enables it to be flexible and responsive.
The big question is always, how do you create that atmosphere in a team?
Here are some of my thoughts…
The first milestone in creating a leadership team is to arrive at a point where people are aware of and respect differences. Until that is achieved, people will annoy and frustrate each other – not intentionally but persistently nonetheless. Meetings of a team that hasn’t reached this point will echo with sighs of ‘Why do you have to be so negative?’ ‘Can’t we just do it the way we know will work?’ ‘Wouldn’t a period of stability be better than ploughing on through more major changes?’ and so on.
To get past this constant clash of styles takes conscious effort. It isn’t going to happen by accident.
People in the team will benefit from looking at each other through the lens of a model of personality or behaviour, that shows the value of each distinct approach and equips people to communicate across the divides of style and preference. Then each person’s unique contribution to the team is welcomed.
[My go-to tool for this is the LAB Profile because it provides useful insights without putting people in ‘boxes’ of rigid personality types]
The second milestone is when people in the team know and trust each other’s technical strengths as well as their personal style. This enables them to share work around the leadership team instead of sticking to individual ‘silos’ of responsibility.
A team that has passed this milestone will be flexible. When a major project comes up they will choose who to lead it on the basis, not just of technical responsibility but also of workload, style and fit with the intended results.
For example, one of the best leadership teams I have worked with was a team of six people. They were the Executive team of a small business that was considering growing by acquisition. When an opportunity came up to buy another company it was the IT Director who did most of the due diligence and the bulk of the ‘number-crunching’ so they could decide whether it was a good option. This is not because the Finance Director wasn’t capable. It was because the FD had several inexperienced team members and a year-end to deal with. The IT director had an experienced team and no major drains on his time so it made sense for him to take on the additional workload.
Would you trust a member of the team to take on a task that related to your technical expertise? If not, there’s work to do in this area. Usually it involves spending time getting to know each other’s skills and experience and perhaps collaborating on a project to establish the common ground.
In a team of people who have worked together for a long time, that is often taken for granted. In a new team, it takes effort and attention. Again, it isn’t going to happen by accident.
The third milestone is when this kind of sharing of responsibility extends to the leadership of people. A team at this stage can be confident that when a leader goes on holiday – or is tied up in a big event, or perhaps is not well – their people will not be left unsupported.
Any other member of the leadership team can step in and provide direction, inspiration and encouragement to ensure that the results are achieved.
This facet of a good leadership team comes from unity and clarity of purpose. Everyone is working towards the same goals and is bought into a common strategy. When that happens, functional teams within an organisation or department are not operating in isolation. They all contribute towards the same end result.
A leader with different technical skills, can still provide leadership to people who need direction, inspiration and encouragement. Yes, they might need a bit of technical know-how too, but more often than not they don’t.
Would you feel comfortable to go away on holiday and be completely out of contact with your people? Would you be confident that one of your colleagues could give them support in your absence? If not, there’s probably not the clarity you need about direction within the leadership team. Or is it a matter of trust?
I could go into a lot more detail about trust. Perhaps another time.
All I will say is that you always have a choice whether or not to trust someone. It’s your choice, not theirs. There is a myth about earning trust. The reality is that if you don’t trust someone you will never know whether it’s justified or not.
Someone I used to know was proud that he had ‘learned not to trust anyone’. I think it’s better to trust everyone. Yes, you might occasionally be let down, but overall it’s a nicer way to live.
To conclude…
A leadership team can be a lot more effective than a group of individual leaders. The question is, are they willing to learn about each other and about how to operate as a team? If they are, then the possibilities of what they might achieve open up considerably. It takes commitment and effort, energy and time but the rewards can be spectacular.
