Teamwork.
It’s underrated.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE

Executive team meetings are too often like a series of one-to-ones with spectators. This approach to “team meetings” not only wastes time, but can drag performance and cultivate unnecessary friction.

Enter the CEO.

CEOs are key to facilitating the “We before I” mindset. By creating an open, safe space during SLT meetings and by encouraging bilateral communication between executives, CEOs can help democratise decision-making. This requires a “first among equals” mindset, one that allows them to facilitate debate and manage friction between executives without bias or total sovereignty (until it’s needed).

But remember, this isn’t an opportunity for you to pass the blame onto the CEO if you sit under poor leadership. Executives are more than capable of taking control and facilitating high-functioning team meetings by using the strategies above.

Sit. Listen. Ask. Understand.

As cliché as it sounds, it’s still undeniably true. Strong communication is the backbone of an effective executive team. That means asking the right questions and actively listening to your peers’ responses, which brings us onto principle number two.

Too often, dissonance or misunderstandings between SLT members stem from poor communication. Senior leaders can be either too vocal or not vocal enough when engaging with their colleagues and of course, neither end  of that spectrum is helpful.

Open communication and transparency around the executive table will help create a culture that builds progressive, positive, and trusting relationships between team members. It doesn’t mean that disagreements or friction won’t exist, but it’ll help you manage those conversations more productively.

OPENING UP COMMUNICATION

Like anything, communication is a skill developed over time. It takes active participation and self-awareness from both the team and the individual. You’ll need to work at navigating different personalities and building upon different character strengths.

THE QUESTION TEST

So, what does “asking the right questions” and  “active listening” actually look like?

In the real world, they’re questions intended to delve deeper and strengthen understanding. They’re not questions designed to undermine or provoke,  but to diversify perspectives and hold people accountable. Think about it like this: you’re discussing to understand, not arguing to win.

Active listening is all about creating a space where you are immersed in the conversation and can reflect on its meaning. For example, it’s not thinking about what your response will be whilst the other exec is still talking, or allowing yourself to be dis-tracted by Microsoft Teams notifications. It’s about seeing the world through your peer’s eyes. Actively engaging with responses is vital for you to fulfil your organisational responsibility.

ADAPTING TO NEW WAYS OF WORKING

This year has forced executives and CEOs to lead through technology. Gauging reactions through body language has become harder via screens, and being able to take someone aside for a quiet chat or informal coffee is becoming less frequent. These new challenges require attention.

If energy and camaraderie has been lost through digital communication, it’s up to the executive team to lead by example and fix it.

BUILDING AND NURTURING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT

On the flip side, executives need to be prepared to constructively challenge one another. A core part of principle 3 is being able to give, and importantly, accept criticism in good faith knowing that its purpose is to benefit the health and performance of your organisation. Taking accountability for your actions is just as important in building trust as being able to deliver constructive criticism.

For SLTs to be able to do this effectively, they need to be able to be open and honest with each other. That’s why it’s critical that CEOs take an active role in facilitating a safe and impartial space for executive teams to have these conversations in.

Like any machine, friction is a critical force. Too little and everything slips, but too much, and everything gets jammed up.

When managed appropriately, friction can be a catalyst for change within executive teams. Just like cogs in a machine, senior leaders need to positively challenge each other: too little and they’ll lose their competitive edge, but too much can cause irreparable damage. Finding the right balance is a delicate task. 

This is because in many SLTs, drama is fuelled when executives bad-mouth each other to their respective teams – exacerbating tension and exaggerating challenges.

Whilst disagreement and tension is an inevitable side effect of a high-pressure environment, there is a solution. Critical friendship.

SWAPPING COMBAT FOR COLLABORATION

Be highly supportive and highly challenging of your peers: the two core principles of critical friendships. In other words, in private you must be able to (when appropriate) challenge decisions and offer constructive support. In public, the executive team must be completely cohesive and defensive of each other. This open and supportive approach helps SLTs strengthen cross-functional confidence, and demonstrates to the wider organisation that the SLT are a unified and aligned body.

Relationships will disintegrate if you always defend your team and their performance no matter what.

As an executive, you need to be relentless in your desire to set higher standards for your organisation to enhance its performance and output. That means actively strengthening the unity and alignment of the SLT, as well as taking responsibility for your team of direct reports.

One of the quickest ways to break trust with fellow executives is to blindly defend the performance  of your function when you know there’s room for improvement – and let’s be real, there is always room for improvement. Whilst it might be human nature to meet criticism of your team with defensiveness, these open (albeit difficult) conversations are fundamental to raising standards for your organisation. It’s also worth remembering here that this is what being a collective team is all about – your joint responsibility to make sure standards across the executive team and in the next layer down improve all the time. It’s this self-regulation that will help you thrive, even through a crisis.

BUILDING THE BEST POSSIBLE TEAM

Part of setting a higher standard is ensuring the quality of your executive (and reporting) team is as strong as it can be. Actively seeking and developing talent as a collective is key – whether you’re nurturing existing employees for future executive roles or building network pools with external talent. Concerningly, ‘talent scout’ was ranked by our executives as the competency they most needed to develop.

The reason why this skill is so important is because you’re going to want a senior leadership team that’s mutually confident in each other’s ability and that actively endorses each other (and their strategies) in public. This energy will manifest itself into a consistent and energised culture that even  the cynics can’t challenge.

SPOTLIGHT ON DIVERSITY

When it comes to raising the bar, it’s vital that senior leaders take responsibility for the diversity of their team. Executive teams need to be visibly and actively engaging with different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds, whether that insight comes from other senior leaders or from employees further down the ranks. It’ll not only help bring in fresh ideas and new ways of working, but executive teams’ full appreciation and respect for diversity will help your organisation become a destination employer for the best talent.

There it is. 20 years of experience working with senior leaders and CEOs compiled neatly into 5 high-performing principles for you to utilise.

If all those years and past crises have taught us anything, it’s that a strong foundation and agile team can get you through the unthinkable. These principles are more than just consultative ideals – they’re real-world practical strategies that can help organisations withstand volatility, catapult performance and facilitate even the most ambitious future-planning strategies. Right now, you have an opportunity to lead and strengthen your executive team by turning these principles into a reality. Don’t let the opportunity go to waste.