BUILDING GREAT TOP TEAMS

Sixth publication in the Boardroom Dynamics series

"Each and every Leadership Team needs time and space to ventilate, regenerate and boost energy, in order to drive the Organization forwards.

Your Top Team's energy directly impacts the energy of the Entire Organization. Board Members carries a huge burden on their shoulders, every day. You can choose to drive your team out of energy, or do something to uplift your team. Implement small changes in your Boardroom discussions. Observe the results. Your team can improve its performance in at least 8 areas - take a look.

"I wish my direct team discusses strategic issues more often: market trends, business opportunities, synergies. We are wasting the energy and time for details - a CEO of an FMCG organization said.

The agenda of a Board meeting often combines operation and strategic topics. Short term issues take most of the space. Managers are used to fix tangible issues. 

Strategic and personnal dimensions.

Dedicate separate meetings, focused exclusively, on strategic discussions. Move day-to-day issues to regular Board meetings. Strategic discussions, done well, uplift every team.

Questions, you can use: What are the future opportunities, we do not see today? How can we add more value? Who are our stakeholders? What do they need?

"I expect my team to speak with one voice in front of the entire organization, instead of driving their own hidden agendas" - a CEO of a Retail organization said.

It is difficult to cut personal agendas. Board members are just Humans, as we all are. Let personal agendas surface your Boardroom, officially.

Organize team discussions on personal aspirations and ambitions. Make personal ideas part of your vision and strategy. Strategies often fall down from Headquarters. It does not mean there is no space for co-creation on your local level.

Questions, you can use: "What is your personal vision of the organization? What are your passions? How would you like to use them for our success?

"I want my top team being accountable for the entire organization. I wish we discuss an overall business performance, not functional performance" - a CEO of Financial institution said.

Ask your team members the following question: what are the top three results we are aiming for? Let them write down their answers. Do not be surprised, seeing variety of answers. Lack of alignment at the top creates misalignment in the entire organization. Energy is wasted. Introduce regular discussions about top 3 results.

Questions, you can use: "What are the top 3 results we want to focus on? Why those top results are important to each of us personally? How would we like to align and empower the entire organization?"

People and growth dimension.

"I want our top team to take charge of people and organization development issues. HR should coordinate the process. Managers shall own it" - a Global Head of HR of an FMCG corporation said.

Concentration on short-term results moves Organization Development issues out from the Boardroom to the HR function. Making top manager interested in OD/HR processes is a real challenge. Your middle managers can get a big chunk of the leadership burden. They will do it if You will invest time and energy into their personal growth.

Questions, you can use: "Are Organization and People development aspects of interest to us? Do we believe OD issues are worth investing? Why? What can we do to prove our commitment to our people?"

"My team loves to create action plans. They used to belief that action plans will move things forward. I feel a real team commitment, since we had started digging for understanding" - a CEO of a Technology Group said.

Boardroom discussions often concentrate on the What, and the How. The Why is missing. More discussions about purpose and reasons will help you limit conflicts. Real understanding helps in building up the energy and team's commitment.

Questions, you can add: Why it is important to you, personally? Why it is important to our business? What would we gain choosing that direction?

Team Spirit and Interactions Dimension.

"I appreciate the team spirit and openness in my direct team. The team has a lot of energy and passion. We like working together, since we started sharing our mistakes and problems" - a CEO, of a Production company said. 

Admitting that we do not know something is often perceived as a weakness. Managers tend to prove they know everything. Knowing everything is a trap. Controlling the false perception of yourself requires a lot of energy.

Creating more space for mistakes, and for not knowing lessens the pressure.

"I want us to share our challenges and mistakes regularly" - a Board member of an IT company said.

 "Why is it important to you?" - the Facilitator asked.

"It will help me feel I can count on others, I am not alone with issues" - the Board member replied. 

"We used to waste a lot of time. The same issues circulated. Things have been going much smoother, since the time, we have invested time to work on trust. It is still far from ideal" - a General Manager of an Engineering company said. 

Low level of trust is a critical issue in top teams. It uses energy of the team. Without constant effort to drive business you will not get any business. Without constant effort to create more trust in the Boardroom you will not get more trust.

Questions, you can use: "Do I really trust my team? Do my team team trust me? Do our people trust us? How do we feel about it?"

"We managed to limit toxic interactions in my management team. I see more courage for real, constructive discussions" - a CEO of a Construction Group said.

Quality of interactions in the meeting depends on what you allow for. Being a guardian of productive, respectful discussions is the most effective, but the most difficult way to create a good dynamic. 

Disrespectful reactions, like sarcasm, blaming and ignoring, are the biggest "energy drainers". Start observing your level of energy after toxic interaction.

Questions, you can use: "Are sarcastic comments helping us build a great team? How do you feel, when we blame each other? What do we gain from ignoring unpopular opinions?"

"Things have started changing since the moment I had started changing my approach. I wish I have realized it faster" - a Head of Production company said.

Your team is following what you do, not what you say. Your organization will appreciate your efforts to create a better leadership team, sooner or later.