The Executive Team - Raising the Bar

In my last post, I wrote about how organizations can gauge the level of effectiveness of their executive team - the first steps towards enhancing the effectiveness. The link to the post is in the comments section.

As I write about how to enhance the effectiveness of an executive team, let me first state something categorically.

While skill levels required of the executive teams, can be raised relatively easily, the mind sets are hard to change. If at all they can be influenced, it will require much longer time and effort by both the individual himself and those working on him. Let me substantiate this.

Modern day Psychologists define mindset as “..the attitudes, beliefs, and expectations you hold that act as the foundation of who you are, how you lead, and the ways in which you interact with your team”( Dr. Jim Taylor ).

Some of the key elements that form leadership mindset are:

1.???? Courage to face the challenge

2.???? Optimism

3.???? Humility and empathy

4.???? Decisiveness

5.???? Honesty and Transparency

6.???? Flexibility and adaptability

As we can see, most of these elements are shaped by our upbringing and well before we enter the workforce, let alone reaching the top echelons of organizations. Therefore, it’s not easy to influence them. It’s possibly for this reason that many people with right mindset have advantage over others and excel in leadership roles with little or no formal (skill) training.

Hope that’s enough to drive home the point that due care needs to be taken while inducting people in the leadership and managerial roles - whether from within or from outside. And the hiring teams, again whether internal or external (executive search / placement consultants), need to be geared up to do a proper job of screening for the leadership mindset. More on this in the subsequent posts.

?Talking about raising the level of effectiveness, the assessment I wrote about in the earlier post gives you the direction.

As we use the outcome of the assessment to plan improvement effort, it has to be kept in mind that while areas for improvement certainly need attention, the strengths equally need to be taken care and leveraged, not taken for granted.

While addressing the areas for improvement, I recommend that we begin with ‘trust building’.

For anyone and that obviously includes executive team members, accepting ‘vulnerability’ is a prerequisite of sorts to learn anything new. And in the absence of trust and supportive relationships, you cannot be vulnerable.

How do you raise trust levels in an executive team then?

While different people approach it somewhat differently, it’s clear from the experience and also based on the documented work, that trust in the executive teams is a result of a deliberate effort by the whole team, enabled and led by none other than the CEO himself.?

Jack McGuinness , Managing Partner of the consulting firm Relationship Impact focused on helping leaders build great leadership teams, emphasizes these practices:

1.???? Know each other well as individuals?

The life and behaviour outside work, their passions, aspirations etc. This helps deeper under standing and connect among the team members.

It also helps them interpret the occasional ‘unexpected behaviours’ of other members in perspective rather than treating them as a reason for breakdown of communication / relationships.

?2.???? At every available opportunity, emphasise why and how trust helps everyone.

?3.???? Be careful about assumptions you hold about each other – the ‘hangover’ effect. The antidote to unchecked assumptions is enquiry, a curious mind, moving from a fixed mindset about others to the growth mindset.?

Jack McGuinness has presented Carol Dweck ’s work on growth mindset to move beyond assumptions. I find it very helpful.

Fixed Mindset

1. I can't trust them because they never keep their commitments.
2. I can't trust him because he's simply not good at his job.
3. I don't trust her because she thinks she's always right.
4. I don't trust them because them always point blame at us.

5. I can't trust him because he acts without considering impacts.

Growth Mindset

1. ?Can we talk a bit about our expectations for each other?
2. Can we spend a few minutes talking about the work we do that has a mutual impact.
3. I admire how you have such conviction. Would you be open to considering a few other options?
4. I recognize that sometimes we make mistakes. Would you be open to discussing how we might improve?
5. I admire your ability to take action. Would you be open to stepping back at times to discuss impacts??

As a parting shot, particularly or those who might think of Trust in the Executive Teams as some wishy-washy, nice-to-have stuff, I strongly recommended @Paul J Zak’s work on ‘The Neuroscience of Trust’ ( harvard business review , January – February, 2017) . Here is an excerpt from this extensive research using multiple methods of data collection:

“Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report:?74% less stress,?106% more energy at work,?50% higher productivity,?13% fewer sick days,?76% more engagement,?29% more satisfaction with their lives,?40% less burnout.”

Not to forget, an organization is largely a reflection of its executive team #stevejobs

If you are looking at leveraging the executive team to accelerate growth, trust building may well be is a foundational requirement.?