Why Executive Teams Fail

If you have an executive team (or any team for that matter), statistically you only have a 21% chance of high performance. Read this eye-opening research from Harvard to learn what to do to turn that around.

Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make Them Great by Ruth Wageman, Debra Nunes, James Burruss and J. Richard Hackman (Harvard Business School Press, 2008), reviewed by Steve Gladis.

Overview:?We often cast the CEO as a hero—singularly responsible for success or failure. On the other hand, research teaches us that great CEOs create the right conditions and assemble exceptional executive teams to do the heavy lifting. Harnessing a group of high-performing, often competitive executives is not easy. Extensive research demonstrates the need for three essential conditions: 1. A real (not name-only), interdependent team; 2. Capable, critical-to-the-mission team members; 3. Compelling purpose. Moreover, after these essential conditions are met, three enabling conditions must also be present: 1. Solid team structure; 2. Supportive organizational context; 3. Team coaching.?Six questions dominate and summarize this book.?

1.????Do I need a leadership team? Careful thought about function and need are essential but are often ignored. Research shows four types of teams: Informational, consultative, coordinative, and decision-making. A true senior leadership team is interdependent in order to achieve an enterprise’s mission; bounded—know who’s on the team and their roles and responsibilities; stable—low turnover, thoughtful membership choice, and a comprehensive onboarding process to know and understand each other over time.

2.????How do I define team purpose? Top leaders have a vision and strategy and can also articulate the team’s “unique contribution” to execute that strategy. A team purpose needs to be challenging (not impossible), consequential (a crucial part of their job), and clear (critical tasks that add value). Challenge happens only when members are strategic, enterprise focused, and vital decision makers. Team members must see this senior team’s work every bit as compelling as their own team’s success! Clarity is vital and the most difficult element. Clarity comes from getting the most critical, interdependent leaders at the table; developing a short, defined list of mission-critical, must-win enterprise decisions (organizational strategy, performance, acquisitions); and having a clearly articulated team purpose. Finally, CEOs must learn to live with discomfort and disagreement to stay true to purpose.

3.????Do I have the right people on the team? Too often, new CEOs retain people they inherit or who have a certain title; or CEOs want to maintain the status quo. Great leaders decide on who has the talent and experience, not those “along for the ride.” The message: Don’t just put people on the team based on roles or past team membership. Keep the team small and manageable, and eliminate toxic players (derailers). The biggest question to answer: Who do I really need on the senior exec team? When selecting, look for these signs: self-image as an executive leader, conceptual thinking, empathy, and integrity. The CEO should outline the new member’s roles: Individual, enterprise, and senior-team roles. CEOs must remove derailers from the team—people who will not play by the rules of the team. Derailers tend to have two things in common: A victim mentality and being negatively judgmental. Most CEOs take too long and regret it.

4.????How should I structure the team? Leaders determine the size and diversity, tasks, core norms, and acceptable conduct of their members. As companies grow, it’s important to refine the structure of the senior team. First, keep it small. As size increases, so do problems. CEOs can have larger informational teams, but small senior teams work best for strategic goals. Second, make agendas meaningful, not filled with trivial stuff. Keep agenda items focused on enterprise-wide issues and require senior-level coordination. Third, establish healthy norms for team behavior, model them and hold people accountable when they violate them. Also, develop rules of the road—what team members must always do or never do. Fourth, revise. Team members change as do circumstances. Building teams is dynamic, not static.

5.????What organizational support do I need to provide the team? To succeed, senior teams need recognition and reinforcement, trusted data, access to specialized expertise, and material support. Key elements to give teams: First, reward them for meeting accomplishments that come from team charter. Second, determine data needed and get teams the information they need to guide decision-making. Third, make continuing education a priority. Training helps keep teams from getting stuck. Fourth, support teams with the material, time, space and resources they need to operate as a high-functioning team.

6.????Who can coach a team of leaders, and when should s/he do it? Senior Teams need direct coaching to resolve issues as they arise on the team and to call attention to them. First, if you’re not a good coach, hire one. Second, the beginning, middle and end are good times to have the coach do check-ins with the team about progress. Third, nurture a culture of coaching. And remember, the CEO must lead the culture.

Measuring Effective Teams: Overall organizational performance is not the best criterion for senior leadership team success. Rather, three targeted team criteria are present in the best leadership teams. 1. Did the team meet internal and external stakeholder expectations as identified by consulting stakeholders (boards, customers, employees)??2. How well do team members work together? Are teams fighting and falling apart or are they thriving—increasing in collaboration? 3. How well do individuals on the team develop new skills, knowledge and perspectives? The key issues: Is the team as a whole getting better and are the individual team members also improving??