Mar 22, 2022
Lynn has got this situation under control!
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from Lithuania
seen from Yemen
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from Indonesia
seen from Yemen
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from T1
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from Japan
Lynn has got this situation under control!
There is a general agreement that the quality of executive team has the most decisive impact on the success of an organization, both in term
Here is a piece on:
Significance of executive team for the growth of an organization, and
What does it take for an executive team to be a ‘star team’ ?
The Executive Team - Raising the Bar
In my latest series of articles, I've been exploring the power of executive teams in accelerating growth. In the third piece here, I delve into the importance of leadership mindset and how to cultivate trust within these teams. Check it out! #executiveteams #leadership #trustbuilding https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drpramodsolanki-growthcatalyst_executiveteams-leadership-trustbuilding-activity-7151080044801515520-s8Ei?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
The Executive Team – A Key Lever of Growth
I have earlier written about why executive team of an organization is the first place to look at, when we are looking for levers to accelerate growth.
How do we go about developing an executive team to the next level? I share the initial steps here:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drpramodsolanki-growthcatalyst_executiveteam-ceo-cxo-activity-7148545763575341056-Crxj?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
More on this to follow.
Top team as the growth accelerator
As we get set to enjoy the year end break, here is something radical to mull over.
(The last week is usually a vacation or at least an easy week. And a few minutes of reflection -call it work if you like😊, can be refreshing when you have a long break).
If you are prioritizing which lever of growth to focus on, do look at your executive team first.
Why do I say this?
Not because executive team members are not as competent as others in the organization. They are naturally among the most competent. That’s why they are there at the top. (And I never forget that it is this group that gives work to people like me😊)
Yet, I say this for two reasons.
One is more in the form of an analogy that you have probably heard.
It was our first Prime Minister who had famously remarked: “If you educate a man, you educate an individual. However, if you educate a woman, you educate a whole family”.
My view is that when you enhance the effectiveness of an executive team member, you enhance the effectiveness of his whole team.
When an executive team member is at her best i.e. she can engage and inspire his team; excels in leading execution; can think long term and strategize etc., her entire team / division benefits from this, in terms of performance, engagement and inspiration.
If he faces any challenge in aligning his team, keeping it in the best shape, that’s when the help of others- internal or external to the organization, will produce real value as the team can see the leader as a role model and his keenness to raise their effectiveness.
Now take the executive team as a collective, an entity by itself.
When the whole team is truly aligned on the mission of the organization, it’s vision, the strategy and the core value it wants to live by, the spirit gradually percolates down to the rest of the organization. Over a period of time, the whole organization mirrors the way the executive team is functioning (#SteveJobs). And the results are spectacular.
Lest you should think that I am only sharing a personal view point, take a look at some of the studies.
First, the impact of an executive team member when he/she operates as an effective leader.
Besides what we see around, here is the excerpt from the research by Heidrick & Struggles on 3000 leaders drawn from diverse industries and functions, worldwide:
“ …Furthermore, leaders’ ability to inspire meaning and purpose in others not only affects their own effectiveness and the effectiveness of the organization but also has a notable positive effect on their team members’ effectiveness and ability to think about the future, which also builds organizational capacity.” (Karen R. West & Megan Herbst, April 2020).
Gallup ‘s research over 25 years has brought out that 50-70% of the employee’s perception of the work environment is driven by the actions of their managers. And organizations that take care to provide positive work environment, see improvements in customer satisfaction, greater innovation, and generate 25% higher profits than organizations that do not provide a positive employee experience.
The research by Vantage Leadership Consulting g ( Jacqueline Ackerman , 2023) on 50 executive teams found team performance to be highly correlated to the leader performance i.e. when team leaders are more effective, their teams are more effective.
And there are more.
Now look at the executive team as a unit.
New York Times best-selling author and an acclaimed management consultant Patrick Lencioni had remarked way back in 2002 “Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and rare.”
Again, Jacqueline Ackermanof Vantage Leadership Consulting avers “…In over 45 years of consulting, we have found that high-performing teams are indeed rare. Many teams underperform or are average (at best), and while there are myriad of reasons for this, the role of the team leader in creating high-performing teams is worth exploring.
The leadership team has a significant impact on an organization's performance. Effective leadership styles that align with organizational culture and values can foster a positive workplace environment and enhance organizational performance (Gomathy, Karthikeya, Sirkar and Sai, @International Journal of Scientific Research on Engineering and Management, May 2023).
And there are more.
Hope this is enough to establish that the top team needs to be right on the top when it comes to the growth levers for an organization.
The top team members being small in no., organizations can afford to pay personalized attention to them, as individuals and as a team.
Organizations can craft learning journeys that best cater to their learning needs – be it mentoring and coaching, on-the-job learning / action learning projects, workshops and courses to build right perspectives etc.
Learning activity has always been challenged for its #ROI. This approach may well have some of the answers.
Your thoughts are always welcome.
Excellence at the top I have written earlier on why effective #executiveteam is so important. The link is in the comments section. To enh
A short piece on what it takes to develop a top notch executive team. Love to hear your comments
Excellence at the top I guess it goes without saying that an organization is most impacted by its executive team. All the same, let me share some stats so that this view does not look like my personal opinion alone. Great Place To Work US (2021) research shows that companies that score in the top quartile of executive team effectiveness, enjoy 5 times the median, year-over-year revenue growth, compared with certified companies in the bottom quartile. Compared to other teams, top teams are 42% more effective at managing complex initiatives, 30% more effective in attracting talent and score 230% higher on key performance measures (Russell Reynolds Associates survey, 2018; Bain & Company 2021). The Global Leadership Forecast 2023 by DDI | Development Dimensions International has found development of the next generation of leaders as the 2nd highest priority of the CEOs, the 1st being to attract and retain top talent, that again is significantly liked to the quality of leadership in an organization. Despite all of this, a recent survey of senior executives by Centre For Creative Leadership (2023) found 65% of them saying their executive teams experienced clash between functional and enterprise accountabilities, and only less than 1 in 5 said that their executive teams were effective. Ask #chatgpt about the percentage of top teams that are effective, it puts it at 50%. Ask the same proportion for India, it says ‘cannot answer’ -:) . The CEOs and the organizations would obviously gain substantially if their executives teams brought their A game to the table. There are structured diagnostic tools available, besides the 1 -on-1 discovery sessions. However, here are a few questions to reflect on that can give you a sense of where does your top team stand: 1. Are your top executives as driven by the purpose / vision for the organization? 2. Do they demonstrate the same level of engagement and participation whether a question relates to their respective verticals or to the enterprise as a whole? 3. Do you see them drawing upon others members’ resourcefulness while dealing with their challenges? And there are a few more. If your answer to one or more these questions is a 'no', obviously there is an opportunity waiting to be leverage. It’s an area that possibly has the highest ROI for an organization. Love to hear our thoughts.