According to a new book from Hay Group directors and Harvard academics, today’s leadership challenges require tight top teams, not heroic chief executive officers (CEOs.)
“Senior Leadership Teams: What It Takes to Make Them Great
1. a real team
2. a compelling direction
3. the right people.
The book, based on field research with management teams, make the case that the responsibilities of leading today’s complex organizations are too broad for just one person. Instead, there’s a growing role for senior leadership teams, who can share the responsibilities, whether in terms of coordinating activities, providing advice or actually taking responsibility for making key decisions.
On top of the essential conditions are three enabling conditions that help ensure the best possible results from the team:
• a sound structure, based around a small number of people (ideally no more than 10) and almost a code of conduct for how team members work together.
• a supportive context, so that the team has the skills and resources it needs to operate effectively. Paradoxically, most executive teams are better at providing resources for their front-line teams than for themselves.
• expert coaching – The most effective teams are coached as entities, developing together.
