“I need them to understand that THIS is their team. Not their department team, nor any other team. THIS team.”
I was listening to my client, the CEO of a large bank in Central Europe, and taking in his needs to design our upcoming executive team coaching program.
Unfortunately, he was right. Over the last year and a half, his executive team had gone through a few major changes – from him taking over as the new CEO to the team absorbing several new members that the group didn’t need elsewhere, and to an accelerated expansion and the emergence of new departments and business lines.
The team seemed trapped in a constant state of forming.
“What makes you think they relate to their line teams as their first teams?” I asked the CEO.
“Well, that’s how they speak. They keep referring to their departments as their teams. They also get really defensive when we try to design something that could impact their departments’ budgets. I can’t afford to have them so attached to their individual lines of business that they can’t see the whole picture and what we’re trying to build together here. If anything, this is the mindset that we need to change with this coaching program.”
WHY DO C-SUITE EXECS HAVE DIFFICULTIES EMBRACING THEIR REAL FIRST TEAM?
My client was right. When I shadowed the executive team in a few meetings and observed their behavior and speech patterns, I also noticed defensiveness and a disproportionate focus on their individual interests rather than the interests of the whole.
What was going on?
Usually, when C-Suite execs lead with their departmental interests first, this happens for several reasons:
- The C-Suite executive never received proper leadership training that could help them see the bigger picture and shift alliances and inner loyalties to the organization rather than their department without feeling guilty or less of a leader.
- The C-Suite executive doesn’t feel safe enough swimming in these high waters, so they tend to automatically revert to what they know and where they achieved success in the past – their line operations. After all, if they were to lose their executive role, their next job would probably come from their area of expertise, not from the C-Suite.
- The C-Suite executive is simply not strategically or emotionally mature enough to perceive, understand, and accept the needs of the whole and the fact that on their turf, they are the kings, but in the executive team… they are just one of the many parts making the whole great.
Joining a C-Suite for the first time can be a humbling experience.
That’s why many talented managers choose to stay in the safety and coziness of a VP role – the money is good and they can still enjoy the shelter of specialized expertise providing them with comfort and psychological safety.
In the C-Suite, the wind blows stronger. Everyone can have a different opinion about what’s right for the company. Not all colleagues must be collaborative by nature or even emotionally healthy enough to consider collaboration as an option.
Indeed, sometimes the dynamics in the C-Suite can feel like swimming in a shark tank.
But does it really have to be that way?
WHAT CEOS CAN DO TO BUILD A FIRST TEAM MENTALITY IN THE C-SUITE?
If the CEO is mature enough, they will be able to recognize that the lack of a “first team” mentality can become a structural threat for the success of the entire organization. Therefore, CEOs confronted with this challenge have all incentives to address this issue as soon as possible.
The first thing that a CEO can do is to share their vantage point. You can’t expect your C-Suite team members to be collaborative if you’re not. As the CEO, you can enter closed rooms that give you access to the bigger picture, or to the power undercurrents that your team members can’t even begin to fathom. Share your vantage point and let them see the system as a whole, not only as a collection of parts.
Second, talk about the success of the company by picturing it as the success of the executive team. Show them exactly how their mindset and behaviors support the success of the whole. Praise them for collaborative behavior in relation to their C-Suite peers. Constantly remind them that THIS is their team and that you need them to treat it accordingly.
Third, put aside your CEO hat and put on your executive team coach hat. Listen to your team members individually, but never allow their attitude or grievances to split the team. In other words, don’t allow anyone to manipulate you into playing favorites. If you get yourself into a he said – she said situation, engineer the environment for your members to talk to each other. You can hold the space for them and nourish the dialogue, but you should never become the one and only person to whom your team members come to dump their troubles with their colleagues.
Fourth, get out of the talking shop mood and go for a human experience together. It doesn’t matter if it’s a walk, a sports tournament, a mountain trip or a sailboat experience – the important thing is that you go through it together. Make it clear that you’re not there to talk about the business, but to get closer to each other as humans. In my experience, the best way to glue such experiences is with good food, music, and dance. After all, it’s much harder to bite each other’s heads off in the C-Suite when you just broke bread together a few days or weeks before.
There are many things that CEOs can do to nurture a first team mindset in the C-Suite. These four recommendations are a good start.
At the same time, the risk of not addressing the lack of a first team mindset problem is immense and it may cost you the success of your company transformation.
When you choose to lead by example as the executive team, you give your company a fighting chance. Not addressing this issue will only amplify currents of discontent that, in the end, might cost you success and your career. Whatever you do, don’t forget to remind your C-Suite members that yours is the first team – and that you need to work together to make it as spectacular an executive team as it can be.
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