Throughout my years leading companies, one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that the leadership team must think of that group, not their functional team, as their primary team.
As the senior-most team collectively responsible and accountable for building a healthy, high-performing company, it doesn’t matter if one team is crushing it if the company overall isn’t headed in the right direction. We get no special prize if we’re the most innovative engineering organization if we can’t predictably sell the product or deliver high value service to our customers.
By maintaining the concept that the Leadership Team is TEAM ONE, we reduce the likelihood of unhealthy behaviors that lead to silos and bureaucracy, and it gets all our brains focused on the biggest challenges and opportunities.
As such, these are the three rules we maintain:
When we’re in meetings as a leadership team, we should each be less focused on our specific, day-to-day role and more focused on our role as a member of the Leadership Team, whose goal is the overall success of the company — not me, my team, or my function. This mindset is what keeps silos from forming and keeps us aligned on what matters most.
We must be willing to engage in constructive conflict with the goal of getting to better decisions faster. Raising voices and showing emotion is fine. When dealing with important topics, things should get heated occasionally. What we don’t do is make personal attacks or get defensive.
Whatever is said to another member of the Leadership Team in isolation — or to anyone else for that matter — as it pertains to this team or the success and challenges of our company, must be said to the whole team. If topics aren’t brought to the table, they can’t be addressed.
We aim for buy-in, NOT consensus. Everyone will have a chance to be heard, but once the final decision is made, it is up to every single member of our team to get behind it. It becomes OUR decision.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A company can only move as fast and as far as its leadership team will allow. Silos, politics, and misalignment at the top will always trickle down. Team One is how we stay ahead of that, because building a truly high-performing company happens when the people at the top stop protecting their turf and start leading together. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s always worth it.