For any organization or a CEO, top team alignment is the most critical aspect that aids effective leadership. However, it is also the most difficult to achieve.
Leadership at different levels is different from aggregate leadership and this is where the difference lies. There is a difference between reporting groups and real teams — reporting groups can be a set of people who report to the same leader, whereas a real team is a mechanism for a CEO to run the business — it is an extension of the CEO and functions collectively to take decisions that a CEO would take. Almost everyone in the top teams have two jobs — their functional jobs (as a department/function head) and their job as the members of the top team. Being a part of the top team is where an individual puts on the business hat and collectively take decisions. But this is where the difficulty occurs. People find it difficult to breakdown the silos and reconcile with conflicting agendas when it comes to their departments and the business as a whole. At times, individuals are unable to make that shift or transition from being a functional leader to a business leader.
For making sure that there is seamless transition between these responsibilities, selecting the right people is critical — you need people who are empathetic, active listeners, integrous, honest and who think about the larger picture. You need people who can drive healthy conflict as conflict is productive and pushes people forward. However, it is not just about people, but also about the way organizational structures and systems are built. I think most of the times, organizations structurally fail — we expect certain behaviors but we don’t back them with systems. What’s there for me should be in there in reality and not just a concept. If you have a top team, you need to establish rules of engagement along with the structures around which the team is built, and there should be no mismatch between the two.
Organizations that are successful and have outstanding teams have a metric for incentivizing its people – they build interdependence in the participants of the top team and structurally incentivize them to work together.
Organizations that are successful and have outstanding teams have a metric for incentivizing its people — they build interdependence in the participants of the top team and structurally incentivize them to work together.
It is also pivotal to be strategically aligned — everybody should be chasing the same strategic goal and move forward in the same direction. Clarity within the top team on what the most critical goal is, is essential because then they are pulling in the same direction. Thus, strategic alignment is key. Financial alignment, looking at synergies across business and the systems around measurements, processes, measurement is also important.
When it comes to execution, at times, not everyone is looking at the same picture. In this case, the leader needs to be inspiring enough for everyone to believe in the vision — the leader needs to translate the vision and passion to the team as the goals need to be achieved through them. It is paramount for the CEO to involve the team in the execution plan and everyone collectively should own the plan that is to be achieved. One example of an organization where this was done effectively is IBM — Louis V. Gerstner Jr. transformed IBM from a hardware company to a service-oriented company and he made it nimble through translating his vision to his team effectively. CEOs need to articulate key top priorities and ask their top teams to articulate their priorities and link both to see how they support each other.
Leadership is a lot about perception. Your intention could be to do “A” bit people perceive it as “B” — the key is to build awareness and this comes from feedback. A leader needs to be open about the feedback from subordinates about his leadership styles and how people view him/her. What leaders need to understand is that perception is reality and actions get framed in that reality.
Cross-functional alignment is about long-term vision, identifying the initiatives and key projects that are essential to achieve the vision. A CEO needs to create an environment where conflict is raised and considered a good thing. It is not about working individually but collectively as a team. The overall goal should be of shared accountability and individuals need to function within that.