How aligned is your executive team? Are you working with or against each other?
Before you answer, you might want to know one shocking fact. A survey of executives in 600 emerging companies found that executive team members were in sync only 2 percent of the time. The survey asked the simple question…
What are the company’s top three priorities?
If all a company’s executives responded with the same three, they were in sync. 98 percent were not. The numbers were even worse when those executives were asked about the company’s value proposition.
Here’s the kicker. 64 percent of the respondents predicted their teams would be perfectly aligned. Ooops.
How to get the executive team aligned
So what’s a leader to do? Simple, convene your team and figure it out:
- Identify the problems and opportunities.
- Propose some priorities.
- Evaluate the proposals.
- Talk it through until consensus is achieved.
Convening the group is easy. Achieving the goal is difficult. That’s where I come in.
The challenge is to get people to speak up when they don’t understand or agree. I’ve worked with leadership teams for more than 20 years and know how to make sure people say what needs saying. I’ve also learned to determine if a group has achieved genuine agreement.
How to keep the executive team aligned
Once you have the priorities established. You keep people focused with these reinforcing actions:
- Measure progress.
- Report results.
- Align rewards and recognition
- Make the tough resource decisions when non-priority stuff crops up.
You’re not alone
If your group isn’t aligned, the survey results make it clear plenty of others are in the same situation. It’s a big problem. You probably have it. Now’s the time to do something about it. Let’s get to work.
Image credit: James Brewins
