Imagine you walk into a park and in the distance a group of strangers are playing basketball. One of the teams is a player short and you ask if you can join the game. Within a few moments, you and the others are playing together, each making contributions, moving the ball (and the game) up and down the court and everyone is having a good time; all with a group of complete strangers.
You can collaborate and contribute with people you had never met because you and the others understand how to play the game of basketball. Imagine now that instead of basketball, the game is being part of a senior leadership team. What would it mean, if you could step into any leadership team, and things “just worked”, because everyone knew how to play the game? This would allow the team to “move the ball” up and down the court, focus on competitive challenges, serve clients, and develop talent. Think how motivating it would be for others to see the leadership team work together in a highly collaborative and unified way, speaking with one voice, and leading the organization boldly into the future.
We know that, unfortunately, many leaders do not step into the leadership team and find their place. Most leadership teams do not have and certainly cannot explain the set of rules by which they play. This means leadership teams struggle and do not play at their best. When a basketball team suffers, they suffer alone, unless you count their fan base. When a leadership team struggles, the entire organization struggles. This means low employee engagement, an underdeveloped strategy and mediocre business results.
When only one out of five executives believe they are part of a high-performance leadership team, their playbook for success is missing.
I call this playbook Executive Ownershift, a systematic approach that enables executive and strategic leadership teams to play at their best.
Understanding executive ownershift means you:
-can define the benchmark practices of highly effective leadership teams AND you know how to get there.
-recognize the signs of a leadership team that is not playing at their best and how to address these issues.
-introduce tools, processes and frameworks that lead to real time improvement.
-use a language that is distinct and right for an executive ownershift.
-have the courage to express your vulnerability and ask for help.
How does your leadership team play the game, with a systematic approach to success or is everyone trying to be “the star” on the court?
If you’re a senior leader and interested in exchanging ideas from your leadership team success playbook, I’ll be happy to share my playbook with you.
Drop me a message via LinkedIn or my web site and I’ll come back to you.
It will help us both play a better game.
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