Understanding Leadership Team Development

The leadership team is a group of top-level executives collectively responsible for driving strategy, empowering people, and directing the organization to its goals.

It’s easy to assume that your leaders are all on the same page. But often the members of this team will be across different departments, facing different operational and organizational challenges, leading to misalignment.

Leadership team development is not about a single member of the team – it’s about unifying the whole group, fostering strategic alignment and collaborative effectiveness for the benefit of the entire organization.

If an individual leader can inspire and support their own team, oversee their department’s objectives, and uplift their team’s culture, then imagine what they could do if they strengthen their teamwork.

By developing them as a team, you can foster an environment in your organization that has:

• A shared vision: making it easier for them to clearly communicate your mission and values, ensuring mutual priorities at all levels.

• Enhanced decision-making: diverse perspectives lead to more creative problem-solving and balanced, strategic improvements.

• Operational efficiency: removing redundancies and streamlining processes across departments by sharing knowledge.

• Resilient transitions: supporting each other collaboratively during change minimizes disruption and makes transitions smoother.

• Increased engagement: improving communication with employees, which helps reduce turnover and boost productivity.

• Innovation and adaptability: encouraging risk-taking and flexibility to challenges that arise.

• Unified problem-solving: promoting collaborative dispute resolution and problem navigation.

• Consistent stakeholder relations: projecting an image of stability and cohesion.

Rather than having a disparate group of people operating in isolation, you’ll cultivate a team that works together effectively and efficiently to achieve your organization’s aims.

It’s clear that leadership team development is important if you want a strong and productive organization. However, effective leadership team development requires intentional effort.

Before you start, talk to each member individually; you’ll need to understand each of their perspectives with regards to team dynamics and organizational goals. With this information, you can begin to see possible gaps in knowledge and mindsets.

You’ll also need to look at your organizational culture, to ensure that it’s one that supports growth and open communication. Development can’t happen in a stagnant environment, so you need to assess this honestly.

Different development methods, using both internal and external resources, include:

• Targeted learning and mentorship: external leadership development or coaching can help individuals improve their communications and confidence with others, while internal mentoring is a great chance to both receive and share knowledge.

• Team-building activities: this may feel a bit cliché, but they’re proven to work. Avoid combative activities (for e.g., paintball) – rather, focus on exercises that emphasize teamwork, such as escape rooms, scavenger hunts, or trust walks.

• Structured collaboration: encourage team meetings, workshops, and joint projects in-office. Try to provide them with opportunities where they must collaborate, and encourage everyone to speak up in these group scenarios.

• External facilitation: hire external facilitators or coaches to work alongside during their joint activities. This will provide you with an objective and unbiased view of the current working state, and what may be missing.

• Strategic investment: invest in your team. Whether this is by hiring external consultants, arranging group activities, or even just ensuring that they have the right tools to collaborate more easily – allocating resources will be worth it.

Throughout all of this, make sure that you are monitoring and assessing your team and their experiences; not every method will work, so you’ll need to know the best places to focus your efforts, and adapt accordingly.