{"id":584513,"date":"2016-07-27T16:48:48","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T20:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/?p=584513"},"modified":"2022-11-03T14:00:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T18:00:42","slug":"leadership-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/leadership-team\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Things an Executive Director Can Do To Build a Strong Leadership Team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s discuss the right way and the wrong way to build a Leadership Team.<\/p>\n

A while back I coached a very smart and ambitious young woman who, for the sake of privacy, I\u2019ll call Meg.<\/p>\n

Meg had recently been promoted to run the communications department of a mid-sized nonprofit. She had never held a senior position like this before.<\/p>\n

As a director, Meg was invited onto the Leadership Team. She was quickly confused and frustrated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the point of this Leadership Team?\u201d<\/em> Meg asked. \u201cIt seems like I go to more meetings and have less time to get MY work done.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

She told me the day before their weekly meetings, she\u2019s asked if she has any agenda items. But nobody ever told her what the criteria is for a valuable agenda item.<\/p>\n

Of the meetings themselves, Meg said, \u201cI\u2019ve started asking a lot of questions and the nonverbals of my \u2018teammates\u2019 seem to indicate that I am prolonging a meeting they don\u2019t really want to be in. Sometimes the ED can\u2019t even make the meeting. But we meet anyway and nobody knows why. Shouldn\u2019t we be talking about something substantive and working on it together?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

To that last quote I say a big AMEN. And by the way, my young client Meg demonstrated more leadership with these questions than her clock-watching colleagues.<\/p>\n

What Meg described to me was a group<\/em> of direct reports to the Executive Director who met because<\/em> that is what Executive Directors do.<\/em> They have weekly meetings with their direct reports. ED\u2019s are rushed, agendas are not thoughtfully prepared, and what you wind up with is that \u201cOK, let\u2019s go around the room \u2013 what\u2019s going on with each of you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ugh.<\/p>\n

This happens really frequently. It\u2019s why one of the most common services my firm provides is leadership team facilitation. In fact, we get asked some variation of the following question all the time:<\/p>\n

My senior team does not seem to be on the same page \u2013 can you work with us?<\/em><\/p>\n

What might this tell you? Let me not hold you in suspense.<\/p>\n

They may not in fact be a team at all.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You earn<\/em> the word team. It cannot just be bestowed unto you. My philosophy is simple: you don\u2019t get to call yourself a team until you earn it.<\/p>\n

So how do you earn it? And what are some practical ways an Executive Director can build an actual Leadership TEAM<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

IT HAPPENS ACROSS SECTORS TOO. WORSE.<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ll get to the advice in a moment, but first\u2026 a true story.<\/p>\n

A foundation convenes the leaders of the major organizations in a specific sector to talk about strategy. Prior to the meeting, the foundation asks each organization to share a 10-15 slide presentation with key elements of their organization\u2019s strategy going forward.<\/p>\n

I believe the idea was to create one big PowerPoint, synthesizing the strategies so the group could talk about gaps and overlaps.<\/p>\n

Only one problem. Most of the organizations, when submitting their slides, made it clear that their strategy was proprietary, confidential, and was not to be shared with the larger group.<\/p>\n

The foundation respected the wishes of these organizations and talked around strategy for \u00bd a day.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m told the food was good.<\/p>\n

WHAT DOES A LEADERSHIP TEAM LOOK LIKE?<\/h2>\n

OK, so let\u2019s get to it. First, let\u2019s make sure everyone understands exactly what a strong Leadership Team looks like\u2026<\/p>\n