Part I
What I like about Senior Leadership Teams is that it provides practical and detailed insights on the factors that comprise an effective senior leadership team. It further provides rationalization on the organization’s need and purpose for a senior leadership team and how it impacts organizational performance and efficiency. Through a ten-year study conducted on the world’s 100+ top leadership teams, the authors were able provide analysis on the many challenges entailed in the development of a senior team. Also, the authors were able to provide a roadmap toward achieving a successful team. The authors suggest that there are six elements that make up a great senior leadership team – three of which are classified as essentials (real team, right people, compelling purpose) and the three others as enablers (coaching, support, structure). Simply put, essential leaders are more focused on the organization’s success compared to enablers.
I like that the authors present various real-life scenarios and provide some tools (such as questions and checklist) for examining vital leadership issues and for developing guidelines for the implementation of improved standards and practices within the organization. For instance, the authors provide useful advice for getting the right people in the team and recommendations on dealing with the wrong people, among many other concerns.
What struck you as interesting?
The factors that make up a successful leadership team and a successful business in general, and how leaders lead have always piqued my interest. In the book, the authors disproved the popular notion that organizational success depends on the CEO. It is interesting that this issue is tackled in-depth, thus providing a clearer understanding of the roles and capabilities of senior leadership team members; the difficulties encountered in moving the organization forward; and the creation of a cohesive leadership team while working alongside the organization’s direction and vision.
Why did “Senior Leadership Teams” stimulate positive emotion?
“Senior Leadership Teams” stimulates positive emotion because it presents an opportunity for leaders to help their organization. The book can be very useful for CEOs, organizational development professionals and other senior executives who might be struggling to develop and sustain a good leadership team or develop staff engagement or communication strategies. Senior leaders will be able to assess their skills as well as their affectivity as a leader based on end-results.
Through this book, readers will learn about the elements that derail great leadership teams and gain insight on how good team design turns leadership teams into success. It could also direct the reader to develop more appreciation on core organizational values such as teamwork which can build morale and produce incredible outcomes.
Part II
What did you not like about the “Senior Leadership Teams?”
Although there are many positive things that can be drawn out from this book, some important components on leadership has been left out. For example, the book does not present senior leaders on a more personal level. It fails to consider different personalities within a team such as poor leadership skills. Personality affects human behavior and human behavior in organizations impacts organizational processes and actions. Personality and style differences of members of a leadership team needs to be valued so it can lead to better decisions and make the team more effective.
Why did the “Senior Leadership Teams” stimulate negative emotion?
The book stimulates negative emotion because it depicts senior leaders as having a nature of independence which could potentially pose conflict of power among other leaders. Moreover, the book did not talk in detail the consumer needs aspect within the team. Rather, it delves more into the logistics of a successful senior leadership team without addressing the negative points and the concrete solutions that senior leaders need to undertake concerning issues in their use of power within the organization.
The authors’ style of writing the book reflects their professional backgrounds management consultants and academic researchers. Although they are credible by all means, the arguments in the book could have been well validated through personal experiences and opinions of actual senior leaders.
Part III
What did you learn? Summarize your major take-aways and intellectual sound bites.
The big lesson to take away from this is that challenges in developing senior leadership teams provide opportunity for greatness. Successful leadership and challenge are inseparable. To make effective senior leadership teams, it is essential for team members to have a big picture perspective; possess competencies such as empathy and integrity; share values, priorities and goals; and work cohesively to achieve positive results.
