Leadership Strategy Services

A good team achieves more than the sum of its parts; in a bad team, by contrast, talent could go to waste. Companies need great teams at all levels if they are to master the many and diverse challenges they face in today’s world. The Team Effectiveness Review brings a new methodology to the table with which to identify weaknesses in the way a team works and align all of the teams with the organization’s goals.

Not all that long ago the collegial style, which had for decades been the defining characteristic of many management teams, was widely regarded as hopelessly outdated – too slow, not nearly reactive enough, wedded to a consensual mediocrity. In many respects this criticism was justified, because in most cases the way the management team was assembled lacked the necessary rigor. In recent years, however, a great deal has changed in this respect. Professionally-supported executive searches to fill executive positions, and the use of management appraisals to compare candidates’ competency profiles with the requirements of demanding management roles are now established procedures. More and more companies are also recruiting and developing their top people as part of a wider talent management strategy, focused on the organization’s long-term goals.

The traditional collegial approach may no longer be entirely relevant, but there is one enduring characteristic that is: the focus on the performance of the leadership as a team. The complex environment confronting companies today calls precisely for a degree of reactivity, speed, quality and ongoing adaptation that even the most high-flying executive can no longer achieve as a solo performer. The current crisis, forcing many companies to restructure or even radically re-define their business model, has increased these pressures exponentially.

Read full article "The Team is the star" in the new edition of THE FOCUS on Teams.