Building effective general management teams
I once worked for a company whose unofficial nickname was the “drive-by shooting company” referencing the frequent turnover of its senior executives, where almost monthly another VP or two found themselves out on the street. The board was controlled by three competing shareholders, one of which was seeking to take full control of the company. The work environment was somewhat chaotic, with people looking over their shoulders, often wondering who was next. This uncertainty prompted a lot of finger-pointing and complaining. It was evident that the senior leaders were not working well together, and a number suggested that the management teams could use a healthy dose of team building.
I proposed to the CEO that we carry out an executive team-building exercise. This resulted in an executive retreat where the entire team met for 3 days. Issues were discussed, grievances were brought forward and resolved, and the executives committed to working better as a team. People left the meeting feeling re-invigorated. Everyone proclaimed that it was a huge success.
The good feelings lasted about 3 weeks. Then the next crisis hit, and the finger-pointing returned. Team members had left the retreat with the best intentions, but the business seemed to have its own idea, and we were back to square one. The teamwork exercise addressed the symptoms of the organizational problems but not the underlying issues that were creating these problems, and, under pressure, the organization returned to its same dysfunctional equilibrium.
I spent a great deal of time analyzing and reflecting on what went wrong and eventually concluded that dealing with the symptoms of “organization dysfunction” would not have any impact until we dealt with the root causes of the problem.
Fast forward 2 years and a new general management team was in place. The new executive, comprising of existing and new members, came together to determine the work of the general management team, individually and collectively. They identified the work of the team, standing committees and members, who would make what decisions and how they would work together to achieve the company’s goals. Even with the Board issues still unresolved this new management team operated with a level of discipline and cohesion that enabled the business to achieve the business plan for the first time in 5 years.
What I learned over those 3 years has stuck with me until today. Today much of our work at Core focuses on building teams as an integrated part of organization redesign.
As my partner Ed McMahon described in last week’s blog “Effective teams and how to build them”, general management teams get the biggest bang for their buck when they establish the work of the team and how they need to cooperate to achieve it. Taking an intentional approach to developing collective behavioural norms, and a safe environment for difficult discussions is critical to a team’s success.
Building a strong general management team is straightforward. It begins with establishing the work of the individual team members and the work of the team as a whole and in subparts, followed by establishing the behavioural norms of how the team members will work together. Coming to an agreement on the work of the team not only provides the what and the how of teamwork but also builds the team in the process.
This blog is part of our ongoing series Organizations that Work. To see all of the blogs in the series that have been posted so far, click here.
Every Tuesday over the next few months, we will be posting blogs that take you from the pain of poor organization design, to identifying the root causes, to the benefits of undertaking strategic organization review. We will discuss the steps needed to effectively align your structure and work with your strategy, and we’ll discuss the processes that take out the guess work and help you to get it done. Through it all we will discuss how to lead the change from start to finish.
If you’d like to speak with us about how we can help you on your journey to an organization that works, please follow us on LinkedIn or book a call directly with one of our partners.
Our approach draws on several bodies of work including Stratified Systems Theory, the work of Dr. Elliott Jaques. For more on Dr. Jaques and his work visit the Requisite Organization International Institute at ROII Requisite – ROII Requisite.