Team Development

Developing Effective Leadership Teams

This white paper shows how LRI helps develop effective leadership teams that can implement change successfully and achieve desired outcomes. This is one of the key ways an organization achieves higher performance.

Let’s assume that you and your leadership have taken the time to develop a strategic plan. Purpose statement, vision statement, and core values have been clearly articulated. Objectives and strategies defining how you will achieve the goals are clearly outlined. A “dashboard” containing performance metrics and targets is in place. Now, the hard work begins – implementation and follow-through.

Frankly, the implementation stage is where most organizations come face-to-face with the ability of the leadership team to successfully drive change and deliver the desired outcomes. What can be done to ensure that the organization doesn’t fall short in this stage? One answer is to focus on increasing the effectiveness of the leadership team. What does that look like?

Highly effective leadership teams simultaneously focus on two aspects: accomplishing the task and developing the team. Some people think team development is a “touchy/feely” experience and don’t understand how critical it is to achieve their outcomes. Yet our experience bears out the truth that the best-laid plans go nowhere without the capacities in place to drive the initiatives forward.

Here are a number of specific techniques that we use to increase a team’s effectiveness and help the team achieve the organization’s desired outcomes:

1. Coach teams in the “Five Habits of High Performing Teams.” This is a tool developed by LRI that we use as the framework for all aspects of team building.
2. Ask team members to assess the current level of the team with regard to each of the Five Habits. Teach team leaders how to survey their teams and track improvement over time.
3. Ask the team to develop a set of operating principles for the team – a list of specific behaviors that team members agree to uphold.
4. Learn and understand each other’s communication styles and communication preferences. This builds trust between team members and enables candid conversation and effective conflict resolution. LRI’s Straight Talk^® system makes this training easy to do online.
5. Learn about and use appreciative and constructive feedback – and regularly provide time for sharing feedback with team members.
6. Develop specific performance goals for the team and for team members – and celebrate team “wins” regularly.
7. Prepare individual leadership plans for each team member, including measurable performance goals.
8. Provide individual coaching for team members. This can include peer-to-peer coaching, such as having pairs of team members meet regularly and provide each other with candid feedback. These partnership pairs can be rotated quarterly to enable further development of trust between leadership team members.

Leadership development is both an art and a science. Our firm has developed effective leadership teams in many different types of organizations and industry sectors – increasing the effectiveness of organizational leaders in achieving the desired outcomes.

LRI can help your company build an effective leadership team. Contact us online or call (800) 598-7662. You will receive a prompt, personal response from one of our consultants.