Every organization has, or needs, a leader. And it is true that the power of one committed, clear person can make all the difference in the world. But no one individual, even the greatest leader, does anything of much significance alone.

The best leaders know that it is not all about them. It is about their team. Consequently, one of a CEO’s most important jobs (see highlighted text at left) is to ensure that every team member knows what the leader and team expects from her/him to achieve planned results.

How to Empower Executive Teams

A good way for executives to know what team members need from them is to ask each to share views on their own, and on each others’, individual strengths, contributions, growth, and opportunities for development.

Consolidating, peer-reviewing, and administering input results prepares the team for greater success now and in future stages of evolution.  What follows is a straight forward approach for orchestrating such a process.

Approach

Individual Assessment Data Collection: 

A multi-rater behavioral survey is completed to collect data on strengths, contributions, and growth opportunities about each team member from themselves and from peers, their supervisor, and direct reports.

Analysis, Peer-Review, and Report-out: 

Consolidated assessments that reveal what the team has to say to each executive about skills, performance, growth, and expectations are peer-reviewed in a facilitated Executive Session. Assessments, as refined based on team input, are compiled for each executive into what the team counts on from each, along with a performance assessment and development objectives.

Results Leaders and teams use the approach to move forward efficiently and quickly: “The Leadership Team Assessment and Development workshop helped me in more ways than I can even say. The process is inclusive, objective, and at times painful…but so is therapy! What we got out of it is invaluable.” [CEO of  17-person cell tower development firm.] “We got information from multiple angles. Everyone felt good about it and got a ton out of it. It generated all the value I expected and it took a lot less time and money to implement. “ [CEO, of 27-person mortgage portfolio analytics and model management firm.] “With minimal effort, time, and expense, my team was helped to see how we were working together and what we needed to achieve our goals. We revisited our skills, behaviors, and expectations of each other, and clarified how to better integrate new members.” [CEO of 200+-person provider of software and services to public sector agencies.]

Next Steps

The approach provides a safe window into what each team member thinks about what s/he is counted on to do and into what each team member thinks about, and expects from, every other team member. With such clarity, it is remarkably easy for the CEO to see where “everyone’s head is at” and to impact individual and group thinking as desired.

Every leader can, and should, drive the described process about once each year, with or without outside facilitation. Templates, instructions, and related content for so doing are available at no charge in the IntelliVen Toolbox.  

Contact peterd@intelliven.com to arrange up to an hour of free coaching to help you and your team get on track to ensure every member knows what you and the team count on to achieve planned results.

Sample Workshop Outputs

Team and Individual data relative to success norms by stage of organization maturity:

Detailed team and individual multi-rater scores can be tabulated and compared to skill-mix norms for successful teams at every stage of venture maturity based on 24,000 data points collected over 30-years studying successful organizations .

Final Report:

Each team and team member receives a highly personalized report of her/his perceived skills, contributions, growth, and development opportunities based on peer input and review.

Role Definition:

Consolidated, peer-reviewed input is readily turned into precise descriptions of roles and goals for each team member’s performance and growth.

See Also

Executive Assessment and Development Process Description: A description of the IntelliVen Executive Development and Assessment Workshop successfully run for dozens of organizations.

How an Executive Performance Assessment helped a COO become a CEO.

Instructor’s Guide on How Leaders Learn from Those with a Stake in Their Success.