Executive Teams: Leadership and Management

LEADERSHIP ensures there are clarified plans for TOMORROW. It also deliberately builds the environment in which the organization’s operations get conducted today and tomorrow.

MANAGEMENT makes certain that TODAY’s operational activities get conducted efficiently and effectively. The priority and most attention get given to the present day. There is always concern about the days ahead, but first things first.

The error occurs when the executive team spends little time on the required leadership activities.

Growing organizations need the executive team to devote up to 20% of their time to leadership activities. As the organization grows, more leadership time is required.

Leading and managing an organization is difficult and complex. Applying a leadership system brings order and structure to the complexity without becoming a bureaucracy. The promise is: as executive teams improve using their executive leadership system, they accelerate the performance and outcomes of their management and operating systems.

At a minimum, the primary leadership activities should include connecting and aligning, strategic initiatives, stakeholder focus, and measurements as follows:

1. connecting and aligning at the thinking level with others on the executive team, so the parts all work together
2. creating, prioritizing, and implementing strategic initiatives to imbue innovation and continuous improvement in all parts of the organization
3. clarify, document, and guide how the organization attracts, engages, and builds relationships with all categories of stakeholders
4. review and assess, regularly, what and how reporting is created and used

Every leadership and management topic will fit within one of the above four categories. The organization’s why and vision occur in the first. All new things get included in the second one. Stakeholder focus on employees, customers, and vendors happens in the third. Goals and measurements occur in the fourth one. Each category gets structured with leadership concepts and principles to ensure a shared understanding across all organization parts.

The exceptional journey relies on structure, discipline, and guidance. The result is a solid foundation within which growth, performance, and value increase continuously.