Trust is Key

In the text for my class on Adult Leadership, Meisinger (2013) describes different strategies to lead executive teams and includes many tips, strategies, and thoughts that would be beneficial for any president, COO, or CEO who must bear the responsibility of leading executives within an organization. Executive leadership is different and more complex than the team or departmental leadership and Meisinger (2013) points this out by writing that “for executive teams, the stakes are often more significant for the individual members and to the organization as a whole. This creates some additional dynamics” (p. 183).  

These dynamics, Meisinger (2013) points out can include downstream effects on morale and function of the organization in other departments; “if employees see that members of the executive team are not working collaboratively, it’s likely to have a ripple impact throughout the organization” (p. 183). There is a great deal of importance in ensuring that leading executive teams is done well, and there is one key that can help ensure that it is done well, with a minimum of negative impact on the organization. That key is trust. 

All of the conflicts that Meisinger (2013) discusses and the advice that she provides throughout the chapter is similar to the advice and the conflicts discussed by Lencioni (2002). Meisinger (2013) discusses the risk of distrust when writing “dysfunctional teams will lead to failures of communication on a key business issue. There will be distrust and disagreement over critical resource allocations (p. 184). Meisinger (2013) also writes about how to overcome this by writing, “leaders must lead a team of executives in such a way that open sharing and debate on competing viewpoints are encouraged, but without behaviors or actions that disturb the trust among the team’s members” (p. 185). This is almost an exact duplication of the advice provided Lencioni (2002) when he writes, “teamwork begins by building trust” (p. 63). 

Lencioni (2002) spends much of his fable about a Silicon Valley software organization building, establishing, and maintaining trust within the executive team. There are multiple examples of the leader, making the team comfortable with each other and specifically with conflict within the team, such as when the leader notices a lack of debate; “I’d have to say that more than anything I’ve been told by others, I see a trust problem here in the lack of debate that exists” (Lencioni, 2002, p. 45). Conflict, Lencioni (2002) writes, is okay and healthy for executive teams as long as there is a foundation of trust between them. 

Leaders must also trust the members of the executive team to do the work for them. Lencioni (2002) demonstrates times when her main character, Katheryn, waits while other members of her team express the goals, she hopes they will understand on her behalf. Meisinger (2013) also writes that “leaders of executive teams have to know when to remain silent. Frequently, top executives are where they are because they have a clear vision of what needs to be done and have the drive and intellect to know how best to get there” (p. 186). Covey (2008) emphasizes this as well when he writes, “in a high-trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing, and people will still get your meaning. In a low-trust relationship, you can be very measured, even precise, and they’ll still misinterpret you” (p. 6). 

Trust is a key to any functioning team. Covey (2008) writes, “the first job of a leader . . . is to inspire trust. It’s to bring out the best in people by entrusting them with meaningful stewardships, and to create an environment in which high-trust interaction inspires creativity and possibility” (p. 319). As Meisinger (2013) writes, having that level of trust and potential for creativity is more important for executive teams because of the opportunity to inspire those who look to the team for direction and to influence harmony within the organization. 

Despite all the advice that Miesinger (2013) and Lencioni (2002) bring up in their writing, the most important is that of establishing trust for the executive teams. Without that trust between members, the work of the executive team can undermine not just the work of that team, but also the work within the organization. 

References

Covey, S. (2008). Speed of trust: The one thing that changes everything. Simon & Schuster.

Lencioni, P. M. (2002). The five dysfunctions of a team: A leadership fable. Jossey-Bass.

Meisinger, S. R. (2013). Leading executive teams: The good, the bad, and the ugly. In E. Salas, G. Latham, D. J. Cohen, & S. I. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Developing and enhancing teamwork in organizations: Evidence-based best practices and Guidelines (pp. 182 - 207). essay, Jossey-Bass.