3 Keys to Success #123
As someone who has coached leadership teams for the past 25+ years, I am an observer of the thinking and behaviors of high-performance teams. At the top of the organization, it’s imperative you are aligned and clear on where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. The clarity can be reached and adapted quickly and easily. The alignment? Well, that’s another thing.
Recently, I had a team in a session who was going through some significant challenges in their business. The first major challenge is that the CEO (and founder) is having some serious health challenges and has no succession plan. The second challenge is that the business isn’t doing well financially. Their hands are full, and despite the current results in the business, this is a group of very successful professionals with impressive pedigrees and track records.
It was our best session to date. Optimism, teamwork, and courage were present with open, honest, and vulnerable communication leading the way. What contributed to their success?
- A great interim leader with excellent people skills stepped in (notice the bold/italics?).
- Great leaders rise in the face of adversity.
- They’ve moved from being a team of leaders to a unified leadership team.
All three of these factors are contributing to the greatness of this team; however, the third one is the difference-maker. Alone, none of these factors are enough; it is their alignment as a unified team moving as one which is contributing to their greatness. Empowering the rest of their teams is the next part – remembering where the leadership team goes, the rest follow.
Two different questions remain:
Will they succeed? In the most important ways, they already have.
Will they have the results? There’s no guarantee, but they absolutely have maximized that possibility.