Executive Team Training and Coaching

Executive Team Training for the senior leadership team should be a high priority. When you say the word “team” most senior leaders think of intact work teams at lower levels of an organization.  Those teams that are charged with getting the work done together on a day-to-day basis. However the team that is critical to the future of the business is the Senior Leadership Team.

The executive team is the inner circle charged by the CEO to drive the organization’s revenues and profits. Typically mid-level managers are operate as separate silos within the organization and usually operate independently.  They rarely see one another and work together on a very limited basis. The concept of a “team” is often thought of as something that lower levels do.

Executive Team TrainingSince its publication in 2002, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team has become the world’s most definitive source of practical information for building teams. Building on Patrick Lencioni’s principles, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team Program helps team members and leaders use the model to function more effectively so their teams can achieve their full potential.  If you’ve read the book you quickly discover how important the leader is to make a team work.

The senior leadership teams have the same challenges that lower level teams have in the organization. However, this inner circle might be dysfunctional.  They may not –

  • work well together and prefer autonomy
  • trust one another
  • avoid conflict and stepping on each others area of functional expertise
  • lack commitment to one another and the organization’s goals
  • be accountable to their peers

Unfortunately most senior level leaders rarely get executive team training or coaching to optimize their work together.   It’s assumed that they learned about high performing teams early in their careers.

Lencioni claims that teams willing to address the five dysfunctions can experience the following benefits.

High performing, cohesive teams:

  • Are comfortable asking for help, admitting mistakes and limitations and take risks offering feedback
  • Tap into one another’s skills and experiences
  • Avoid wasting time talking about the wrong issues and revisiting the same topics over and over again because of lack of buy-in
  • Make higher quality decisions and accomplish more in less time and fewer resources
  • Put critical topics on the table and have lively meetings
  • Align the team around common objectives

 

The Senior Leadership Team Coaching Program

Executive Team TrainingAccording to the Center for Creative Leadership, more of these teams are seeking the support of experienced team coaches to improve their effectiveness.  Our executive coaches will work with the senior team to provide a short retreat for the leadership team then work with individual members of the team one-on-one. The retreat can be a half day to a full two day experience to experience a workshop focused on The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

 

Executive Team Training Assessment

Prior to the retreat, all team members will complete a confidential and anonymous online team assessment.  At the workshop, a report will be provided which helps the senior leadership team understand how well they function as a team.  The purpose of the assessment is to give the team members a sense of their team’s unique strengths and areas for improvement, based on The Five Dysfunctions model. It’s a tool that evaluates the team’s current rank based on the five fundamentals so members can decide what improvements are necessary for becoming a higher performing team.

Download a copy of the assessment report.

The Online Team Assessment provides a tangible measurement tool for the Five Dysfunctions of a Team model. Since 2004, over 100,000 individuals have gone through the Assessment. A variety of teams—from Fortune 500 executive teams, to NFL coaching staffs, to school principals and their teachers—have used and benefited from the Assessment. With only 38 questions, this tool provides a quick, effective snap-shot for team performance.

 

One-on-One Executive Team Training and Coaching

To reinforce the principles and concept of the workshop/retreat, the facilitator who is also an executive leadership coach, will work with each team member after the workshop.  The coach will help each leader to identify their own personal strengths and weakness on the executive team.  These private coaching sessions will insure the growth and success of the senior leadership team.

The team coach may also be involved in future meetings as an observer and as a coach to the senior leadership team.  The coach will insure the team is working together to optimize the potential success of their interactions.

Our team coaches are very experienced and have strong business backgrounds.  They have held senior leadership positions in their careers. Their focus to not provide input into your business, but to focus only on the team dynamics.  Good coaching helps a group move toward becoming a real team by bringing the hidden dynamics out so they can be managed.

There are several important competencies expected of our senior leadership team coaches.  Some include:

  • Strong business backgrounds with leadership experience
  • A strong sense of business acumen, and how the businesses make money.
  • Advanced degrees in business
  • Skills to read in the moment multiple levels of dynamics occurring on the team and raising productive issues for consideration
  • An understanding of power within groups, and ability to tactfully intervene if necessary

Meet some of our coaches here.

 

Our ideal client –

We like to work with small to medium size companies who are interested in close working relations with the coach.  Private companies, family businesses, and start-ups are our forte.  We’ll earn our involvement in the fabric of their business, and be an ally and champion to their senior team.  We’re looking for clients who are interested in change,  and dramatically improving their senior team’s performance. As a result, that means improving your organization’s profits as well.

We’re open to locations nationwide, but ideally close enough to work with your team face-to-face regularly.  We have offices in Cincinnati, Ohio and Naples, Florida. Naples is a popular place for executive retreats and we can help you plan a meeting with some great suggestions for  conference locations and amenities.

To learn more about Executive Team Training, call 513-772-5115 or contact us to discuss.