Leadership teams have enormous collective influence in an organisation. Yet that influence is not always fully used.
It is easy to understand why. Each member is responsible for a different part of the business, has their own priorities and objectives, and is pulled in different directions. Over time, the leadership team can become a group of strong individual leaders, each doing their own job — rather than a team collectively leading the organisation.
And yet, something interesting often happens in a crisis. Many leadership teams show their excellence when the pressure is high.
The issue becomes everyone’s priority.
People draw on each other’s expertise.
Solutions are developed together.
Decisions are made collectively.
And everyone feels responsible for the outcome.
When the crisis is resolved, there is often a genuine sense of pride: we did this together.
So what happens when the crisis is over? How do you carry that collective responsibility into everyday leadership, when everyone goes back to their own priorities?
I think part of the answer lies in the relationships within the team: the degree of trust, the ability to challenge each other, to give feedback, to ask for help and to draw on each other’s expertise.
But there is another important dimension.
A leadership team doesn’t just need to work well together. It needs to be experienced by the organisation as a team.
When its members are aligned on the direction, communicate consistently and show confidence in the decisions they have made together, it becomes much easier for others to follow.
And perhaps one of the clearest signs of a real leadership team is this: I can advocate for my own part of the business — while still taking responsibility for what is best for the organisation as a whole.
That is not always easy. But when leadership teams get there, they can have an influence far greater than the sum of their individual roles.
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