During my days in corporate America there was nothing more aggravating than disunity within leadership teams. Unity (or the idea of) was found in meetings and award ceremonies, but severely lacking during hard times. Needless to say we didn't spend much time on leadership team development. How good would your organization be if it took this type of development seriously?
Here on some ideas on how to grow, or start, leadership team development within your organization:
- Conduct a meeting and begin the embrace of candor. You'll encounter a lot of silence, but that's ok. Conflict comes into the air when a word like candor comes around.
- Putting leaders together for development exercises can be very revealing. It might clue you into what you really have. This very important to know when times are tough.
- Have each leadership team member partner with an entry level employee to gauge humility. Pay close attention to the response you get when the idea is broached. It will tell you much about the person's character.
- Conduct mock emergency (of the organizational variety) drills. Go as far as you can hear to create a sense of reality.
- Study jazz. It's the type of music that is fluid and improvisational at the heart. Teaching leaders how to be fluid and improvisational is essential for breakthroughs.
- Have your leaders spend some time with those who are coming to the end of life. Not meaning to be morbid here, but it can build a sense of urgency and thankfulness.
- If you're responsible for the leadership team development, ask yourself what your love level is. Do you love the people you're serving?