Level-up the Cohesiveness of Your Leadership Team

If you really want a cohesive leadership team, try this!

The combination of working and communicating remotely and dealing with the extraordinary challenges of the COVID-19 is testing leadership capacity. You need the whole leadership team pulling together as one cohesive team.

Here’s a simple and time-efficient exercise to strengthen the cohesiveness of your leadership team.

      1. Ask each member of your leadership team to complete an assessment of the 8 Vital Signs of a healthy company. You can access our Results Accelerator by clicking here. It takes 7-8 minutes to complete, and it’s free. Each person will immediately receive a report with a graphic analysis and recommendations.
      2. Schedule a meeting with the leadership team.
      3. At the meeting, the CEO explains the rules of the game.
        1. There are no wrong answers
        2. Be brutally honest
        3. Passionate debate is encouraged
        4. Be an active listener
        5. Maintain respect
        6. All voices will be heard
      4. The CEO leads off the exercise by sharing the graphic analysis in her report and explaining why she chose her scores.
      5. The CEO facilitates sharing among the group by ‘going around the table,’ drawing out those who are reluctant to speak and encouraging passionate debate.
      6. Once all have spoken, reach a consensus on the three vital signs most needing work.
      7. Develop a simple action plan (who/what/when) for undertaking that work.

By observing the rules of the exercise and ensuring that all voices are heard, the members of your leadership team will have the opportunity to increase their level of trust in each other. By reaching a consensus on the action plan, team cohesiveness will be enhanced.

As a bonus, you will have started a quick review and retuning to your strategic plan – a great thing to do, given what’s going on around us!

If you’d like any help with this exercise, we will be happy to help! Just contact sadie@ic3.ca.