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View from the top: A leader’s guide to building a dream team

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ESSENTIALS FOR LEADERS AND THOSE THEY LEAD

Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities

The saying goes that it’s lonely at the top. Many successful executives often feel isolated. But throughout history, leaders have found that having the support of capable and trustworthy teams can alleviate some of the stresses—and feelings of loneliness—that go with positions of power. Good strategic advisers can boost the effectiveness of company heads and increase stakeholder confidence. Although styles of leadership have changed over the years, the principles of building good leadership teams haven’t, as we discuss in this issue.

AN IDEA

An image linking to the web page “Seeing around corners: How to excel as a chief of staff” on McKinsey.com.

Hail to the chief

The role of chief of staff (COS) originated in government and the military, but it is becoming increasingly common in the business world. The people in this role are not to be confused with personal assistants—rather, they are trusted guides and confidants who can help improve senior leaders’ efficiency, productivity, and problem-solving skills. “The role’s raison d’être is always to enable the principal—typically a CEO but increasingly other C-suite members—to execute their mission,” note McKinsey senior partner Andrew Goodman and coauthors in an article on eight practical actions that can help a COS excel in the role. For example, it’s important to exert influence without playing politics: “The COS has to master a delicate balancing act of being part of the leadership team while retaining independence from it,” caution the authors.

A BIG NUMBER

That’s the number of crucial priorities for constructing and managing effective top teams, according to classic McKinsey research. Notably, such teams rarely focus on work that only they can do, such as making decisions related to strategy and people. “What are they doing instead? Everything else,” say the researchers. “Too often, top teams fail to set or enforce priorities and instead try to cover the waterfront. In other cases, they fail to distinguish between topics they must act on collectively and those they should merely monitor.” To solve this problem, one company created a set of consistent performance indicators to track the progress of lower-tier projects, moving them off its top leadership team’s agenda.

A QUOTE

“When leadership teams have a shared, meaningful, and engaging vision, the company is nearly two times more likely to achieve above-median financial performance.”

That’s McKinsey senior partner Aaron De Smet and colleagues on how strong leadership teams can boost a company’s growth—while weak teams can do just the opposite. Among company transformations that fail, about a third do so because of leadership behaviors that don’t support the desired changes. “Significant opportunity exists to improve behaviors associated with team effectiveness,” suggest the McKinsey experts. For example, effective teams are likely to align on values, priorities, and ways of working together. Yet while leadership teams agree that such alignment is crucial, only 60 percent of organizations’ team members say that it actually happens.

A SPOTLIGHT INTERVIEW

An image linking to the web page “An interview on building organizational resilience: A board-level priority in today’s challenging times” on McKinsey.com.

Building resilience is a high priority for today’s organizations—and creating diversity at the board level can help. “There are no longer any reasons for bottlenecks in increasing diversity,” says Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norwegian sovereign wealth fund NBIM, in a conversation with McKinsey senior partner Frithjof Lund. NBIM has set clear expectations for the board diversity of its portfolio companies; Tangen believes that diverse perspectives encourage creativity, innovation, and better decision making. “We have started to vote against companies that do not meet the expected levels of diversity,” he says. In a study led by McKinsey senior partner Celia Huber, respondents emphasize the value of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and career paths. “To my mind, it’s a little bit like assembling an orchestra,” says a CEO. “I know I need a bunch of different instruments; whether I have three of one and two of the other—that misses the point. It’s about how all of the instruments blend together.”

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN

An image linking to the web page “World-class teams” on McKinsey.com.

In the style of play known as “total football,” all the players ideally possess all the skills that the game requires, allowing for maximum tactical flexibility. The same principle applies to world-class leadership teams, in the view of David Kirk, cofounder of Bailador Technology Investments and a former rugby champion. Mastery of a variety of skills enables individual team members to be both specialists and generalists, says Kirk. “High-performing team members generalize their attitude to team performance. They feel responsible for their performance, for others’ performance, and for team performance. They become leaders.”

Lead by forming strong teams.

— Edited by Rama Ramaswami, senior editor, New York

Follow our thinking

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by "McKinsey Leading Off" <publishing@email.mckinsey.com> - 02:06 - 13 Nov 2023

Archives

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info@learn.odoo.com

It’s tough for companies to grow. One C-suite partnership is especially important.

Join our exclusive webinar on streamlining contractor management with Remote 💥

View from the top: A leader’s guide to building a dream team

Hail to the chief

“When leadership teams have a shared, meaningful, and engaging vision, the company is nearly two times more likely to achieve above-median financial performance.”

Introducing Insights to Impact

Archives

in

info@learn.odoo.com

It’s tough for companies to grow. One C-suite partnership is especially important.

Join our exclusive webinar on streamlining contractor management with Remote 💥

View from the top: A leader’s guide to building a dream team

Hail to the chief

“When leadership teams have a shared, meaningful, and engaging vision, the company is nearly two times more likely to achieve above-median financial performance.”

Introducing Insights to Impact﻿

Introducing Insights to Impact