As companies change their strategies at increasing speed. They are also finding that they have to change their leadership teams.

We are increasingly finding leadership teams where some of the old team have left and new leaders have been promoted or recruited. The team has become a mix of people who are new to the company, some  who have been recently promoted, and some people who have been in post for a comparatively long time. 

That creates a team of people, some of whom are senior, highly skilled in their domain, but have no experience of the company; others who know the company but do not have senior leadership experience; and some who both know the company and have the senior experience but may be struggling with the changes in culture of the that the new strategy is driving.

Creating a High Performing Leadership Team is central to the delivery of the new strategy. And this is where some of the problems begin. Each member of the  team must be clear about their role in delivering the strategy and must trust the other members of the Team to be accountable for their own roles.  Team members need to know that they can rely on each other for support.  Trust solidifies over time but distrust solidifies even faster. There needs to be work early on to start the process. Each team member must be clear from Day 1 what behaviours are acceptable and what the expectations of others are.

Which brings the issue of diversity into the spotlight.  You need a team that has a common goal, you need a team that shares objectives, that feels accountable to each other but you also have to balance the need for diversity of thinking with the  need for challenge, but a challenge that has to be absorbed and thought through by all of the team so that if the challenge is accepted changes can be made to the plan and everyone can get behind those changes.