It’s nice to pretend that all of our teams work together well all the time. We never have any problems. We all get along swimmingly even under the worst duress. Every day is bliss.
If nothing else, 2020 has at least blown that wide open. We can’t really pretend about how effective our teams are – there’s too much going on. Many of our teams have undergone extreme amounts of stress due to a Black Swan event that called into question the most basic of expectations. As a result, we’re seeing a lot of fissures exposed that have always been there but we’ve been able to ignore or avoid.
Many teams experience fissures from time to time – we are humans, and we are bound to have instances of disagreement or misalignment. In business, fractures in the executive team are potentially the most devastating. I think we all know why, but I’ll go ahead and say it: a fractured executive team means lack of direction, dissension in decision making, and erosion of trust that eventually make their way through the ranks of the organization. The end result is a company struggling with the most basic functions.
The saddest thing about a fractured team of any kind is that it’s like a broken plate. You’d like to eat your dinner off of it, but if you were to put food on it – if you could find a piece big enough – you’d end up with bits of glass or ceramic in your mouth. Not fun.
Have you experienced a fractured executive team? If you have, what was the worst part? It may have been that no one could even identify that the team was fractured, much less where the break actually was. It’s great when we feel like we’re all on the same page and can run really fast together, but when we’re disconnected and can’t communicate, what do we do?
Here’s some starting points for how you might address this difficulty in your team. Word to the Wise: If you have a president or CEO that carries a big stick or can’t hear certain truths, you might bring up the concept of the fractured executive team in a personal meeting rather than with the whole team right off the bat. This will allow her time and space to consider the perspective and thus consider the health of the team rather than having a knee-jerk defensive reaction.
- Start by addressing reality. If you perceive the team is fractured, you can bring that up directly. Ask the team if they have had a similar experience.
- Identify what might be causing the fractures.
- Do you see yourselves as a team?
- Are you prioritizing individual contribution over the health of the team?
- What else might be happening?
- Identify how you might strengthen the team as a whole. What makes it hard to work together? What makes it fun to work together? What do you see is the biggest struggle for this team? What does the team need as a whole to align effectively?
A fractured team of any kind is a difficult environment to work in, never mind actually get anything done with. I have worked in and with many of these, and I have always found the experience to be exhausting and draining – which makes it impossible to be excited about the work! I tell you this because it’s not unusual for any team to become fractured. Executive teams are no better or worse than any other team. The differentiating factor between a fractured team and a unified team tends to be whether or not the team can acknowledge that there is a problem.
There is always hope for this though – think about kintsugi. Anything that is broken can be fixed, and often it is stronger and more beautiful as a result of the breaking.
Activity: Consider a team you are on. Does this team resolve issues in a respectful and effective manner? Do you leave meetings feeling energized and motivated to move forward in your contribution? Do you feel appreciated by and appreciative of the members in the team? If the answer to these questions is no, you may have a fractured team. If the answer is yes, identify three things your team is doing to create an environment where this is your experience.