What do you do if your executive team lacks collaboration and teamwork?

Put them in touch with the impact their behavior is creating. Enroll others in the conversation -- especially others in multiple areas and levels of the organization -- and not just tell them but show them the results of this behavior. Look to analogies from team sports (reminding them that work is a team sport, too): how would you feel about a team whose leaders all chose to play the game differently? Would you expect that team to win?

Do the team value what each of them brings to the party? That old saying "birds of a feather flock together" can mean that people easily build rapport with those who have similar approaches and skills, and will find it harder to do so with those who have very different, but equally needed, approaches and skills. Consider some personality profiles or assessments. Your team need to really understand each other's different talents and see how, rather than conflicting with their goals, those different abilities give a stronger chance of collective success.

When addressing this issue in executive teams, I first seek to understand two main insights: 1. What are the common company goals requiring teamwork and collaboration? - are these shared goals clearly articulated and understood? - are the objectives, metrics and incentives for these goals defined and aligned to enable effective collaboration? 2. What drives the behaviours inhibiting teamwork and collaboration? Can be a multitude of reasons including: - management focus on individual business unit performance rather than shared goals - skills gaps enabling effective teamwork and collaboration - culture and traditions within the company - absence of communication - competing agendas The answers will define what needs to be addressed.

Until the senior leadership discusses and agrees on a clear set of values, behaviors and expectations that support the success of everyone on the team, there is no stability in the workplace. Everyone is simply following their own agenda. Every leadership team member must contribute their input to the discussion that defines the values and observable behaviors establishing future organization-wide expectations. Complete team participation ensures complete team ownership. Finally, everyone in the organization is held accountable to abide by the rules, especially Senior Leaders who are the organization's role models. This provides the clarity necessary to foster mutual support, and promotes and sustains collaboration and teamwork.

By taking proactive steps to address collaboration and teamwork within the executive team, leaders can create a more cohesive, high-performing, and effective leadership group that is better equipped to drive organizational success.

Simple trick I learnt from my favourite mentor: set the same objectives for all the Executives in your team. It drives collaboration and priority to the business objectives. They can then setup their plans and structures to deliver the detail.

Der Schlüssel zu einem starken Führungsteam liegt in klaren Erwartungen: 1️⃣ Definieren von Rollen und Verantwortlichkeiten - Dies schafft nicht nur Klarheit, sondern fördert auch die Zusammenarbeit. 2️⃣ Gemeinsame Vision und Werte: Die Definition einer gemeinsamen Vision und geteilter Werte ist essenziell - Das stärkt den Zusammenhalt. 3️⃣ Klare Kommunikationsrichtlinien - Kommunikation ist der Kitt eines jeden erfolgreichen Teams. 4️⃣ Verantwortlichkeit fördern durch klare Definition von Erwartungen – Jede Führungsmitglied hat einen Beitrag zur Erreichung gemeinsamer Ziele zu leisten. 5️⃣ Vorbildliche Verhaltensweisen - Als Führungskraft ist es essentiell, die Verhaltensweisen und Einstellungen vorzuleben, die man vom Team erwartet.

Clarify roles and responsibilities: Clarify the roles and responsibilities of each member within the executive team to ensure alignment and minimize ambiguity. Clearly define expectations for collaboration, decision-making, and accountability to promote teamwork and cohesion.

Set some guidelines - train team on collaboration and communication skills -sometime it could be how some people communicate with no intention via email and offend unnecessarily

Setting clear expectations starts with the agreed corporate goals. Once the executives are aligned on the shared imperatives, I get them as to work through the following as a team: 1. What in their business unit will need to change or contribute to successfully deliver each goal. 2. What skills, experience and capabilities will be required to execute. 3. What core behaviours will be required to deliver a successful outcome. 4. Who are the people resources who have both that can be assigned to the work? 5. What metrics will incentivise the desired outcomes and behaviours. 6. How will the executive leadership role model, support and manage the shared company goals. This creates buy in and ownership with the executive team.

Promote trust and respect: Cultivate a culture of trust and respect within the executive team by valuing diversity of thought, appreciating each other's contributions, and demonstrating empathy and understanding towards colleagues. Encourage collaboration and cooperation rather than competition or soloed behaviour.

If your executive team lacks collaboration and teamwork, it is usually one of 2 issues: trust or misalignment. You can try to coach individuals on the executive team, but it often lacks context if the issue is the team itself. Two approaches: 1. Coach the TEAM as a unit. This is helpful if your team members are fixed. Observe and watch the team in action and coach them in the moment while they work. Make sure you are qualified to coach teams versus individuals. It is a different approach. 2. Use simulations to build trust. Team members need to see how people react and work together, but on real issues this can be risky. Run a crisis simulation and see how they do. They will learn about how their colleagues think and perform under pressure.

Building trust is the first step in creating collaboration with a team. As Teddy Roosevelt once said: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.“ Let’s face it, people do business with people. When we take time to get to know our employees, and sincerely show with our actions, that we care about them, we are able to create the environment amongst our direct reports, where success is inevitable. Once we have a built trust, then we can begin collaborating with one another, understanding that we have each other’s back. Creating an environment where employees feel valued, respected, appreciated, and heard, is the first step to creating a sustainable, hyper-performing, team.

Three things I would recommend are: 1.Demonstrate Vulnerability Don't be afraid to share your own struggles and uncertainties. By being transparent about your own humanity, you'll create an environment where your team feels comfortable opening up as well. 2. Communicate Openly and Transparently Commit to honest, two-way communication. Proactively share information, be receptive to feedback, and create opportunities for open dialogue. When team members feel heard and understood, they're more likely to reciprocate trust. 3. Empower Your Team Delegate meaningful work and give your executives the autonomy to make decisions. This demonstrates your confidence in their abilities and creates a sense of ownership.

Team work and collaboration builds stronger bonds, encourages innovation,builds trust and increases productivity. It is critical for executive to understand that lack of team rapport/collaboration will make team members disengaged and being indifferent does not benefit any organization

I agree with you Dr Betty. Making sure your employees trust you, feel heard and valued will make a great work environment. Thank you for your insight.

Without trust you won't even know your enemy so how how are you supposed to productively compete to perform in a high performance team.

Celebrating your team members and recognizing their contributions is one of the surest ways to establish greater bonds and increase motivation in your team. Examples we can adopt are giving gift vouchers, massage bookings,to buying lunch, airtime,social media posts on our intranets to openly commending star performers can go a long way to increase staff motivation and high team spirit

I will find our why do I get lack of team collaboration? Cannot initiate adjustments unless we identify all the causes. The usual adjustments to be made must get also this team acceptance, ideally.

Coordination and teamwork should be core values. Eventually, those individuals acting otherwise will be disliked and isolated and not rewarded.

A clear expectation from the CEO helps only if it is backed up with coaching and accountability. If you have the right senior team they will quickly adopt the collaborative approach. If there is an outlier who doesn’t get onboard than we need to use the Jim Collins method of getting the right people on the bus and helping those who won’t get on, find another place to be when the bus pulls out. Rewarding the team for displaying and encouraging the right behaviors throughout the organization will attract more people who want to be part of what you are creating. The Team will get continually better as they practice, encourage and live the behaviors.

If your executive team is struggling with collaboration and teamwork, it's vital to act quickly to improve overall performance. Encourage open communication among team members to identify barriers to collaboration and foster a culture of trust and respect. Implement team-building exercises and set clear objectives to promote collaboration. Lead by example and demonstrate collaborative behaviors in your interactions with the team to emphasize the importance of working together towards common goals. #ahmedalaali11

Cross training the Experts in each organizational silo to understand the business from stem to stern has enabled the overall cohesiveness in the organizations in which I’ve been a part of in my career. Each silo of experts need to understand the role that they play within the entire organization. Personally, my career has spanned the capital markets, healthcare, telecom, and energy industries and each industry has the same challenges in the organizations. Helping the associates understand the role that they contribute and what their contribution means to the overall well-being of the business is critical for the success of the business.