Product Description

An organisation's fate hinges on its CEO - right? Not according to the authors of Senior Leadership Teams. They argue that in today's world of neck-snapping change, demands on leaders in top roles are rapidly outdistancing the capabilities of any one person - no matter how talented. Result? Chief executives are turning to their enterprise's senior leaders for help. Yet many CEOs stumble when creatinga leadership team. One major challenge is that senior executives often focus more on their individual roles than on the top team's shared work. Without the CEO's careful attention to setting the team up correctly, these high-powered managers often have difficulty pulling together to move their organisation forward. Sometimes they don't even agree about what constitutes the right path forward.

The authors explain how to determine whether your organisation needs a senior leadership team. Then, drawing on their study of 100+ top teams from around the world, they explain how to create a clear and compelling purpose for your team, get the right people on it, provide structure and support, and sharpen team members' competencies - and your own.

Timely and practical, this book enables you to create and sustain a leadership team whose members learn from one another while collaborating to pursue your company's objectives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #242441 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

About the Author
Ruth Wageman is Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University and Director of Research for Hay Group.

Debra Nunes and James Burruss are Vice Presidents at Hay Group's McClelland Institute for Research and Innovation.

J. Richard Hackman is Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University.

Customer Reviews

Move your leadership teams in the right direction.
On the surface, you wouldn't think that assembling a functional senior leadership team would pose a significant problem to the typical CEO. After all, senior leaders are an organization's best and brightest. They've progressed through the ranks, demonstrated their abilities, and proven that they get along well with their colleagues and the people who work for them. So why are so many senior leadership teams unproductive? Why do most executives regard an invitation to join a CEO's lead team as a punishment instead of a great opportunity? You could fill a book with all the reasons, which is exactly what Ruth Wageman, Debra A. Nunes, James A. Burruss and J. Richard Hackman have done. The authors dissect and examine every aspect of this vital issue, and offer sensible advice and answers. Follow their lead and don't squander a golden opportunity to help your organization. getAbstract believes this book is highly useful reading for all CEOs and senior executives.

Sharp and focussed book, on creating/sustaining Senior Leadership Teams..
This book closes the gap between effective organization design and strategy implementation/change management. It brings out the key role of the senior leadership team in taking the organization forward.

This book covers areas not dealt with adequately elsewhere, by the extensive literature on team effectiveness, of the past 20-25 years.

I suggest reading the last chapter first (nine), as this provides a good overview of the key concepts. Chapter five on giving the Leadership team the structure it needs to work effectively, is one of the best features of the book.

The six core questions addressed by the book are:

* Does your organization really need a leadership team?

* If so, how do you articulate a compelling team purpose?

* How can you tell if the right people are on the team?

* How should the team be structured in terms of its size, mix of members, and norms for interaction?

* What organizational supports ( including recognition and reliable data) does a top team need?

* How will you ensure the team has skilled, hands-on-coaching?

Page 161 contains some interesting points:

" A surprising finding from out research is that teams do not improve markedly, even if all their members receive individual coaching to develop their personal capabilities. Individual coaching can indeed help executives become better leaders in their own right, but the team does not necessarily improve."

They highlight that coaching for effective team development is a different matter from 1-1 coaching. This confirms my doubts that individual coaching, has its major limatations in regard to improving effectiveness in team/organizational settings.

The content is based on the study of 120 top teams around the world. The lessons apply across any sector - private/public/not for profit etc.

The Hay group has attempted to build a thought leadership capability in this and related areas. This has been largely achieved by this book. The content draws extensively on Hackmans work whom I have always admired and the Team Diagnostic survey. ( Check this out on google) The combination of academic and consultancy experience - 100 years plus, has led to useful and well crafted book.

One of the few minus points of the book is to found on page 147. This material, on the information needs of the senior leadership team is lightweight in content.

Stan Felstead - Interchange Resources - UK.