Transforming the ELT: An Introductory Overview
What does it mean to be an Enterprise Leadership Team?
What do you think of when you see the acronym ELT? Most of us hear ‘Executive Leadership Team’. But what if instead, ‘Enterprise Leadership Team’ rolled off your tongue?
What might your image of the team, and therefore the way in which you function together, change? Moreover, how might the outputs and results be different under this redefined acronym?
A traditional ELT approach, that of an Executive Leadership Team - while familiar and comfortable to most of us - can lead to dysfunction not only on the immediate team, but across the whole of the organization, resulting in:
siloed teams focused on their own goals and challenges
defensive leaders who feel like they have to fight for their positions or opinions
mental and emotional tax on individuals competing for resources against their counterparts
confusion and conflict at the lower ranks
inefficiencies in executing work to be done
customer dissatisfaction
and lost profits
But what if there was another way? What if executive leaders could organize and operate in such a way that encouraged flexible roles, trust amongst leadership, and shared responsibility in order to support a more innovative way of running the business and supporting the mental, emotional, and operational needs of their teams?
This is where a new kind of ELT comes into play: an Enterprise Leadership Team. As quoted in Forbes: “To move senior people from thinking and behaving downwards into a function, a geography, a division or a single team, to thinking, and collaborating and inspiring across all functions, across all geographies, across all divisions, across all teams and across all customer groups is a very complex and critical shift.”
In other words – when high-level leaders make everyone’s challenges their business, and work together cross-functionally to find solutions and support each other in order to reach the goals of the larger organization as a whole, they function as an Enterprise Leadership Team.
Of course, as with any organizational structure, there are challenges with this type of leadership approach, especially when transitioning from a traditional model of executive leadership – overcoming old mental and emotional habits, undoing years of what you “know”, being open to what you are not used to, and redefining what it means to be a good leader are just a few.
The benefits of the Enterprise Leadership Team take time to manifest, but when they do, teams often find that problems are solved faster, output to customers is done at a higher level, and operations are more results-focused. In addition, the high levels of shared accountability and ownership can lead to more trust and transparency across teams, building the kind of connection and resilience that dream teams are made of. And all of this overflows to the rest of the organization.
Over the next five months, we’ll be diving deeper into how to build a true Enterprise Leadership Team, whether at the executive level, the regional level, or any level of the organization. In doing so, we will walk the wheel of our proprietary PRIDE model (Purpose, Roles, Infrastructure, Dynamics, Execute), one element per month. Stay tuned for next month’s article which will focus on Purpose, and the role it plays in transforming your team and your organization.
“Accelerating the development of executive managers into enterprise leaders may be the single most important factor in achieving your strategy and creating a more valuable and sustainable futures.” - Forbes
As you await our next 5 articles breaking this down according to the Integrated Growth PRIDE Model, we offer a quick cheat sheet with a few tips that might help kick start your journey.
Cheat Sheet
To help in transforming your team into a highly effective enterprise leadership team, here are a few tips to get your started. We encourage you to share this article and these tips with your team and explore what this might look like in practice in your organization.
LEARN | Things for you to learn
Emotional intelligence and selflessness — having emotional awareness and conscious response that elevates team members to self-transcendence
New definitions of ownership and accountability — shifting from functional to shared goals, measurements, and rewards
The practice of courage and transparency — make courageous decisions that consider the whole while explaining the thinking behind decisions and actions
UNLEARN | Things for you to unlearn
Defensiveness — perceiving questions from others as judgment or doubt in your capabilities or competence
Status Quo — the way you’ve “always done things”
False Confidence — the need to be the person with the answers
PERMISSION | Things for you to give yourself and others permission to do/feel/be
Discomfort — to feel uncomfortable
Question — to question and be questioned
Challenge and share — to challenge fiefdoms and allow your own to be challenged, while sharing resources and talent across the enterprise
Integrated Growth has been developing leaders, mobilizing teams, and transforming organizations since 1998. Founded by Gretchen Reid, their team of highly skilled consultants and executive coaches are known for building award winning leadership development programs, facilitating strategic planning and team development initiatives, and providing executive coaching to help you achieve your greatest mission. We invite you to schedule a free consultation or visit www.integratedgrowth.com for more information.
AUTHOR – Gretchen Reid is the Founder and Chief Change and Leadership Architect for Integrated Growth. She has spent over 25 years coaching leaders and creating award-winning Leadership and Talent Development Programs, directly contributing to multiple awards for her clients, including Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, Forbes America’s Best Employers List, Forbes Best Employer for Diversity, and ASTD BEST. She is an Adjunct Professor of Change Management in the Strategic HR Masters Program, Denver University, University College. (MS, Career and Human Resource Development, Rochester Institute of Technology, BA, Psychology & Business Management, University of Rochester)