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Most people believe that the value and impact of the C-level leadership originates from the number of meetings conducted, having the ability to plan for long term, and make key strategic decisions collectively. However, in reality, the C-level seldom works in unanimity to make collective decisions. They often have animosities with each other and lack collaboration and mutual trust.
The real impact and success of the top team emanates from the informal and social networks of its members, their resolve to capitalize on those connections for strategic decision making, and their competency to perform well in subgroups created to solve pressing concerns.
Effective C-level leadership is conscious of the value of their informal / social networks and their ability to deal with serious issues. They organize themselves in a way to work as the nucleus of the organization, which gives them the leverage to promptly act on adversities or opportunities.
Leadership’s Social Network Analysis
C-level’s informal social network enables an organization to draw combined capabilities—in-house as well as the extended network. Top leadership needs to evaluate the strengths of their social network by mapping their informal associations. This can be done by conducting surveys, analyzing meetings, phone calls, and emails.
The social network analysis reveals that 90% actionable information comes from this informal leadership network rather than through internal reports and datasets. These linkages aren’t distributed evenly; some members may be highly networked commanding a major chunk of two-way interactions across the organization whereas others may have a smaller network and lesser influence accordingly. The analysis also suggests that poor leadership connections lead to failed decisions—whereas enriched networks cause advancement in Innovation and Organizational Efficiency.
To design—or redesign—an effective Leadership Operating Model, organizations need to incorporate 3 key principles in their operations:
- Leverage Focused Subgroups
- Improve Networking Effectiveness
- Manage Conflicts at the Constituent Level
These 3 principles aren’t simple to implement. It warrants evolving the very nature of how the senior leadership team functions and design a more poised and assimilated Operating Model.
Let’s discuss these principles in detail.
Leverage Focused Subgroups
Senior leadership’s performance cannot be judged solely by its ability to revamp the enterprise’s organogram. Effective top leadership demands from the team a capability to form peer-to-peer, top-down, and bottom-up relationships; and work in discrete yet linked groups, each of which is focused on solving a unique problem or tapping an opportunity.
Depending upon the circumstances, leaders should adopt any of these modes when dealing with networks. Focused subgroups work best in 3 discrete modes:
- Discussion Groups – These groups focus on information flow, comparing notes, and updating each other on progress. The mode does not cater strategic decisions or active leadership.
- Single Leader Units – In this mode, every executive of the group has clear responsibilities and is accountable to one boss who has the authority over the others to enable speed and efficiency.
- Real Teams – This subgroup includes executives possessing similar capabilities, who are committed under an accommodating leader to achieve shared objectives.
Networking Effectiveness
It is culturally acceptable at many organizations to utilize time on trivial matters—e.g. unnecessary e-mailing, lengthy approval cycles, long-drawn-out meetings, or to schedule events. These matters cannot be eliminated altogether however, meticulously planned informal networking between the top team enhances efficiency of leaders to a great extent.
Each member of the C-level should connect the right people together, lead and support subgroups, and maintain associations. Gaps in informal communication between leaders damage the implementation of organizational strategic plans. Interaction between top executives is often limited to participation in senior level meetings for information sharing purposes only, lacking collaboration to pursue shared objectives. To make matters worse, they spend too little a time with their direct reports, employees, or customers. This detachment creates widespread unease and skepticism.
Interested in learning more about the 3 key principles necessary to design a Leadership Operating Model? You can download an editable PowerPoint on 3 principles key to design a Leadership Operating Model here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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Virtual Work has become a norm nowadays. To enable Virtual Work, organizations should strive to develop an Organizational Culture of writing things down. Documenting everything—from meeting notes to quarterly objectives—facilitates in developing stronger, informed, and more credible teams.
Organizations need to pay attention to and make good use of these 9 communication tactics to establish effective communication mechanisms among their remote teams:
- Daily Documentation
- Text-based Communication
- Low-context Communication
- Value-guided Communication
- Asynchronous Communication
- Good Habits
- Meetings
- Informal Communication
- Foster Relationships
Virtual communication tactics are essential for inspiring collaboration required for developing a more connected team.
Now, let’s talk about some of these tactics in Corporate Communications in further detail.
Daily Documentation
To have more collaborative work place and to have fruitful online meetings, virtual organizations need to follow these guidelines:
- Share formal agenda and discussion items well in advance of the actual meetings.
- Diligently document key ideas, points, and decisions for geographically dispersed team members to know their responsibilities, action items, and rationale for decisions.
- Virtual teams should be encouraged and rewarded by the leadership on their thorough documentation, just as achievement of sales targets are rewarded. This is particularly necessary since people tend to leave documentation when they have other urgent tasks at hand.
- Encourage teams to document a solution as soon as it is discovered, since our ability to remember and recall is limited. Prompt documentation of solutions also ensures readiness of answers to other team members’ queries in future.
Text-based Communication
For most people from an in-office environment, text-based messages are pretty awkward and cumbersome. They are used to one-to-one or in-person meetings and communication, instead of text-based communication. Making these people adopt text-based communique and use it to their advantage demands quite an effort and behavioral change. However, mastering the art of textual communication affords a number of benefits for teams, projects, and organizations alike, including:
- Text-based communication is vital for Virtual Work where team members are dispersed in different geographies. It is a medium which is inclusive, respectful, and emphasizes a documentation Culture.
- Documentation is a real competitive edge. A Culture without mandatory documentation gives rise to inefficiencies, knowledge leaks and repetition.
- Text-based communication seems a liability but helps avoid unnecessary meetings with the sole purpose of “filling someone in.”
- Cultivating a habit of communicating answers to problems through text makes documentation simpler, assists in asynchronous work, and provides information to all at the same time.
- It frees up individual’s time for contemplation and idea generation.
When communication stakes are high in the game, there are some key considerations to follow in text-based communication:
- Consider evaluating your conservation through an external party’s perspective before sharing.
- Be mindful of the differences in various Cultures and communication styles.
- There can be lags in obtaining input from the other team members due to difference in geographies and time zones.
- Keep in mind that there can be minimum to none non-verbal communication.
- There is emotional lag in communication.
- Analyzing the mindset and frame of mind of the audience is a bit tough.
- Management should assist team members in communicating effectively and getting the best out of Virtual Work.
Interested in learning more about the other communication tactics and guidelines for virtual work setting? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Virtual Work: Communication Tactics here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
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