Post on 02-Apr-2020
Inside the Entrepreneurial
Top Team
Prof. Patrick Flood
Dublin City University Business School
Today's agenda
• Discuss what makes for an effective top team• Listen to the advice of some key leaders• Carry out an audit of team effectiveness• Develop ‘take aways’ to help you and your company
5 minute-Ice Breaker
Discuss in pairs
•How well do senior managers co-operate in your organisation
The challenges of growth for
owners
• How big do you want to grow?• Lifestyle issues of growth• Growth means professionalising• Stay the course or cash out?• Do you want to stay on as MD? Succession• Keeping the entrepreneurial culture• Growth may mean changing the team
The different dimensions to the top
management group
Symbolic
Alignment
Direction and Market
The 360 world of the MD
MD
TOP
MANAGEMENT
TEAM
Customers
Main Suppliers
Financial
Community
Board
of
Directors Government
and
Regulators
Stakeholders
Society
at large
VALUE
CONSTITUENCY SOCIAL
CONSTITUENCIES
Organisation at large
Adapted from Nadler and Heilpern, 1998
Building an effective team
The building blocks of the Top
Team
Who
Size Meeting
s
Incentives
Group
Leader
Balance in the top team
CEO/Director
• Self management
• Experience & skills
• Self-image
• Team skills
• Role demands
• Motivation
Business Needs
• Critical variables
• Key goals
• Tasks
• Action steps
• Distinctive competence
CEO/Director
• Capabilities
versus
• Requirements of Business
Assessment of needs
Profile of ideal team
Team Formation
• Compatibility
• Diversity
• Trust & commitment
• Alignment of expectations
• Reward system
Part-time/full time
Now/later
New/current
Financing
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Step 4Step 5
GAP?
Patrick Lencioni_ Five Dysfunctions Of a Team.wmv.mp4
Bias to action Attention to
Results
Accountability Communication
with employees
and each other
Score Score Score Score
Business
acumen
Capacity to
handle conflict
maturely
Trust within the
team
Market Focus
Score Score Score Score
Rate your team out of 10 where10 is excellent
Top Team Competency Exercise
An effective top team- is where individuals must score over 7 in at least 8
areas. Scores in 4 to 7 zone in any competency suggests a need to focus
on this development need
Common problems in top teams
What are your values?
Transitions in the team
1. Entry/Experimentation Stage
• Gain confidence and trust of TMT members and stakeholders
• Establish powerbase and build alliances
•Win loyalty
2. Consolidation Stage
• Security
• Built up credit with constituencies
• May settle on particular theme - need to look out for rigidity
3. Decline Stage
• Myopia
• May lead to bankruptcy
4. Renewal Stage
Adapted from Kets de Vries
The succession race
Does your team seek feedback?
Engaging your employees about change
Team-building at the top: four elements
CONTEXT AND TEAM CHARTER
INTERACTIONS
TEAM QUALITY ASSURANCE
ROLES PROCEDURES
GOALS
Further reading
• Effective Top Management Teams by Patrick Flood, Sarah Mac Curtain and
Michael West (Blackhall:Dublin)
• Executive Teams by David Nadler, Janet Spencer and Associates (Jossey Bass,
San Francisco, CA)
• The Persuasive Leader byStephen Carroll and Patrick Flood
(Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA).