Why a ‘C’ in your Title Doesn’t Automatically Make You an Executive Leader | Leadership Coach Joanna Howes

0:00Joanna Howes:What is the point of an executive team? Ask yourself that. Because right now I am seeing too many executive teams becoming lazy. They get to the top and they just kind of stop. It's like, right, I'm on this top team now. I kind of know what's going on in the company. I don't need to keep improving myself. I've got the title now. The self-development work's done. And they just sit back. Harvard Business Review actually referred to this as social loafing. Just kind of swanning about the company with your title, looking like you know what's going on. And it's not okay. When you've joined that executive team, it comes with a whole new level of responsibility, a whole new level of identity shift that you need to make because people are looking at you and how you behave is literally a signal and a mirror of what's acceptable in that company.

0:46Joanna Howes:Another thing to note, just because you get a C in your title doesn't automatically mean you then sit on the executive team. And I'm seeing this mistake day in and day out is going, oh gosh, someone's now achieved this, achieved that, or they need to be on the executive team. I'm then being asked to go and work with these executive teams. And some of them are 12 to 16 people big. Now, as we know, with that many people, you are not going to be able to make decisions as fast as you need, especially in the world we're in today. So let's stop making this assumption that if you've got a C in your title, it means that you earn the right to be on the executive team.

1:22Joanna Howes:It just needs to stop. It's also totally okay as a CEO to change your executive team. Just because you've put someone on it doesn't mean they can't be removed. And especially if you make it a rule that just because you've got a C doesn't automatically give you right. It means it gives you more freedom to make sure you've got the team that you need that's going to drive the business forward. So as a CEO, don't feel like, oh my gosh, I can't move now. This is my team and I've got to make it work. You have a responsibility to make sure that team is the best it possibly can be because it's that team that is going to drive what the business can achieve.

2:00Joanna Howes:The other thing I'm going to talk about, so many executive teams are currently working as working groups. It's serious. I feel like I go into play the Game of Thrones. We've got to stop protecting our own little fiefdoms and our own territories. that's operating more as a head of a department which ideally I don't want to see in head of departments either but it's the kind of behavior you'd see as a head of department as they're learning the ropes of really navigating a team. This behavior cannot go into the exec team. This is where you must become a collective. You leave your job title at the door and you make decisions based on what's right for the company as a whole.

2:35Joanna Howes:That means you might have to let go of the hire that you want for your team because actually another department needs it which is the right thing for the whole. So can we please stop playing Game of Thrones and actually come together as a really strong team? You think of a football team, a sports team, they don't even all have to like each other. But when it matters, my God, do they come together that say they can score and keep rising as they're supposed to do. And as an executive team, you need to remember that that team is your first team. That's your first priority of looking after each other on that team.

3:09Joanna Howes:Any other department that you might be responsible for is then your second team. Because if that first team isn't working, nothing else is going to either. And by changing your mindset to go, that's your first team, already will help you remove the Game of Thrones type behavior. As a CEO, if you're listening to this, please take a moment to just take a step back, get some bigger perspective. Is your executive team making the impact that you want? Or is there just lots of social loafing, a bit too much comfortable conversation, too much pattern on the back or not enough being said for fear of hurting each other or challenging each other?

3:48Joanna Howes:Really take note, is your executive team what you envisions it being? And if it's not, you need to find the courage to change it because your whole company depends on you to make sure it's led properly from the top. Thank you for listening. If you've been enjoying the Courageous Leaders podcast, we'd love it if you'd subscribe to our YouTube channel. Your support helps us keep creating quality content and reaching more leaders like you who are ready to grow and make a real impact. We fund this podcast ourselves, so every subscription truly makes a difference and allows us to support courageous leaders like you.

4:23Thank you for being part of the journey.