Is Your Executive Team Really a Team?
Be honest: Does your exec meeting feel like the Department Head Show???
Everyone brings slides.
Everyone is busy.
Very little actually changes.
That’s not a character flaw. It’s muscle memory. You got promoted for running a function. But in the C-suite, the job shifts: be an enterprise leader, not the hero of one lane.
Here’s how to turn a table of execs into an exec team—without adding a single meeting for sport.
A real team does three simple things:
1. Tackles shared problems first. If Sales wins but the company loses, you lose.
2. Plays by the same rules. Clear decision rights, written pre-reads, owners, and review dates.
3. Shares accountability. A few company-level goals that hit everyone’s scorecard.
Notice what’s missing: status theater, “around the horn,” and slide karaoke.
A cadence that doesn’t waste anyone’s life
Weekly (90 min): Only enterprise issues. Max two memos. Read quietly, debate thoughtfully, and record decisions with the owner and review date.
Monthly (2 hrs): Top three cross-functional bottlenecks. One countermeasure each. No fishing expeditions.
Quarterly (Half day): Strategy/OKR reset. Kill or continue big bets based on the evidence you agreed on in advance.
The shared scorecard (six is plenty)
Net Dollar Retention (or Retention)
Cash Conversion Cycle (or Operating Margin)
On-time Delivery / Time-to-Value
Forecast Accuracy (company-level)
Employee Engagement (leading indicator of execution risk)
One strategic bet metric (e.g., AI-assist win rate)
Everything else? Review it in functional meetings, not here.
Meeting rules that keep it sharp
If it’s not a shared problem, it’s an email.
We read in the room. Two minutes of quiet > twenty minutes of wandering.
Show the counterfactual: “What would change my mind?” is standard.
End with a decision log: what, who, by when, when we’ll check back.
How you’ll know it’s working
Fewer quarter-end “plot twists.”
Cross-company decisions stop lingering like open tabs.
Leaders use the same numbers the same way.
Functional wins roll up to company wins without duct tape.
Start next week (no drama)
Replace the next staff meeting with one enterprise issue and a one-page memo.
Publish six shared metrics; make them the first of every deck. (to keep them top of mind)
Ask each exec to remove one dependency for another function this month.
FAQs:
Q: What makes an executive team a real team?
A: Shared problems first, clear decision rights, and a small set of company-level goals everyone owns.
Q: What is an executive operating cadence?
A: A weekly–monthly–quarterly rhythm with decision rules and pre-reads that speed cross-company decisions.
Q: Which metrics belong on the shared scorecard?
A: NDR/Retention, Cash Conversion or Margin, On-time Delivery/Time-to-Value, Forecast Accuracy, Engagement, plus one strategic bet.
Q: How do we start next week?
A: Run one enterprise issue via memo, publish six shared metrics on slide one, and remove one cross-team dependency.
