"The Cult of the Individual" in leadership stands in stark contrast to the need for strong, cohesive leadership teams. Team dynamics and collaboration are highly underestimated, leading to inefficiencies and financial unsustainability. Article published in Mandag Morgen on 13 November 2024. Article from MandagMorgen November 13th 2024
Leadership
Many leaders are skilled at developing ambitious strategies, managing finances, and being ‘the one in charge’. They’ve learned this through leadership programmes and MBAs. But this focus on the leader as an individual also risks paving the way for “boomer leaders” who push their own political agendas and view their own budgets and departments as more important than the rest of the organisation.
The behaviour of the boomer leader conflicts with the idea of building and strengthening a collaborative leadership team, where everyone contributes to shared success and the organisation’s overall results. And it is paradoxical to insist on individualism when the power of teamwork is well-documented, measurable, tested, and proven to be crucial for development, innovation, and achieving strategic goals.
Yet, most leadership programs focus heavily on building and training the individual leader, with little attention given to social competencies, including teaching leaders how to:
- Build and participate in strong, cohesive leadership teams that work effectively together and foster a healthy organisational culture.
- Navigate human behaviour and dynamics to achieve strategic results
- Motivate, build followership, attract skilled leaders, and train future leaders
Ego-Driven leadership training
Organisations rarely have a clear overview of which teams are performing at a high level, which are performing adequately, and which are dysfunctional.
This is paradoxical, given that the majority of organisations worldwide operate using some form of team structure in their daily work. It would make sense, therefore, to monitor, measure, and benchmark teams within organisations. Unfortunately, traditional leadership training often exacerbates the problem by focusing solely on an individual approach to leading others.
Leadership programmes often focus on one-to-one interactions between leaders and employees – the difficult conversation, setting goals and following up on them, listening, coaching, giving feedback, delegating, and managing tasks and time. And there’s no doubt that these are important skills for any leader. But it would be highly beneficial to place much more emphasis on how to lead groups and teams.
For example, what should a leader do to ensure that ten direct reports work effectively together? Or how can a leader get their employees to work towards a shared vision, decide who needs to be involved, make final decisions, run effective meetings, or foster psychological safety?
This focus differs significantly from the individual-oriented training many organisations offer to leaders and employees. That’s not to say the individual aspect of leadership is irrelevant. Since leadership involves using oneself as a tool in practice, it is natural to focus on developing the individual leader.
Yet, this approach may not always be the most effective. Many leaders find themselves fumbling, lacking the tools to improve their teams’ ability to work efficiently together. This is particularly challenging for senior leadership teams, where it is often accepted that leaders operate in silos, working more in parallel than as a unified team.
Few leaders are held accountable for high levels of collaborative performance. Rarely are they measured, trained, or educated on how to establish and participate in strong, cohesive leadership teams, which should be an obvious priority. no-brainer.
Teams Can Have Stars
A 2023 report from Criticaleye—the UK-based Peer-to-Peer Board Community—revealed that 53% of surveyed CEOs acknowledged the need to improve “building alignment in the senior leadership team.” This figure underscores the issue.
As a leader, the focus should be on striking a balance between fostering a collaborative environment and simultaneously utilising and developing individual competencies.
This includes being open to feedback, setting clear expectations, and continuously adjusting leadership practices to strengthen team agility and execution capabilities. It is within collaborative leadership teams that organisations find the power to achieve strategic objectives and meet stakeholders’ needs. Time and again, we see that solutions and initiatives are amplified when everyone contributes, feels heard, commits, and acts with overarching goals in mind—not just their division’s or department’s interests. We must shift from IQ to WEQ.
Achieving this balance requires setting expectations, self-reflection, emotional intelligence, adopting collaborative leadership models, and recognising team performance—most importantly, recognising team achievements.
Striving for this balance is crucial to establishing a leadership culture that promotes both the strengthening of the leadership team as a whole and individual growth. The positive outcomes include faster execution and a unified direction throughout the organisation, typically resulting in increased well-being and stronger financial performance.
The conversation about ego-driven specialists with antisocial behaviour and personal agendas has long been focused on employees who seek attention at the expense of others. Perhaps it’s time to pay more attention to this phenomenon within leadership teams too.
Are You Focused on Team Performance?
Here are six questions to start asking yourselves:
- Do you tolerate “boomer leaders”?
A boomer leader is one who isn’t a team player, pushes their own political agenda, and prioritises their budget. Their behaviour conflicts with the goal of building and strengthening a collaborative leadership team. - Do you balance individual and team priorities?
Finding the right balance between recognising and developing individual leadership competencies and fostering an environment where the leadership team operates as a cohesive unit is a constant challenge. Leaders must avoid creating dynamics where individual priorities overshadow team needs. - Do you set aside time for self-reflection?
Individual leaders should dedicate time to self-reflection, evaluating their leadership style and blind spots. It is especially important to consider how their actions and decisions impact the dynamics and effectiveness of the leadership team. One-to-one coaching, mentoring, or supervision can be helpful—find someone who will challenge you. - Do you allocate time for team reflection?
Just as individual leaders benefit from reflecting on their practices, leadership teams should also set aside time to reflect collectively. Regularly adjusting collaboration through brief reflection rounds—such as after each meeting—helps improve teamwork incrementally. Experiment with techniques to make these sessions faster and more direct. - What is your leadership culture?
Does it support the development you aim to see in your organisation? Ideally, the organisation should witness senior leadership teams collaborating and co-creating if you want an environment that encourages active participation rather than centralising power in one individual. Remember, it’s not what you say but what you tolerate that sets the standard. - Do you recognise and reward team performance?
This goes beyond giving a speech or hosting a dinner. Look at how your incentive structure is designed. Most are based on individual performance and the organisation’s overall earnings. Recognising and rewarding team achievements is crucial for fostering an environment where leaders and team members understand that success is collective. Offering individual bonuses creates imbalances and internal competition, which hampers collaboration and reinforces silos.
Leadership teams shape the culture and norms of what is acceptable within an organisation. Senior leadership teams, in particular, carry a unique responsibility to demonstrate collaboration and loyalty. The rest of the organisation observes you, and you set the tone for how collaboration works, what behaviour is acceptable, and what is not. If you can bring people together to deliver collectively, it’s a win-win for everyone. But it starts with the leadership team—and it starts with you.