The Leader is Dead. Now What?

Published on February 14, 2017

Sean Gallagher Follow 89 26 70

Team Coaching + Team Development

A provocative title to call your attention to the failure of leadership and our need
of a new model for organizational engagement and success.

Our conception of organizational leadership has fallen short of what we need. It's
outdated and the evidence is clear. Intuitively you already sense it. It's time we demand
a better model. Fortunately, that model is readily available.

We are flooded with advice from leadership gurus. In the US we spend more than $24
billion yearly on leadership development. It is the #1 category in corporate learning and
development spending. Search leadership on Amazon Business and Money Books and
it returns more than 93,000 titles. Search the Harvard Business Review website for
leadership and it returns nearly 15,000 results.

What do we get for all this time and money spent on studying leadership? You be the
judge.

Leadership (In)Effectiveness

Has our investment in leadership

development improved our for-profit
institutions? Lets look at what the
data say:

The return on assets for the US

economy has been steadily
declining since 1965.
 The mighty stumble daily. In
1958 a company could expect to
stay on the S&P 500 list for 61
years. These days, the average is
just 18 years.

Domestic productivity ticked up

an average of only 0.34 percent
per year between 2011 and 2015,
down from the 1.93-percent
average maintained between 1990 and 2010.

Has the investment in leadership training resulted in an inspired workforce?

Sadly, again, the answer is no.

Polling firm Gallup finds that the
clear majority of employees are
not engaged with the work they
do. In fact, Gallup finds that 70
percent of employees are not
engaged, and they estimate that
this costs the U.S. economy
$450 to $550 billion annually.

A survey of 13,701 managers

and HR professionals across 76 countries found that individuals confidence in their
leaders declined by 25 per cent from 19992007, and that 37 per cent of respondents
believe those who hold leadership positions fail to achieve their positions objectives.

The Leader is Dead

Ok, so the title of this piece is a bit overstated. I needed to grab your attention. At the
very least we can say the Emperor has no clothes. The gap between whats loudly
promised and whats actually delivered for our leadership development dollar has
become embarrassingly, unsustainably large. The industry that consumes billions of
dollars intended to develop leaders, has failed the leader, her organization, and society.
We know it, and we must demand a better model.

Long Live the Team!

The model that clearly outperforms the myth of the leader as hero already exists.
Unfortunately, the hero leader myth has blinded us to a superior model right in front of
our eyes. Its called teaming.

In Western business culture the concept of a leader is held in high regard, and the team
is treated as an afterthought. Yet we venerate the idea of teams in another part of life,
sports. In sports, we understand stars are important, but if the team doesn't collaborate
and act as a unit, success is beyond reach.
As Bill Belichick was preparing
the New England Patriots for the
2001-02 season - the one that
ended with the first Super Bowl
victory of the Belichick era - he
gathered them for a screening of
Shackletons Antarctic
Adventure, a film about the
arduous 1914-16 expedition led
by Sir Ernest Shackleton.

Once the season began, Belichick kept reminding his players about what he called the
principles of endurance, courage, and teamwork that enabled Shackleton and his men
to survive a grueling ordeal. He later said it helped forge the much-noted bond
developed by that years team.

Since that screening of Shackletons Antarctic Adventure, Belichick has not had a
losing season. Even when Quarterback Tom Brady was out injured for all but one game
of the 2008 season. Even when Brady was serving a four game suspension in 2016, the
Patriots won three out of four games. And went on to win the team's fifth Super Bowl
victory.

Success is never about a single person. Leaders are important, but success is always
about how the team performs as a unit. And a leader is part of a team.

Effective Teams Help Organizations Soar

A 2016 New York Times article,

What Google Learned from Its
Quest to Build the Perfect Team,
explains that effective teamwork is a
win-win for employees and
organizations alike: people working
in teams tend to achieve better
results and report higher job
satisfaction, while profitability
increases when workers are
persuaded to collaborate more.

When they function well, teams are a powerful tool to achieve organizational goals.
Here are just some of the benefits teams offer:

1. Team-based organizations respond more quickly and effectively in the fast changing
and hyper-competitive environment most organizations face.

2. Teams enable organizations to speedily develop and deliver products and services
more quickly and cost effectively.

3. Teams enable organizations to learn more effectively and retain that learning.

4. Cross-functional teams promote improved quality management.

 5. Cross-functional teams can undertake radical change successfully.

6. Innovation is promoted within team-based organizations because of cross-

fertilization of ideas.

7. Teams can integrate and link in ways individuals cannot to ensure information is
processed effectively in the complex structure of modern organizations.

The Growing Use of Teams

According to a 2016 Harvard Business Review article, Collaboration is taking over the
workplace. As business becomes increasingly global and cross-functional, silos are
breaking down, connectivity is increasing, and teamwork is seen as key to
organizational success.

This same HBR article detailed the time invested in various activities by managers and
employees over the past two decades, finding that the time spent by managers and
employees in collaborative activities has ballooned by 50%, and that trend toward
collaboration will only continue to accelerate.

Teams perform endless core business functions: they solve strategic problems, drive
innovation, serve the needs of customers, impact your bottom line every single day, and
most importantly, offer competitive advantage against your rivals. From the C-suite to
the shop floor, teams address key value creation activities in all businesses.

Insufficient Investment in Teams Stifles Performance

Given that well-functioning teams are so effective at solving critical problems, you
would expect that organizations would be investing heavily in helping teams develop
quickly. And you would be wrong.

How much do we spend in the US on team development? No one knows for sure, its
such a small number it is not reported separately (recall that leadership development is
> $24 billion). Search team on Amazon Business and Money Books and it returns
fewer than 13,000 titles (84% fewer than leadership). Search the Harvard Business
Review website for team and it returns fewer than 5,000 results (75% fewer than
leadership). So, were focusing less on what DOES work (team development) and far
more on whats NOT working (leadership development). Houston, we have a
problem!

You reap what you sow is an ancient proverb. Because we have sowed sparingly will
also reap sparingly. We virtually ignore team development in learning and development
budgets and in books and articles. As a result, most of our teams perform poorly.

We are all familiar with the importance of leadership teams.

In a groundbreaking study, Harvards Ruth Wageman and
colleagues surveyed the performance of 120 senior
leadership teams from companies of all sizes around the
globe. An eye-popping four out of five of those senior
leadership teams performed at levels that were described as
either poor (42 percent) or mediocre (37 percent). Thats
an unacceptably high rate (about 80 percent) of failure, if
were looking for teams to perform better than mediocre.

Stanford Professor Behnam Tabrizi studied cross-functional

teams for three years in several industries, including
software, retail, pharmaceuticals, financial services, and
more. He published his research findings in a 2015 Harvard
Business Review article whose very title tells the depressing
story: 75% of Cross-Functional Teams are Dysfunctional.

A New Model for Organizational Success

We must put to rest our conception of the hero leader as the solution to our problems.
No single person can make an organization successful. It takes teaming.

Teaming occurs when people come together to combine and apply their expertise to
perform complex tasks or develop solutions to novel problems. Fast-moving work
environments need people who have the skills and the flexibility to act in moments of
potential collaboration whenever and wherever they appear; that is, people who know
how to team.

Teaming requires a modified conceptualization of leadership. Yes, there most likely

needs to be a formal leader in most teams, and certainly in all successful organizations.
But this formal leader shares leadership responsibility with those on the team whose
expertise or other unique perspective gives them the responsibility to lead. Its called
shared leadership. It is a fluid and situationally-intelligent process where leadership
and followership flows from one to another based on the moment and circumstances.
Its like a dance where the couple knows and trusts each other so well that there is no
hesitancy as the roles are exchanged. Its not abstract. Its not ivory tower thinking. Its
how real-life success has operated outside of formal hierarchies for eons. And it will be
how success is sustained in the 21st century.

Like yin and yang in Chinese

culture, leading and teaming are
the two halves of the healthy
whole. In complex, high
functioning organizations, you
cannot have one without the
other. Leadership is insufficient
without a skilled team.
Followership is deficient without
skilled leadership. Success
demands both leading and
teaming. So its no longer OR, as
in lead, follow, or get out of the
way. Its AND. Lead and
follow, depending on the situation. If this makes sense to you, youre on your way to
greater organizational success.

Change Begins With You

Demand investment in team development. Demand that teams learn and apply best
practices. Demand that team performance is regularly assessed and improved. Demand
that team members put aside personal animosities and political behavior.

Our collective and persistent demands will lead to change and inspire our colleagues,
build employee engagement, boost profitability and create a more productive society.

Join the discussion! Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Resources

Checkout the Team Coaching Zone to explore the art and science of team coaching
in organizations.

Download Why Most Teams Fail & How Yours Can Succeed

Consider the following books: Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from

Organizational Research, Senior Leadership Teams: What it Takes to Make
Them Great, Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great Performances, The
Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Leading Teams: Setting the Stage for Great
Performances

Visit our website: www.InfluenceSuccess.com

About the Author

Sean Gallagher is a team coach and consultant focused on helping develop high
performing teams and organizations. He began his career with 3M in sales,
marketing and new product development. Seans ten years at 3M is the
foundation of his understanding of how high performing teams are developed
and how they drive innovation and organizational change. He is a former
Lecturer at Boston Universitys School of Management.

As a consultant, he has helped many global companies improve their

competitiveness through programs designed to improve teamwork,
collaboration, organizational culture and skills. Clients have included HP, Abbott
Labs, Blue Shield of California, PerkinElmer, CR Bard and Telstra (Australias
largest telecommunications and media company).

Sean is the founder of the Influence Success Company

Contact the Author:

Feel free me to send me an email

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 Sean Gallagher
Team Coaching + Team Development Follow
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26 comments Newest

Leave your thoughts here

Krister Lowe, MA, PhD, CPCC 15h

Founder & Chief Creative Officer at The Team Coaching Zone, LLC.
Well done Sean! I couldn't
agree more with your fundamental premise. Interestingly, Bersin by Deloitte in
their recently published "2017 Predictions: Everything is Becoming Digital"
surveyed 7000+ companies in 130 countries. The #1 trend they reported: "92
percent of companies believe that they are not organized correctly to succeed,
See
while only 14 percent know what this more
Like Reply 1

Andy James 1d
Team Performance Coach and Consultant. Helping organisations, teams and individuals to deliver
Sean,
excellent article, and I agree whole-heartedly with the central theme about the
power of teams / teaming, and the fact that organisations are overlooking this
important driver of performance. Over the years, I have been involved in many
leadership development programmes, and all too often when we have looked at the
See
concepts of teams, it is apparent how many managers more
Like Reply 2

There are 24 other comments.Show more.

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