Why does your Exec team exist?
Photo by Mark Fletcher-Brown on Unsplash: A pencil, eraser and a freehand drawing of a question mark inside a light bulb.
A few years ago, I wrote this article about company purpose. I wanted to help founders articulate why they created their company and why investors, employees and customers should consider joining them.
For many of my impact-driven clients, the articulation of company purpose is, well, a no-brainer. It is the big, hairy problem they are striving to solve. The reason they get out of bed in the morning. Their all-encompassing “why” is clear.
As companies scale and team structure naturally expands and evolves, it becomes vital for translation to occur — translation of the company purpose into team purpose — especially at the Executive level. Each team within the company needs to understand their specific contribution to achieving the overall mission, which is role-modelled from the top down.
Without this clarity, there is a risk that individuals will unintentionally undermine the pursuit of the company’s purpose by either missing the opportunity to leverage combined efforts or, worse, creating competition across the broader team.
What is an ‘Exec team purpose’?
A good Exec team purpose answers a series of ‘why’ questions, including:
Why does this team exist?
Why has this team been created in this way, with these roles and these people?
Why are we more powerful in combination than as individuals?
It also lays out the answers to a series of ‘what’ questions, including:
What does shared accountability for achieving our purpose mean to us?
What does it mean to succeed or fail together?
What signals do we want to send to the rest of the company about how we work?
An Exec team purpose fulfils 3 critical outcomes…
1. The Exec team purpose is a ‘shifter’
It is a catalyst for moving the team from well-intentioned, driven individuals who lead functions to an integrated, aligned ‘first team’.
Once catalyzed, the first team is better equipped to give clear direction to the team and create opportunities for autonomy and initiative to thrive.
2. The Exec team purpose is a ‘connector’.
It enables every team in the company to connect structure and effort to the broader vision.
It connects internal teams and allows each team to see and appreciate the unique contributions of others.
It connects company values to the ways of working as teams figure out how they will bring their purpose to life.
3. The Exec team purpose is a ‘magnet’.
It is an expression of reasons why people should aspire to join the Exec team.
It creates a platform to build stickiness, the reasons team members stay.
Like the polarity in magnets, it also enables individuals to identify when they are no longer a match for the team.
Just like a company purpose, a great team purpose is…
Precise — it directly addresses your reason for being.
Aspirational — it includes a big hope for the future.
Credible — team members are sure you are the right combination to solve your chosen focus areas.
Seen as important — recognised by others as doing the right stuff.
It’s common for Exec teams to take their purpose as given or assumed. I often hear them say, “We’re here to run the business” or “We’re here to create the conditions for our teams to succeed”.
While those things might be true, they don’t help with team design or adaptation and don’t always help navigate potential silo formation and inter-function tensions. If left unchecked, these tensions may have irreversible consequences across the company. The good news is that a conversation about (and commitment to) team purpose will go a long way to minimising these tensions.