Are your leaders aligned?
Today we are tackling a challenge that is not talked about enough – inconsistency of approach across a senior leadership team.
Picture the scene: One leader wants pace. Another wants caution. One values collaboration and discussion. Another values speed and decisiveness. One is highly relational, the other is very task-focused. All styles bring value. And a range of styles offers real strength at senior level. The challenge starts when those different approaches aren’t managed well, because teams begin to experience mixed messages.
One leader says, “Take ownership.” Another says, “Why wasn’t I consulted?” One encourages challenge and debate; another sees it as resistance. One pushes for innovation, while another quietly rewards sticking to what is safe. Before long, team members are not just trying to do a good job – they are trying to work out whose version of “good” matters most. Obviously, this causes confusion and frustration, and sadly it often creates conflict or avoidance. And, when teams are frustrated or uncertain, productivity dips and overall performance suffers.
What can we do about it?
Senior leaders do not need to become the ‘same’. Leadership teams excel when they benefit from different perspectives, experiences and styles. We suggest that leadership teams invest in ensuring that they are aligned, not only on strategy, but on purpose, expected behaviours, how decisions are made, and what accountability looks like.
Getting aligned…
1. Agree the non-negotiables
Leaders don’t need identical styles, but teams appreciate consistency across some fundamentals. These might include:
- how priorities are communicated
- how decisions are escalated
- how feedback is given
- how challenge and disagreement are handled
- what standards are expected across the business
These shared non-negotiables create stability, even when individual styles differ.
2. Notice where style differences are creating confusion
We regularly suggest zooming out and seeing the challenge from a different perspective. This is an extremely valuable exercise, especially if leaders ask: “How might our differences be experienced by others?”
This question naturally prompts us to think about the impact of our actions on others, rather than simply our intention. Try removing the filter of your own experience, and see the experience from another’s persona.
3. Deal with tensions early
When friction is left unaddressed, the ripples creep into the wider culture surprisingly quickly. High-performing leadership teams embrace ‘healthy conflict’ and smooth out any challenges before they turn into confusion for everyone else.
4. Create a more joined-up leadership experience
For most employees, leadership is experienced through meetings, messages, priorities, decisions and day-to-day interactions. The more joined-up those feel, the more confident and focused people tend to be. That doesn’t require uniformity, but it does require enough consistency that people know what to expect and where they stand.
A strong senior team shouldn’t sound identical. But it does need to create enough clarity, consistency and cohesion that teams can move efficiently with confidence, rather than caution. In our experience, that is often where better culture – and better performance – begins.
