I’m not sure you want your leadership team to take drugs, smash up hotels or stay up all night and roll into work at 2pm. But there are some useful parallels between rock bands and leadership teams. The leadership teams I’ve been working with lately have found the metaphor of a rock band helps them quickly align on how their leadership team can work better. Here are five questions for you to work out if your leadership team can be more like a rock band.
Making music together Your leadership team is likely made up of 4-8 people, all with different specialisms. If you like, they play different instruments. Like a band, you all need to work together to make the music work. You need to know the tune, and be in tune. You need to bring out the best in each other, not drown each other out. Here are the first two questions you can ask about your leadership team:
1. Is everyone 100% aligned on the top 3 business priorities right now?
2. How do you support each other to achieve your shared objectives?
Playing your part You need to master your own instrument – that is, to run your own area well; to put in the practise. But when you turn up to play together - at a leadership meeting - you don’t want to go around with each person talking about their own instrument. You want to focus on shared, whole-of-business issues. And you want to make music. That means to lay down some tracks; make some actual decisions.
3. Is your leadership team meeting a series of department updates? Or do you focus on whole-of-business decisions?
Writing new music A band might release an album every year or two. Your leadership team should release a new strategy around that often. You need new music, new creative insights. And just like a band, you might want to head off to a retreat to focus on the creative process.
4. Do you invest the appropriate mental and creative energy in your strategy?
On stage, on tour Employees want to see their leadership team get up on stage. You’ll need some stage presence. You’ll want to work together, not leave it all to the lead singer. You’ll want to get round to all your offices.
5. Do you invest time in bringing the strategy to life for your wider team?
I hope these 5 questions helped you align your leadership team and make better music.