Why your leadership team isn't really a team

“Whose team are you really on?”

I asked that question to a group of senior leaders and they looked puzzled. One finally said, “My team? Thats my direct reports.”

And there it was.....

The truth is, I see this all the time. Leaders who instinctively look down to their second team, not across to their peers. The executive table becomes a collection of portfolios, not a leadership team.
Sounds harmless? It isn’t.

Here’s what happens when peers aren’t your first team:
 - Decisions get made in silos, and strategy turns into horse-trading.
 - Everyone optimises for their patch instead of the whole business.
 - Consistency slips, execution fragments, and trust quietly erodes.
 - There is not one source of truth, each leader has their own agenda sending an inconsistent and disjointed message to the business.

Patrick Lencioni calls this the first team mindset. When leaders see their peers as their true team, trade-offs get surfaced, decisions stick, and alignment cascades.

Harvard research backs this up. When Richard Hackman and colleagues studied more than 120 senior teams, fewer than 10% of members agreed on who was actually on the team.

And trust? That’s the glue. Without it, leaders avoid tough conversations or play for approval. With it, collaboration replaces rivalry and resources flow where they’re needed.

But here’s the kicker: alignment isn’t built in a single off-site. It’s sustained through daily habits, peer coaching, open dashboards, and deliberately investing in the leadership team as a team.

When a leadership team can't hold this, it's almost never a personality problem. It's what happens when nobody has agreed what the team is for. That's the work in Leadership — getting an executive team aligned enough that decisions survive the room they were made in.

So let me ask you: Do you see your peers as your first team… or your competition?

Because building a stronger leadership team isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s the foundation of effective strategy and culture. And once you’ve nailed it at the top table, you’re far better equipped to set up your second team for success.

Engage with this post on LinkedIn →

This is part of lever 1 (Leadership & Trust) of the Strategy Execution by Design Model. See the full framework →

Not sure which of the seven conditions is holding your execution back? Take the Strategy Execution Maturity Model Assessment →

Written by Rebecca Reti, strategy and execution consultant working with boards and executive teams across Australia and New Zealand.