Team One

In the early days of my previous company (Daxko) and living it now in my current company (Arcoro), we learned the importance of the leadership team thinking of that group, not their functional team, as their primary team.

As the senior-most team collectively responsible and accountable for building a healthy, high-performing company, it doesn’t matter if one team is crushing it if the company overall isn’t headed in the right direction. We get no special prize if we’re the most innovative engineering organization if we can’t predictably sell the product or deliver high value service to our customers.

By maintaining the concept that the Leadership Team is TEAM ONE, it reduced the likelihood of unhealthy behaviors that lead to silos and bureaucracy, and it gets all our brains focused on the biggest challenges and opportunities.

As such, these were the rules we maintain:

THE LEADERSHIP TEAM IS YOUR PRIMARY TEAM

When we’re in meetings as a team, you should be less focused on your specific, day-to-day role and more focused on your role as a member of the Leadership Team, whose goal is the overall success of the company — not me, my team, or my function (reason: avoids silos and increases alignment).

WE MUST ALL BE ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS

What is said to another member of the Leadership Team in isolation (or to anyone else for that matter) as it pertains to this team or the success or challenges of our company must be said to the whole team. If topics aren’t brought to the table, they can’t be addressed.

We must be willing to engage in “constructive conflict” with the goal of getting to better decisions faster. Raising voices and showing emotion is fine. When dealing with important topics, things should get heated occasionally. What we shouldn’t do is make personal attacks or get defensive.

FINAL DECISIONS ARE THE TEAM’S DECISIONS

We aim for buy-in, NOT consensus. Everyone will have a chance to be heard, but once the final decision is made, it is up to every single member of our team to get behind it. It becomes OUR decision.