Team One

As managers become executives, they are increasingly exposed to the entire organization’s goals and demands. You not only have to run your own organization, but you have to become part of the leadership of the entire organization. Unfortunately, too many less experienced senior managers, directors, and even VPs, fail to realize that on becoming an executive, the time you will have available to “run your own organization” is drastically diminished because they are now part of Team One: the group of executives that runs the company. If you’re an executive, your first team is not your org, but “Team One.”

We have been telling this story for years. When you become an executive, several things happen that ought to send a message to you about how your job has forever changed. When you’re a manager, you can get away with “just running ”your” organization.

But when you get promoted to what your company feels is an executive position, your workload triples. You not only have to run your part of the org, but you’re required to attend meetings about company level initiatives, and get involved in higher level projects. This takes time. In addition, your new role take away a third of your calendar, even though you are now responsible for running perhaps the biggest organization of your life. You must go to these meetings, because in those meetings are people with whom you have to start building relationships. Despite what most managers think, the greater role power you were probably seeking is NOT what matters for executives. What matters is relationships. We have guidance which alludes to this: “Ditch The Ladder.”

All of these fundamental changes should send a message that your world has changed. But too many new executives simply attempt to work harder on both their bigger org and all the new initiatives. This leads to getting fired, although we politely refer to it as, “resigning to pursue new opportunities.”

To be an effective executive, you must join Team One: the other execs and leaders who run the company. Team One is now your primary team and affiliation Do not think for a moment that your org is run solely from the very top, and you’re not there yet, so you can keep doing what you’ve been doing as a manager. The “top” is much bigger than you think. You may not be involved in buying billion dollar competitors, or sitting in on corporate strategy sessions, but you’re still on Team One, the team that leads the organization.. This is what it has always meant to be an executive, and it has gotten lost in the last 25-30 years.