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Leveraging Your EMT (Executive Management Team)

Guest post by: Dr. Rick Johnson

Article Overview: First of all we need to define exactly what an EMT (Executive Management Team) is. Your EMT can be anything you define it to be. Predominantly it should be made up of your most trusted Managers currently playing an important role in the company's success. The top managers in your company are the ones to carry the message and insure execution of your plan. If you have high level managers that you don't trust or you don't feel can contribute to the team effort --- you might just have the wrong person in that position.

Leveraging Your EMT (Executive Management Team)



First of all we need to define exactly what an EMT (Executive Management Team) is. Your EMT can be anything you define it to be. Predominantly it should be made up of your most trusted Managers currently playing an important role in the company's success. The top managers in your company are the ones to carry the message and insure execution of your plan. If you have high level managers that you don't trust or you don't feel can contribute to the team effort --- you might just have the wrong person in that position.

Purpose

What is your EMT's real purpose? Do they all share the same response to that question? A common purpose and crystal clarity of goals and objectives are essential. Team building exercises must support the development of this clarity which includes responsibilities and accountability of the EMT itself.

"Purpose is the driving force of all accomplishments of greatness" -- Thomas Carlyle

There is a lot of talk about leadership development but very little specific leadership skill training is available. It seems like success is dependent upon surrounding yourself with the right people and hoping they have the skills necessary to do the job. Compassion often prevents us from replacing those that don't have the skills in a timely fashion and very little coaching and mentoring support is available within the company.

A sad commentary considering that team building and teamwork skills are critical to the effectiveness of the EMT. Success of your management team can be defined by what they accomplish as a group. A synergy within the team that creates unity, clarity of direction with a common purpose that is in alignment with strategic initiatives. This is the first prerequisite if you are going to leverage the talent of your team.

Communication is Imperative

Effective communication is the second prerequisite. This topic is discussed in every management book written because ineffective communication is generally at least partially responsible for the majority of failures within any management team. The key to effective communication starts with being able to listen effectively. In addition to listening skills, an effective management team must foster trust within the group, respect for each other and their abilities, an open honesty to be able to express opinions without fear and a feeling of camaraderie that breeds an atmosphere of sharing both credit for success and responsibility for failure. This often becomes even more challenging if there are several family members on the EMT in a privately held business.

Often times an Executive Management Team Retreat or workshop can provide tremendous dividends by energizing the group and solidifying the vision and accountability within the group. The following key components should be part of this working retreat.

• Leadership

­ Communication

­ Conflict recognition & management

­ Stress Awareness

­ Delegation

­ Team Building

­ Coaching & Mentoring

• Organizational Effectiveness

- Optimizing Performance

- Vision & Values

- Results Focus

- Organizational Alignment

- Role Clarity

Take the time to review best practices as they apply to your business. Look at your processes, your procedures and your policies. Do they reflect good management principles or do they become a little spongy due to past practices? Be disciplined about scheduling EMT meetings with clear meeting objectives and agendas. Schedule at least two EMT retreats a year away from the office. One of these retreats can be combined with your annual strategic review.

Risk and Initiative Equals Ownership

Your EMT must take ownership in the success of the organization. This means they must become the driving force (along with strategy team members not on the EMT) behind the strategy employed by the company. Acknowledge their presence and contributions, and praise them at every opportunity. But, be sincere. Managers want to know how they are doing and they want to be held accountable.

Allow your employees to take risks and demonstrate initiative.

Winning organizations continuously build leaders at every level in their organization. Leaders, who actively attempt to mentor, coach and build other leaders gain respect throughout the organization and transfer knowledge, ideas, values and an attitude about success.

An effective EMT will get results. They make things happen. They continually advance a clear agenda, get others to buy in and move the organization to accomplish specific objectives. They are explicit, consistent, concise and sincere. They generally have an abundance of charisma although some EMT members gain success with a quieter influence.

The right EMT will develop openness, honesty, clarity of purpose and a sincere caring for the people they lead. They gain commitment and trust by demonstrating respect for employees. They have a keen sense of understanding. They believe in their task, they understand the objectives, they communicate clearly and they honestly project the understanding that they need the efforts of everyone to succeed.

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Article Tags: executive management team, leadership, team effort, top managers



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