How ExCos Align
I’ve spent the last year working closely with Executive Committees (ExCos) inside large, complex organisations. What I’ve seen time and again is this:
When you create a safe, structured space for individual leaders to express what’s actually going on - what they’re observing, feeling, challenged by - and then bring that insight back to the whole team in a way that’s respectful, constructive, and human… things shift for the better.
The air clears,
People move from being reactive to responsive,
The team aligns and becomes more effective in execution of the strategy agenda.
The Invisible Drag
Even the most high-functioning ExCos can feel the strain of misalignment - often not around strategy, but around unspoken dynamics: the pressures of delivery, frustrations with process, and relational undercurrents that never quite get voiced.
When this stuff isn’t acknowledged, it doesn’t disappear. It seeps out in less-than-optimal behaviours, in subtle disengagement, in conversations that don’t quite get to the point.
This is where the work of ExCo Alignment comes in.
Step one: listen to the room, one by one
In my approach, I start with individual, off-the-record conversations with each member of the ExCo. This gives people a space to think out loud, share what they’re really seeing and feeling, without judgement and without needing to fix anything.
This alone can be powerful. At an individual level, just giving voice to what’s present in an intentional conversation can resolve much of what may have been getting in the way or slowing things down..
From those conversations, I can begin to name the collective experience. i.e. naming what's present in the system, and playing it back in a way that’s honest, anonymous, and purposeful.
Having themes reflected back to the team will tend to resolve much of the emotional charge that has been sitting under the surface. Dissipating that charge creates space to clear the air and align.
Step two: face into it, together
We then move into a facilitated team session, where we acknowledge and explore what’s present: not to dwell but to understand, providing the conditions for a different kind of alignment. Not the false alignment that comes from rushing into action, but the deeper kind that emerges when people can get real with each other, get current, and ultimately get on the same page.
ExCos tend to be populated by high-functioning, high-ambition, and action oriented individuals. But to be truly effective and maintain maximum momentum, it’s important to regularly make visible what’s not being seen, and hear what’s not being said.
In the proper environment, when they do this they strengthen and stabilise, creating the foundation on which:
priorities become clearer,
strategic decisions get sharper,
collective and individual ownership strengthens,
pace of delivery increases.
Effective Leadership
This is leadership work - not just team-building. And in my experience, it’s what enables executive teams to operate at their true potential.
If you want to elevate your ExCo to even greater heights, to face into current business challenges and opportunities with more impact and pace, then ExCo Alignment may be a smart, strategic move.