Most companies’ leadership development performance suffers from an inability to motivate team members; uninspiring concepts that are expected to be implemented; ineffective rigid organizational structures; Start/Stop/Continue decisions made by very few executives in the absence of those that are commissioned to carry them out; and too many minor projects in the pipeline. The result is poor organizational performance and low-impact leadership effectiveness. 

One of the worst times to have these types of organizational and leadership issues is in the midst of a crisis. In a crisis, these issues push up throughout a leadership team revealing the organization’s inherent weaknesses. Results can include too long to get to market and higher-than acceptable failure rates. So if you’re experiencing new problems, you will be well served by new solutions, and they start with understanding how to make organizational leadership more effective. 

Here are four solutions to immediately improve your organization’s leadership:

  • Implement a new systematic Start/Stop/Continue planning process, complete with tough Yes/No decision-making built-in. This will allow your leadership team to contribute to important decisions, and that will generate buy-in among team members.
  • Build-in adequate resources based on the current capacity of the leadership team—and plan for the future as well, so your growth curve can rise naturally with as few downturns as possible. 
  • Develop an innovative system of checks and balances using newer technology that allows more team members to participate in creating winning strategies for your best projects. Assigning problems to team members without allowing them to develop new solutions is not a healthy leadership practice. Those owning the problem should be given the authority to create new solutions without much heavy handholding from leadership.
  • Integrate leadership and management principles that spread assignments into co-producing teams to improve decision-making and faster go-to-market strategy development.  This type of leadership process is being utilized by leading companies who have honestly looked at their leadership’s strengths and weaknesses and moved beyond their status quo.

Most firms now use some form of tiered organizational structure, such as matrix, functional, or circular. The question is: Does your organizational structure encourage people to share their best ideas so they can take root? And have you identified a leadership process that really helps your organization make a difference? Most company leaders inherit an organizational structure and leadership style they are expected to embrace. The problem is, often, these structures and methods are aged out and discourage the free sharing of new ideas that are so desperately needed.