ExCom and Executive Leadership Teams: Finding Your Place in the Collective Dynamic
Joining an Executive Committee or Executive Leadership Team is not simply about taking on greater responsibility. It means representing your function while contributing to decisions that serve the entire organization.
This requires a delicate balance: advocating for your teams and initiatives, understanding your peers’ priorities, meeting the CEO’s expectations, and collectively supporting decisions that may not always benefit your own area.
A Space for Collaboration and Influence
Every member of an executive team brings a distinct perspective, set of priorities, and operational constraints. Finance may assess a situation differently from Sales, Human Resources, or Operations.
These differences strengthen strategic thinking. They can also lead to misunderstandings, tension, and siloed decision-making.
In Order in the Strategy Court, the Harvard Business Review presents the Executive Committee as a form of “strategy court.” Much like a court of law, its members examine competing arguments and defend different perspectives to inform collective decisions.
Disagreement is therefore not necessarily a sign of dysfunction. When properly structured, it can improve the quality of strategic decision-making.
The challenge is not simply to be right. It is to understand the interests at stake, build alliances, and present your ideas in a way that others can hear and support.
Julien: Moving from Expertise to Influence
Julien leads a strategic business unit. His expertise and results are widely recognized, yet he struggles to gain support for his proposals within the Executive Leadership Team.
His presentations are well prepared, but decisions are repeatedly postponed. In response, Julien adds more data and strengthens his arguments, without gaining greater commitment. Over time, he begins to interpret his peers’ objections as a challenge to his work and credibility.
His coaching objective is clear:
How can I advocate for my function’s needs without repeatedly creating a power struggle?
Coaching helps Julien view the situation from a broader perspective. He identifies the CEO’s priorities, his peers’ constraints, and the impact of his proposals on other functions.
He begins speaking with fellow executive team members before formal meetings, listening more closely to their concerns, and framing his initiatives around shared business priorities.
Julien does not abandon his convictions. He learns to communicate them differently. Gradually, his contributions become more strategic, his working relationships more constructive, and his proposals better understood.
How Executive Coaching Can Help
Executive coaching provides a confidential space to step back and examine your leadership posture, professional relationships, and influence within the organization.
It can help you:
- establish your place within an ExCom or Executive Leadership Team;
- increase your ability to influence decisions;
- prepare for high-stakes decisions and sensitive conversations;
- express disagreement without damaging relationships;
- move beyond siloed thinking;
- communicate and support collective decisions with your teams.
AFIACOACH supports executives and members of leadership teams in strengthening their independent thinking, decision-making capabilities, leadership presence, and interpersonal effectiveness.
What Role Do You Play at the Table?
Are you primarily representing your own function, or are you fully contributing to the organization’s collective success?
Coaching does not eliminate disagreement or competing interests. It helps you navigate them with greater clarity, accountability, and effectiveness.
Step back, gain perspective, and strengthen your impact within your Executive Committee or Leadership Team.
