Your Executive Team Isn't a Team. Here's What to Do About It

Most executive teams think they have an execution problem.

They don't. They have a cohesion problem.

I've worked with enough leadership teams to know the signs: meetings that produce activity but not decisions, priorities that shift with whoever has the most political capital, accountability that exists on paper but evaporates under pressure. And underneath all of it there is a group of talented individuals who are not actually functioning as a team.

Patrick Lencioni calls this the single greatest advantage any organization can have: a healthy, aligned, cohesive leadership team. Not the smartest strategy. Not the best technology. A team that has a shared purpose, trusts each other, fights productively, commits to decisions, and holds each other accountable.

Most organizations don't have that.

And it costs them more than they realize in wasted time, missed opportunities, work done in silos, and a workforce that mirrors exactly the dysfunction at the top.

Here's what I've found actually moves the needle:

→ Diagnose the real gaps. Before you fix anything, you need to see clearly. Where is trust breaking down? Where is alignment missing? Where does execution stall? Most teams think they know, and most are wrong about at least one of the three.

→ Align on behaviors and purpose. Teams need to know the standards for working together and be aligned with a common purpose or "why".

→ Align on 2 – 3 critical priorities. Not 12. Not 20. Two to three. If everything is a priority, nothing is. The discipline of choosing, and the difficult conversations it requires, is where real alignment begins.

→ Redesign how the team operates. Roles, decision rights, and accountability structures need to be explicit, not assumed. Ambiguity is the enemy of execution, and most executive teams have more of it than they think.

→ Install a simple execution system. Tracking progress against priorities shouldn't require a project management degree. A simple, consistent, and visible rhythm that keeps the team honest without adding bureaucracy is needed.

→ Measure what changes. Speed of decisions. Clarity of direction. Follow-through on commitments. These are measurable. If your interventions are working, you'll see it in the data, feel it in the culture, and have an opportunity to celebrate.

The payoff isn't just better meetings. It's an organization that moves faster, wastes less, and builds the kind of culture that attracts and keeps great people.

If you've read The Advantage, you already know the framework. The harder question is: do you have the courage to apply it to your own team?

What's the biggest barrier you've seen to executive team alignment?

I'm Michael Sabbag and I help leaders build high-performance organizations. Follow or DM me for more on talent development, organizational performance, and what actually moves the needle.