Poor leadership has a direct impact on your startup’s bottom line. Globally, bad managers cost $7 trillion in employee turnover and lost productivity.
Just like most businesses out there, your company relies on technology to survive. The enterprise leadership team is going to be responsible for creating a strategy and making sure the organization runs smoothly.
Read on to discover why now is the time to build your enterprise leadership team and how to put together the best team possible.
What Is Enterprise Leadership?
Enterprise leadership is a relatively new term. It refers to the management team that is responsible for leading the team forward.
Enterprise leadership is a mindset and management style. Companies that have a lot of different departments work in silos. They use different software programs, and they have different procedures.
Enterprise leadership is about the entire organization, not just a particular department. Companies struggle to implement changes because employees are happy with the way things are.
Enterprise leaders engage employees and challenge them to think of service to the company over self.
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Define What You Need from Enterprise Leadership
As the head of your company, you need to understand what you need from your leadership team. You need to ask yourself about the purpose and the vision of the company.
It’s important to have clarity about the culture you want to create. The enterprise leadership team is responsible for modeling and implementing that culture.
You want your enterprise leaders to share resources throughout the company. Ideally, the leaders on your team emphasize a collaborative approach to problems.
They are also fearless leaders who are not afraid to speak up. They will challenge you to be a better leader.
The Characteristics of Enterprise Leaders
Enterprise leaders seek to understand what happens across the enterprise in each department. That’s one of the core characteristics of an enterprise leader. It’s easier for them to collaborate and develop solutions.
For example, they’ll sit with different departments to learn how they utilize technology and make sure that they have the best tools at their disposal.
An enterprise leader in IT sits with the marketing team to learn what their needs and challenges are.
The enterprise leader recommends a tool that has session replay and artificial intelligence. This tool is to help the marketing team see how visitors use the company website.
Enterprise leaders are also unselfish and can easily put their egos aside for the greater good. They are bought into the strategic vision of the company and they’re willing to set aside the IT department’s needs for the greater good of the business.
That could come into conflict with the department’s goals where the enterprise leader and his team are judged. Instead of focusing on their department and making themselves look good, the enterprise leader makes the conscious decision to work on the project that’s best for the entire organization.
The enterprise leaders that you choose are great communicators, self-aware, creative, enthusiastic, and know-how to hold themselves accountable.
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The Enterprise Organizational Chart
One of your first tasks as an organizational leader is to create an organizational chart. The org chart maps out the different leadership roles and the employees under that leader.
That tells you how you want your enterprise leadership team to be structured. It then becomes easier to choose your leadership team.
Lead the Enterprise Leadership Team
Your role as the head of the company is to lead the leadership team. You might find that you have the best team in place, but your business is still stagnant.
Before you blame the leadership team and replace them, you should look in the mirror first. Your leadership style might not bring out the best in your leadership team.
You are a model and an example for all leaders in your organization to follow. These are some of the key areas to show your leadership and modeling skills.
Self-Awareness
Self-awareness is the difference between how we see ourselves and how we truly are. A manager may think of themselves as compassionate, but employees don’t see them that way.
A lack of self-awareness can prevent a manager and their team from reaching their full potential. You want to be aware of your own self-awareness and how you model that with your team.
Communication
Communication skills are critical for a leader. How do you model dialogue that is constructive and moves the company forward?
You have to make sure that all voices in your organization are heard, even in dissent. You need to model that you can handle constructive criticism and respond to it. All too often, companies can’t have dialogue because they shut down differing opinions or react to criticism.
Groom Enterprise Leaders for the Future
You have to have a plan in place for leadership team development. Not just for your current leaders, but your future ones. There should be a clear path for employees to become team leaders and grow into enterprise leaders.
There have to be protocols in place to identify potential leaders, retain them, and develop their leadership skills. You may decide that you want these potential leaders to have mentorship or coaching.
You may have a leadership program just for these employees. It’s easy for the employees to understand the organization and structure of the company. It’s very hard to be a model that other employees want to follow.
A development program can help leaders develop these skills and move up in the company.
Enterprise Leadership That Matters
As your startup grows, you want to make sure that your teams are as productive as possible. They need to be on the same page, access the same information, and use the same systems across the enterprise.
That might seem like an easy task, but it’s one of the biggest challenges that enterprises face. That’s why you need an enterprise leadership team.
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