Centering the C-Suite: Activities to Strengthen Relationships & Alignment Within Your Executive Leadership Team!

Leadership DevelopmentCultivating Culture

Oct 26

The wisest CEOs know that they are only as powerful as their executives, & they fill the C-suite with expert leaders who build high performance teams & cultivate a keen eye for strategy. But even having the smartest leaders around a table isn’t effective unless they trust each other, communicate & collaborate well, & align with the strategic vision. Otherwise, your job as a leader can feel like this:

via GIPHY

If you are looking to build connection & center your C-suite around your company’s mission, purpose, & values, we've put together some activities below to use at your next ELT meeting or Executive Retreat.

1. Reflect on these two questions & share with the group:

• What do you want people to say about you when you’re not in the room?
• How do you want them to feel when you are?

These powerful questions drive connection by helping leaders learn about the values, intentions, & hopes behind each other’s actions & behaviors.

2. Lead an ELT Book Club centered around resources that build trust. Talk about the following questions: :

• What is the best way to build trust with you?
• What is the best way to break it?
•What can we as a leadership team do to strengthen trust at our organization?

As Stephen Covey said, "Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships." Your team’s ability to innovate & execute seamlessly is rooted in trust, so creating a better understanding of the behaviors that build & break trust is central to success.

3. Have your leaders tell their “Leadership Origin Story” by answering these questions:

• Tell me about the best leader you ever worked for.
• What did they DO that made them the best?
• How did that impact your leadership journey?

Learning about leaders’ previous mentors & their experiences of being led provides meaningful insight into what they hope to bring into their own leadership toolbox. As a team you can get a sense of everyone's priorities & how those show up in their daily lives.

4. Pre-experience your success! Reflect on the following scenario & questions:

Imagine. It’s the end of 2024. You are sitting around a table with your team. You are cheers’ing with your favorite drinks. Everyone is smiling, the energy is high. You say, “We did it, team. We did it!”

• What did you do? What happened?
• How is your life different now?
• How are the team & company different?
• Who do you have to be to make this happen?
• What behaviors do you have to keep doing to make this happen?
• What behaviors do you have to start doing to make this happen?
• What behaviors do you have to stop doing to make this happen?

This conversation will allow you to get to know each other, amp up the excitement & energy, & grow your understanding of each leader’s perspective & goals.

5. Card Decks!

Card decks can be an inventive & unique way to introduce randomness to the conversation while centering around a particular theme or topic. Have each person pull a card & answer the corresponding question, share the learning, or do the activity. Here are a few decks we love!