What are the most common failures of leadership teams?

Common failures include misalignment of goals, lack of trust among members, low authenticity, operating in silos, and failing to utilize the team's full potential. These issues can significantly lower energy and effectiveness.

How does a lack of trust affect an executive team?

Distrust prevents effective teamwork, especially when navigating new or uncertain challenges. It can arise from viewing team members mechanistically rather than as individuals, leading to a breakdown in collaboration.

Why is authenticity important for a leadership team?

Authenticity, where words and intentions align, is crucial for real communication. Without it, trust cannot be built, teamwork falters, and the team is unable to make meaningful progress.

What is the difference between a team's purpose and its mission?

A mission describes what an organization does, which is not always inspiring. A purpose provides an inspiring reason "why" the work matters, which is essential for motivating team members and driving high performance.

How does a command-and-control leadership style impact a team?

Command-and-control leadership leads to limited employee engagement, low creativity, and slow growth. This approach also makes it difficult to attract and retain top talent, as team members are not empowered to contribute fully.

18 Leadership Team Failures That Hurt Performance

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Why Executive Teams Fail

Building an effective executive team is a different challenge than building teams at other organizational levels. Executive teams are typically composed of experienced, intelligent, and confident individuals. However, they can also be more critical and have higher expectations, requiring facilitators with significant experience and humility to guide them effectively. Without proper guidance, several common failure factors can emerge, slowing the team down, draining its energy, and negatively impacting organizational results.

Identifying these potential pitfalls—through observation, interviews, or focus groups—is the first step toward building a high-performing leadership team.

Foundational Barriers: Alignment and Trust

Certain fundamental issues can stop a team from even getting started. These often relate to a lack of shared direction and interpersonal safety.

Misalignment: When team members push in different directions, organizational momentum is lost. The time spent arguing over direction and managing internal friction can lead to energy losses of up to 90%. Taking the time to align goals and strategy is a critical investment.
Distrust: A surprising number of leadership teams suffer from low trust. This often occurs when members view each other from a mechanistic perspective, as predictable parts of a machine. This view fails when teams must venture into unknown territory, like new markets or products, where collaboration and mutual reliance are essential.
Lingering Issues from the Past: Prior disagreements, arguments, or misalignments can carry forward and disable even the most talented individuals. Unresolved conflicts can silently undermine a team’s current efforts.
Lack of Integrity: Integrity is more than honesty; it means keeping one’s word regarding time, promises, and results. It is the foundation of a reliable and high-functioning team. Without it, there can be no trust.

Behavioral and Mindset Deficiencies

A team's collective mindset and behavioral norms dictate its performance. Negative patterns can lead to stagnation and disengagement.

Low Courage and Authenticity: Courage is required for authenticity, which is when words and actions are aligned. Without authenticity, communication becomes meaningless, and trust cannot be built. Without trust, there is no teamwork, only silos where individuals act for themselves.
High Fear: Fear erodes courage and confidence. A leadership team operating with high fear cannot lead effectively because no one will follow a team that lacks confidence in itself.
Low Team Spirit: The collective spirit of a team directly impacts its performance and results. A team with low morale or energy cannot achieve excellence.
Overdrawn "Emotional Bank Account": Mistakes are inevitable. Mature teams handle them by being authentic, learning from what went wrong, and moving forward. Immature teams resort to blame and are unable to forgive, which depletes the goodwill needed for resilience.

Structural and Leadership Problems

How a team is structured and led can either unleash or repress its potential.

Command-and-Control Leadership: This top-down approach stifles engagement, involvement, and creativity. It results in team members who simply follow instructions, leading to slow growth and an inability to attract top talent.
Operating in Silos: When departments compete with each other rather than with the market competition, the entire organization pays the price. This internal conflict is a significant drain on resources and focus.
Followers, Not Leaders: While followers may boost a leader's ego, a team of leaders will boost results. Leading other leaders is more challenging, but the rewards in performance and innovation are tremendous.
Underutilized Potential: Many organizations only use a fraction of their employees' potential. A key role of a facilitator and of the leadership team itself is to create an environment where every member's full potential can be unleashed.
Lack of Purpose: Purpose is different from a mission. A mission describes what you do, but a purpose explains why you do it in a way that inspires and motivates people. A compelling purpose gets team members out of bed in the morning, ready to contribute. '''

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The report format includes executive summaries, research-backed articles, company examples, methodology notes, and practical implications for retention, hiring, culture, leadership, and employee experience. New research and analysis is published on an ongoing editorial cadence at /workplace-report.

The 18 Failures of Great Teams