Episode #82: The Hidden Driver of Leadership Team Execution
Welcome to The Career Accelerator, the podcast where corporate managers will find insights and tools to deliver results through others. Hello, I’m your host, Percy Cannon. Today I'd like to convince you that leadership effectiveness isn't measured by how well individuals lead. It's measured by how well the leadership team leads together. In our last episode, I stressed how becoming a better people manager is not about adding more tools. It’s about shifting your mindset from “How would I want to be treated? to “What does this person need from me to succeed?” That is the essence of the Platinum Rule. And it is the difference between managing tasks and leading people. Which brings us to today's topic. After spending nearly 30 years in leadership roles at Procter & Gamble, IBM, and Microsoft, and the last 15 years coaching CEOs and leadership teams across the Americas, I've noticed something interesting: Most organizations don't struggle because they have the wrong strategy. They struggle because their leadership team isn't operating at its full potential. Trust isn't as strong as it should be. Alignment takes longer than necessary. Accountability becomes inconsistent. Important conversations are postponed. Decisions are revisited. And execution slows. That's why I believe one of the most valuable books for leadership teams is Team Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Jean Greaves. The book reminds us that great leadership teams don't simply manage projects or processes. It explains why some leadership teams consistently execute better than others, even when they have similar talent and resources. They manage emotions and relationships. And when they do that well, execution improves dramatically. Greaves organizes Team Emotional Intelligence into two core competencies: Emotion Competence and Relationship Competence. Let's look at each one. First, Emotion Competence. Most executives think emotions belong outside the executive room. The reality is exactly the opposite. Emotions are always present. The only question is whether they help the team or quietly undermine it. The first capability within this competence is Emotional Awareness. This is a team's ability to recognize what's happening emotionally while it's happening. High-performing teams notice the small emotional signals that eventually become large execution problems. They notice when trust begins to erode. They recognize when someone has stopped contributing. They detect frustration before it becomes conflict. They sense when people appear aligned publicly but are unconvinced privately. In other words, they identify issues before they begin affecting execution. Leadership teams with low emotional awareness often don't realize there's a problem until projects are delayed, decisions lose momentum, or relationships have already deteriorated. The second capability is Emotional Management. Awareness is recognizing emotions. Management is choosing how to respond. Great leadership teams don't eliminate difficult emotions. They prevent emotions from driving poor decisions. When disagreement arises, they remain curious instead of defensive. When pressure increases, they become calmer instead of louder. When mistakes occur, they learn instead of blaming. Those behaviors strengthen leadership effectiveness because they create an environment where better thinking, and better decisions, can emerge. The second major competency is Relationship Competence. This is where emotional intelligence becomes visible in everyday leadership. Greaves distinguishes between relationships inside the team and those beyond the team. Let's begin internally: Managing relationships inside the team. High-performing leadership teams build relationships based on trust, respect, and psychological safety. They challenge each other’s ideas without questioning one another's intentions. They provide honest feedback because they genuinely want everyone to succeed. They hold each other accountable because they're committed to the team's success, not individual comfort. And here's what I find fascinating: As trust grows, alignment happens faster. When alignment improves, accountability becomes much easier. And when accountability becomes part of the culture, execution accelerates. That's why I often say that trust, alignment, accountability, and leadership effectiveness are not separate initiatives; they're a connected system. Strengthening one reinforces the others. I've seen this repeatedly in my work with leadership teams. As trust grows, conversations become more candid, decisions become faster, accountability becomes more natural, and execution improves. The second dimension of relationship competence is External Relationships. The best leadership teams understand that execution doesn't stop at the executive conference room. They intentionally build productive relationships with other departments, customers, suppliers, partners, board members, and other stakeholders. Why? Because organizations execute through collaboration, not hierarchy. The stronger those external relationships become, the easier it is to gain commitment, solve problems across organizational boundaries, and move initiatives forward. Leadership teams that invest in these relationships don't just influence their own function. They improve the performance of the entire organization. So, what's the leadership lesson? Team Emotional Intelligence isn't simply about creating happier teams. It's about building leadership teams that execute better. When leaders become more emotionally aware, trust increases. Greater trust leads to faster alignment. Better alignment makes accountability more natural. And together, those four elements dramatically improve execution. That's why I believe emotional intelligence isn't just a leadership competency. It's a business competency. In other words, emotional intelligence is one of the key drivers of performance. If you're a CEO, general manager or a member of a leadership team, don't ask only: “How smart is our team?” Ask something even more important: “How effectively do we work together when the pressure is on?” Because, ultimately, competitive advantage doesn't come from having the smartest leadership team. It comes from having a leadership team that trusts one another, aligns quickly, holds each other accountable, creates leaders who develop others, and consistently executes better than the competition. If there’s one message you should take away from this episode, it is: Organizations don't execute strategy. Leadership teams do. And the effectiveness of that execution depends on how well they manage emotions, strengthen relationships, and lead together. Thank you for listening to The Career Accelerator podcast. If this episode resonated with you, share it with colleagues or leaders who are working to grow their leadership team impact. This is Percy Cannon, helping you make the rest of your life… the best of your life.
