Cohesive Leadership Team: Whole Before the Part

After reading my last post about cohesive leadership team, some one asked me, “What exactly is cohesion?” I went on to share the following example.

In a recent game of cricket, the top batsmen failed to make an impact and got out in quick succession. Clearly, the team was facing the risk of scoring the lowest total ever. Then, the captain walks in with a resolve clearly visible on his face. He takes time to settle in the game before steering the team to a defendable total score.

In a team, cohesion is about people having a sense of collective responsibility. If one team member fails, the other alters his/her game to cover up such that the net impact on the end result is minimal. That is cohesion. In a cohesive team, the end goal or outcome assumes higher importance than an individual.

In a cohesive team, no team member can really say, “I have done my part and it was working. This failure is not because of me.”

In an organizational setting, senior leaders have a common and over-arching goal. Tough and tricky decisions have to be made keeping this goal in perspective. Trust has to be established between the team members. Conflicts have to be resolved and commitment has to be generated. Things have to be done, and done in the right direction.

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Bottom line: Cohesion in a team (specially senior leadership team in an organization) is important for success. It is important in a game of cricket and it is important in families. In a system, parts represent the whole. If the whole is fragmented, parts will start moving in different and often, opposite directions.

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Also Read: Cohesive Leadership Team: A Few Questions