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When we implemented a structured leadership team framework at Efficient Portfolio, it fundamentally changed the game of business we were playing. What started as a format born from reading Gino Wickman's book "Traction" evolved into a system that not only improved our leadership team's performance but transformed our entire organization.
The magic happened when our leadership team members stepped up and began teaching what they knew to others. This created a ripple effect throughout the business, boosting performance and accountability company-wide. It's the reason I can now run multiple businesses simultaneously - once you get the leadership piece right, everything else flows from there.
The Business Life Cycle
Every business follows a life cycle similar to human development. It begins in a birth/infancy stage (the lifestyle company) where it requires constant support without giving much back. It progresses through toddlerhood and the teenage phase (founder-manager company) where risk-taking happens but profitability isn't consistent.
The critical evolution comes when moving to young adulthood by implementing good processes, and finally to maturity, where the leadership team is firmly established. At this stage - the leadership growth business - the organization will grow whether the founder is present or not.
Five Elements of a Great Leadership Team
There are five key components to building an effective leadership team:
- Strategy: Create alignment with tools like the "moonshot" - one clear, memorable goal that everyone understands. As Kennedy said about landing on the moon: simple, measurable, and time-specific. The one-page business plan brings this together, aligning quarterly goals with long-term vision.
- Capabilities: Develop diverse thinking within your team. The All Blacks rugby team's principle of "pass the ball" emphasizes making the next generation better than the current one. Your organizational structure should distribute responsibilities clearly across different roles.
- Accountability: Implement a scorecard system to track key metrics weekly. Just as in sports, if you can't read the scoreboard, you don't know who's winning. Every leadership team member should know exactly which numbers they're responsible for.
- Leadership Skills: Foster a culture of teaching and coaching. When leaders empower others to teach, it deepens their own mastery while developing the next generation of leaders. Netflix's "radical candor" approach - direct, honest feedback delivered with care - exemplifies this.
- Evolution: Create systems for continuous improvement. The All Blacks principle that "no one player is bigger than the team" emphasizes culture over individual stars. Implement shadow roles and encourage knowledge transfer to prepare for succession.
Practical implementations include quarterly leadership meetings to review past performance and set future goals, regular leadership check-ins (15 minutes to create, 5 minutes to read), and leadership updates to communicate progress to the wider team.
The result? A business that can grow beyond you, creating freedom for the founder and opportunity for the team. As Victor Frankl wrote, "He who knows his why will tolerate almost any how." When your leadership team understands the mission, they'll find a way through challenges - and take the whole organization with them.
