‘What a High Performing Executive Team Looks Like – And How to Get It’

By Nicola Ellwood, Master Executive Coach, Be Your Best

All my CEO or MD clients talk about it.

“That time. The team. What we achieved…it was great!”

They remember it with real fondness and pride – the people, shared effort and results. Most have experienced a high performing executive team at some point. And often, that time has come and gone due to changes in people or shifts in organisational direction that alter the dynamic or culture.

When it disappears, high performing CEOs don’t ignore it. They invest time, energy and focus into rebuilding it. It becomes a priority and a project that I’m regularly asked to support.

So, what do these teams look like? What makes them work?

They have a collective, crystal clear, compelling vision.

High performing executive teams are aligned on what they want, why they want it and what achieving it means both individually and collectively. At its best, the vision is co-created. The CEO is clear on each leader’s accountability, and the team shares ownership of the vision and outcome.

But it’s more than just understanding. The team must see, hear and feel what success looks like, which builds personal motivation. Each leader within the executive team has a personal vision that complements others and contributes to the whole.

When they speak to the organisation, there is no gap between them. They ‘sing from the same hymn sheet’ and their teams see them as united. Day to day, this creates unity. There are no defences and no battles. There is one common goal.

They are ‘with each other, for each other’.

In high performing executive teams, the team itself is the main priority. Leaders remain accountable for their own departments, but their mindset is different. They see the peer group as the driver of results. When I ask a high performing exec who ‘their team’ is, they often reply with ‘their peer team’.

Relationships with the teams they lead and manage are also tight. Their people are empowered, engaged, and have a strong sense of accountability. But the leader’s work and outcomes are ultimately with the executive team.

This mindset is key.  Strong executive relationships align entire organisations. And when they’re missing, you might notice departmental silos. Middle managers are often blamed for this, but my advice would be to look up. The answer can sit higher up the ladder.

High performing teams spend their time intentionally. They work at leading together strategically, understanding each other and staying aligned. Their outlook goes beyond their own area and spans the entire organisation.

Their behaviours create a thriving culture.

High performing executive teams have class, grace and treat each other well. In contrast, lower performing teams often talk about needing ‘robust’ conversations.

The Cambridge Dictionary’s definition of ‘robust’ is ‘strong and healthy’. In practice, it’s often experienced as harsh or damaging. I regularly meet leaders who feel bruised by these environments. The word has become warped in many of today’s boardrooms, and behaviours become unproductive, overly blunt, critical of others or self-serving.

In high performing teams, conversations are candid and direct but also kind and delivered with an awareness of the person and the bigger picture. They are generous and human with the overarching mindset of “we are all doing the best we can with the resources available to us”.

This balance of clarity and care is what creates a productive and thriving culture.

High performers have done ‘the work’ on themselves.

Most senior leaders are self-aware. They know what they are like and what they can be like. The difference with high performers is they know what to do with that awareness.

They actively work on themselves. They develop strategies to regulate their emotions, manage their behaviours and communication. They’re then able to choose how to respond both proactively and in the moment.

They know who they are at their best and work consistently to operate from that place.

This focus forms the work I do with leaders. They are open to developing their confidence so they can become congruent with themselves and their emotions. This helps them navigate challenges and manage triggers.

The result isn’t just better performance, but stronger relationships. Peers and team members find them a delight to work with in my experience.

They don’t just happen.

High performing executive teams don’t just happen by chance. They’re built deliberately.

Recruitment plays a role, but that’s only part of the picture. Increasingly, I’m asked to help leadership teams hit the ground running with a high performing way of working.

This work is typically led by the CEO. They prioritise it because they understand the impact it has – not just on results, but on what becomes possible for the organisation as a whole.

So, any CEO or leader reading this – I hope this invites them to look to their team. Does it look, sound and feel how they want it to. I hope the answer is ‘yes’ – but if not, I hope they can see from these stories that great is possible – it might just take some focus in that direction. That focus, in my experience, is the gamechanger.