Marie Stopforth

What does a senior leadership team need from its CEO to be effective? Once someone reaches a senior position, it's easy to assume they shouldn't need too much from the CEO. You've hired them because they're experienced and capable, and you expect them to make difficult decisions, and work independently and collectively as a senior leadership team. But bringing capable people together doesn’t automatically create an effective leadership team. Senior leadership team effectiveness depends not...

In today’s fast-paced and complex business environment, leadership is no longer about a single person at the top making all the decisions. Instead, it’s about how teams work together to lead collectively. Have you ever wondered what it truly means to share leadership responsibilities? How can senior leadership teams move beyond individual roles to become a unified force? This is where the meaning of shared leadership becomes crucial. Collective leadership is about harnessing the strengths of...

Ask a senior leadership team what it is there to do and you will often hear an answer such as: “To achieve the organisation’s mission.” “To deliver the strategy.” “To uphold our values.” “To provide leadership.” All of these answers sound reasonable, but none of them tells the team what it needs to do together - and that really matters. The purpose of a senior leadership team is to carry out the work that requires senior leaders to think, decide and act together on behalf of the organisation...