Building on the idea performance psychology, William H. Berman, wrote an article addressing the characteristics of elite business performers in his article “Coaching C-Suite Executives and Business Founders”. Providing several case studies of clients, he explained how executive coaches can support elite corporate executives and start-up founders.
In this broader discussion, he pointed out the uniqueness and complexity of a senior leader’s world. An executive’s world is generally more like a pressure cooker and less like Mad Men.
Leadership and elite performance
There is a lot of existing research on what personal characteristics makes a great leader. We cover some of it in this blog related to charisma, transformational leadership, transitions and narcissism.
To rise to a senior level in a corporation or to found a successful start-up, these high performers have already demonstrated that they have expertise and can get things done.
But leadership does not happen in a vacuum. The success of a leader is influenced by the nature of the job, the culture of the organization, the job tasks and by relationships with colleagues.
The world of an executive
Berman pointed out some factors about the nature of executive roles that influence daily work.
Executives have limited time to practice
Elite performers like musicians and athletes get the luxury to practice the same skill over and over prior to performing. Executives don’t have that luxury. Instead, executives make constant decisions from the moment they start the role. And the tasks change from moment to moment.
In one day, a senior executive might dive deep into the company financials, make a decision to invest millions of dollars in new infrastructure, talk to a Board member, mediate a dispute between two functional leaders, interview a candidate for a senior role and present at a company town hall.
This pace rarely slows down, so the executive faces a constant churn of decision making, problem solving, communications, meetings and trouble-shooting.
Complex decision making
Business decisions often involve competing priorities. And the data related to the decision is often limited and imperfect.
Making decisions with good judgment in a world of ambiguity is the hallmark of a senior executive role. The situations are not simple and the decision making is stressful.
For example, a CEO must balance the need to serve customers with the need to keep operational expenses low. The Sales team might advocate for a decision that conflicts with constraints for the Operations team. Both groups could have legitimate, but conflicting, requests. The CEO must consider and decide based on available data and long-term health of the organization.
It’s lonely at the top
The phrase “It’s lonely at the top” exists for a reason.
Senior executives own ultimate responsibility for their companies and teams.
They rely on direct reports and teams to execute plans. This creates competing priorities – as referenced above.
Sometimes the conflict with colleagues is more nefarious. Direct reports sometimes have a conflicting agenda – like wanting the senior job for themselves or wanting to see the leader fail. This can result in undermining activities or more subtly through passive aggressive acts such as withholding information.
These factors create complex working situations. Executives must navigate these complexities and still perform at a high level.
Many executives would benefit from performance psychology techniques – with or without the guidance of an executive coach – to help manage this pressure. Check out this post called Mental Coaching Techniques for seven tricks to try.
References
W.H. Berman (2019) “Coaching C-Suite Executives and Business Founders”, Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, Vol 71, 2, 72-85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cpb0000128
William H. Berman, Berman Leadership Development, LLC
