30. Extended Leadership Teams: Set Up to Fail Yet Expected to Lead
Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin explore why extended leadership teams so often get stuck between strategy and execution—and what organizations can do to empower this critical (but overlooked) layer to lead across, not just down.
At Work with The Ready · Rodney Evans and Sam Spurlin
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Show Notes
The extended leadership team (those just below the C-suite) often finds itself stuck between translating strategy and triaging dysfunction. They’re tasked with cross-functional execution, but are rarely equipped, empowered, or aligned to pull it off. And in most organizations, this group is caught in a cycle of managing up, managing down, and managing chaos all around—with very little time or clarity left to lead.
This week, Rodney and Sam take a closer look at what’s really going on with extended leadership teams, why they matter so much, and what gets in their way. From power dynamics and peer competition to vertical incentives and missing cross-functional glue, they pull apart the system that makes this group so hard to organize—and so critical to transformation. They also share field-tested tactics that can turn this underutilized layer into an OS-upgrading powerhouse.
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Mentioned references:
- Fruit Roll-Ups
- leadership teams org design ep: AWWTR Ep. 13
- Sunshine Zone: Depthfinding Ep. 3
- Basecamp (aka 37signals) and managers
- Haier and managers
- Twilight Zone: Depthfinding Ep. 4
- mission-based teams (MBTs): FoHR Ep. 1
- Jason Fried & "company as the product"
00:00 Intro + Check-In: What is one of your favorite low tech work hacks?
02:53 The Pattern: The extended leadership team is trapped between strategy and execution
05:17 The C-suite’s peace comes at the expense of chaos in the extended leadership team
09:04 Silos and competition between departments
12:52 Functions don’t truly understand what other functions contribute
15:40 The true work of the extended leadership team
21:40 External pressure on GenX and Millenial leaders reinforces the status quo
27:56 Idea 1: Identify shared purpose of your extended leadership team
30:45 Idea 2: Top missions for cross-functional leadership teams
35:21 Idea 3: Chartering a leadership team “role” for shared participation and ownership
37:52 Wrap up: Leave us a review and share the show with your colleagues
Sound engineering and design by Taylor Marvin of Coupe Studios.