Is Your C-Suite Actually a Team? Why Most Executive Groups Need Strategic Development!

When I work with CEOs of growing companies, I often hear a familiar frustration: "I have brilliant people on my executive team, but when we get together, nothing seems to work." Sound familiar?

A recent Harvard Business Review article by Ron Carucci and Jarrod Shappell, "Set Up Your C-Suite to Execute Your Strategy," perfectly captures what I see happening in small to midsize organizations every day. The problem isn't that you have the wrong people—it's that you're treating your C-suite as a collection of direct reports rather than a strategic execution engine.

The C-Suite "Club" Problem

Here's what typically happens: A company grows, adds functional leaders, hands out "chief" titles as recruiting perks or status symbols, and suddenly the CEO is running weekly meetings with 15-18 people. These gatherings become glorified show-and-tell sessions—polite updates punctuated by political jockeying. Decisions drag. Priorities blur. The CEO leaves wondering why a room full of talented individuals turns into "sludge" the moment they're together.

According to research cited in the HBR article, as executive teams expand beyond five members, coordination costs climb dramatically and decision quality drops. Yet many CEOs feel obligated to include everyone with a "C" in their title or anyone who reports directly to them.

Three Myths Keeping Your Executive Team Stuck

Myth 1: A "Chief" Title Equals an Executive Team Seat

Just because someone has earned a C-level title doesn't automatically make their role enterprise-critical. The head of investor relations may need direct CEO access, but their role is advisory, not integrative. Vanity titles create bloated, ineffective teams.

Myth 2: Reporting to the CEO Means Executive Team Membership

Reporting lines serve the CEO; the executive team should serve the company's strategy. Not every direct report needs to shape enterprise trade-offs or resource allocation decisions.

Myth 3: More Chiefs Equal More Competence

Adding roles often creates overlap and conflict rather than capability. A chief digital officer, chief strategy officer, and chief innovation officer might look impressive on paper, but if their mandates overlap, you've built a turf war, not muscle.

The Challenge for Growing Companies

Here's where it gets particularly tricky for small to midsize organizations: You often don't have a CHRO to lead this strategic work. If you do have an HR person, they're typically consumed with compliance, recruiting, and day-to-day people issues. They may recognize the need for executive team development, but either:

• Don't have a seat at the strategic table

• Lacks the capacity to take on additional high-level work

• Haven't yet developed the organizational design and team effectiveness skills required

This creates a critical gap. The CEO knows something isn't working but doesn't have an internal partner equipped to facilitate the redesign. Meanwhile, the dysfunction continues, slowing decisions and diluting strategic execution.

Three Strategies to Redesign Your Executive Team

1. Clarify Who's In and Why

Start by asking: What is the work only this group can do together to execute our strategy? Your executive team exists to make enterprise-level trade-offs, set priorities, and allocate resources. Not every valuable role needs a seat at this table.

Consider three design levers:

• Size: Find your "Goldilocks zone"—large enough to cover critical capabilities, small enough to make real-time decisions

• Scope: Should roles be broad and combined (like product + technology) or separated for focus?

• Seams: The overlooked lever—where do functions intersect to create competitive advantage? The connection between product and sales, supply chain and finance, R&D and marketing?

2. Design, Don't Just Arrange

Stop treating your executive team like a wedding seating chart. Ask yourself: If someone outside the company looked at your executive team composition, would they see your strategy reflected in its shape?

When a CEO I worked with asked this question honestly, her 18-person executive team dropped to nine. Those no longer at the table were still essential to the organization—their roles just didn't require enterprise-level integration. Her meetings transformed from status updates to decisive, accountable sessions.

3. Let Strategy Dictate Design

There's no universal formula. The right executive team reflects your specific strategy:

• Speed-to-market strategy: Lean team, collapsed roles (like product + technology), tight product-sales seams

• Global scale strategy: Balance between global functional leaders and regional executives to manage matrix tensions

• Innovation-first strategy: Elevated R&D with strong connections to commercial leadership

Your executive team design should be a visible expression of your competitive strategy. If your strategy shifts, so should your team.

Why This Matters Now

In my work with growing companies, I've seen firsthand how executive team dysfunction creates bottlenecks that ripple throughout the organization. Front-line teams wait for decisions that never come. Strategic initiatives lose momentum. Talented leaders become frustrated spectators rather than active contributors to company success.

The composition of your executive team is one of the most consequential choices you'll make as a CEO. It determines how your enterprise allocates resources, resolves trade-offs, and moves at speed. Yet it's often one of the least deliberate decisions.

Getting Outside Help

If you don't have an internal CHRO or senior HR business partner with the capacity and skills to facilitate this work, bringing in an external partner can be invaluable. An objective outsider can:

• Help you distinguish between status quo arrangements and strategic design

• Facilitate difficult conversations about roles and team composition

• Design the operating rhythms and decision rights that make critical "seams" function

• Build your internal capability to maintain team effectiveness over time

The question isn't whether your executive team needs development—if decisions are slow, accountability is diffuse, or meetings feel like performance theater, you already know the answer. The question is whether you're ready to approach your C-suite as a strategic design challenge rather than an inherited collection of roles.

Does your executive team reflect your strategy, or does it just reflect your org chart history? If you're ready to transform your C-suite from a collection of spectators into a championship team, let's talk about how strategic executive team development can accelerate your company's growth.

Onward and upward,

Kristen

Founder and Growth Leadership Advisor, 3D Leadership Solutions

Source: "Set Up Your C-Suite to Execute Your Strategy" by Ron Carucci and Jarrod Shappell, Harvard Business Review, September 18, 2025