The Paradox at the Top: Why Your Senior Team Is Highly Talented and Incredibly Dysfunctional

Your senior leadership team consists of high achievers with proven track records. They are experienced professionals who are strategic, capable, and influential in their respective fields.  And yet, your staff meetings seem to go round and round without progress, and people are frustrated. But it’s not about egos. It’s not about values. It’s about style.

The friction you’re experiencing occurs when strong personalities clash without having a common language. Decision-making slows down, unspoken tensions build up, and silos form. Your culture suffers, and everyone feels frustrated.

The solution isn’t a trust fall exercise or another strategic offsite. It’s something more profound and more practical. You’re experiencing a clash of styles and the need to increase Personality Intelligence. Let’s start by exploring different styles and developing simple language to understand team dynamics.

The Four Styles

We’re going to use a model that is simple, intuitive, and memorable, where four birds represent the four styles.

• Eagles are assertive, decisive, and direct. They seek results and want them immediately. Eagles lead confidently, speak with certainty, and push for action.
• Parrots are charismatic, enthusiastic, and creative. They aim to create an environment filled with possibilities and positivity.
• Doves are empathetic, caring, and collaborative. They lead with compassion and prioritize people, creating a culture where everyone feels seen and heard.
• Owls are analytical, precise, and cautious. If they decide to do something, they will do it right the first time—with a plan, process, and key performance indicators.

The Problem with Senior Teams 

Specific departments often attract particular styles because the skills required in those fields are best suited to those styles. And while anyone can be successful in any role:

• Goal-focused Eagles are often drawn to Operations and Legal.
• Social Parrots typically comprise Sales and Marketing.
• Supportive Doves are often rooted in Customer Service and HR.
• Logical Owls often staff IT and Finance.

These departments aren’t staffed that way by accident. People are drawn to roles that fit their style, and leaders rise through the ranks by speaking the language of their teams. So, it’s no surprise that the head of Legal is often an Eagle, the CMO’s a Parrot, the VP of HR’s a Dove, and the CFO’s an Owl. They click with their team members because they are like them.

But bring those leaders together on the senior team, and you’ve now created the most style-diverse group in the organization.

That should be your company’s greatest strength. A team comprised of Eagles, Parrots, Doves, and Owls has the potential to see problems from every angle by leveraging the strengths of all four styles.

However, after working with more than 2,000 CEOs and over two-thirds of the Fortune 100 companies for over 30 years, I can tell you that it’s usually not a strength. Conflicting styles are often a source of friction, miscommunication, painful decision-making, and much drama.

Without understanding the styles and lacking a common language, senior team members often judge others for thinking, deciding, and acting differently than they do.

Eagles see Doves as gentle and passive, while Doves consider Eagles to be insensitive bulldozers. Meanwhile, Parrots view Owls as critical and blockers of creativity, as Owls see Parrots as chaotic and disruptive.

But this is not an insurmountable problem. It can be fixed by increasing Personality Intelligence.

Personality Intelligence is the ability to understand your own style, read the people around you, and flex your way into more effective leadership and team dynamics.

From Collision to Collaboration 

If senior staff incorporate Personality Intelligence into their daily behaviors and interactions, they can transform the culture within the team.

Here’s how:

1. Start with self-awareness
   Before trying to understand others, seek to understand yourself. Recognize your strengths and triggers, and value others who think differently.
2. Normalize talking about style
   Use styles as a tool, not a label or worse, a weapon. Say things like, “I’m putting on my Owl hat here, but I need more data.” Or, “That sounded very Eagle. Why are you saying that?”
3. Discuss team dynamics
   Identify the strengths each person brings to the team and draw people into the conversation when they can offer a different perspective.
4. Fill in the gaps
   If your team is missing a particular style, put on that style’s hat before making decisions. Ask, “If we had Doves on the team, what would they be saying right now?”
5. Value differences
   Instead of judging people for being different, appreciate the fact that they don’t do things your way. Style diversity results in better decision-making.

Personality Intelligence allows leaders to: 

• Collaborate by leveraging each other’s strengths
• Make faster, more balanced decisions
• Challenge one another without triggering defensiveness
• Adapt their approach without compromising authenticity
• Elevate the team’s thinking by seeing problems from all angles
• Work together towards common goals instead of creating silos

The Bottom Line

Your employees are keenly aware if your senior team is not on the same page. If your team is fragmented, your organization will be as well. And unless you want silos, you need to model the kinds of interactions you’d like to see throughout the company.

A strong culture starts at the top, and people are watching. Use the styles to build your Personality Intelligence, and your organization will become aligned and thrive.

Written by Merrick Rosenberg. Have you read?
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