Our leadership team currently has six members, but our newly created customer success and product development departments are both demanding representation at the leadership level. How do we keep these critical departments aligned with our strategic goals without bloating our leadership team beyond its effective limit?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A leadership team should ideally consist of three to seven people. When you go beyond seven, your weekly meetings become inefficient and decision-making stalls. You do not need every department head sitting on the leadership team to keep them aligned.

Instead of expanding the team, look at your Accountability Chart® and group similar functions under existing seats. For example, product development and customer success can report up through a single head of operations or head of product who already sits on the leadership team.

Keep these department heads aligned by sharing your V/TO® and establishing clear departmental Rocks. They do not need to be in the room for every strategic leadership discussion to execute their roles effectively. They should run their own departmental Level 10 Meetings™ to solve their local issues.

Remind your team that a seat on the leadership team is about running the business as a cohesive unit, not a reward for tenure or status. Keeping your leadership team small and focused ensures fast decision-making and clear accountability, which are essential for a successful exit.