A unified leadership team is key to any organization’s long-term success. When leaders are on the same page, it creates stability and keeps things moving in the right direction.

When you can keep a leadership team together for the long haul, it makes a huge difference. They build trust with each other, understand how to work through challenges, and get better at making decisions as a team. That kind of consistency sets the tone for the whole organization—it gives people confidence in the present and in the future.

In any organization—whether a company, department, non-profit, or church—every leader, especially the most senior, must:

Unify, not divide
Multiply, not diminish
Motivate, not demotivate
Be present, not absent
Inspire, not discourage
Be honest, not dishonest
Be decisive, not indecisive

If a leader fails to meet these expectations, they need one of three things: a rapid, urgent transformation with every resource employed to help them, a reduction in their scope, or assistance in finding their next opportunity.

Here’s the hardest part to grasp: this is ultimately the best thing for that person.

The cost of tolerating a toxic leader at any level is extraordinarily high. Good people become frustrated and leave, teams underperform, customers suffer, and profits are impacted. Nobody wins.

Infighting and positioning within a leadership team can kill momentum faster than almost anything else. When leaders are primarily focused on competing with each other, protecting their turf, or pushing their own agendas, the whole team—and the organization—suffers.

Instead of driving things forward, energy gets wasted on politics and conflict. Decisions get delayed, trust breaks down, and teams lose clarity about what they’re working toward. It creates frustration at every level, and progress stalls.

A unified team moves quickly and with purpose. But when leaders are out of sync, all that momentum grinds to a halt, and it’s hard to recover.

Here’s a podcast I really enjoyed from The Table Group on this topic: The Cost of One Bad Team Member.

It’s why I believe so strongly in the Ideal Team Player model—it’s the blueprint for what makes a great employee in any organization, especially leaders at every level. Learn more here.