Role of leaders and team processes in top management team resilience

Abstract

The organisations are experiencing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity changes in the environment of business. Leaders and top management teams (TMT) need to develop resilience to adapt and bounce back from these changes. There is a growing need for research in TMT processes and resilience. This study examines qualities that leaders should possess to be resilient in adversity. The study evaluates changes in team behaviours during adversity. The study examines factors that impact team processes and resilience and decision-making. The study investigated the external factors that build leader and team resilience. Based on 16 executives, this study found the most importance qualities of a leaders was emotional intelligence. The study affirmed the advantage of a leaders having hardness as a quality towards situations and not people. Dysfunctional and maladaptive behaviours were reported during adversity. Team processes of connectivity, engagement, collaboration and cohesiveness are integral influencers that positively impact resilience. These processes also contribute to openness, comprehensiveness and consensual decision making. The study found that soft skills training, mentorship and executive coaching built leader resilience. Organisational culture, rewards and remuneration, inter-departmental collaboration, organisational foresight, flattened organisational structures and diversity of TMT also built resilience.