Mike 
In my November newsletter, I briefly described three answers that I often give when I hear of tension within a senior leadership team. This blog expands on the first of those answers.
I don’t know how many times that a second chair leader has confided of a less than ideal relationship with a first chair: “We’re just not on the same page.” They are not saying that the relationship is broken, nor are they saying that their boss is a tyrant. They’re simply saying that the levels of trust and teamwork and shared decision-making are not what they’d like.
In these situations, it’s tempting to put all the responsibility on the first chair. After all, he or she is the one who decides how much to delegate to others. But my first bit of advice puts the burden back on the second chair: be a student. Be a student of your first chair leader. The more that you can understand him or her, the better you’ll be able to get on the same page and thrive in the second chair.
I remember seeing the counter-example of this played out in on one staff. The first chair led the weekly staff meetings. Some weeks the meetings took all morning, as the team joked and talked and argued, and the first chair joined right in. But other times, it was obvious that he had something else on his mind, and he wanted to finish the meeting quickly. I say it was “obvious,” but apparently it wasn’t to one team member, who wanted to talk and argue just as much on these days. Had he simply been a better student, he would have earned much more respect from the first chair.
Here are some questions that a good student asks (and answers) about his or her first chair:
- What kind of news most excites him/her?
- What kind of news puts him/her on edge?
- What kind of rhythm does he/she prefer in meetings? For example, start with small talk or dive straight into the issue(s)? Send a list of topics in advance, have a written agenda, or keep it more free flowing?
- Does he/she make decisions quickly or slowly? What factors are most important in these decisions?
- What qualifies as “important” information that needs to be communicated immediately?
- How does he/she prefer to receive bad news?
- How far can you run on your own with a major decision? When do you need to check in?
- What is the best way to earn trust?
