Representatives vs Senators: The Misunderstood Role of Leadership Teams

Too many leadership teams function like Congress. And these days, that is no compliment.

Everyone shows up to the table representing their department, fighting for their own needs and pushing their own agendas. Marketing defends its huge budget. Sales defends its travel expenditures and finance wants tighter controls. Everyone is talking, but no one is listening.

And oftentimes nothing meaningful moves forward… like congress.

Here’s the reality. When you sit on a leadership team, you are no longer just the head of your department. You’re not a legislator lobbying for your district or state. You’re a senator, tasked with what’s best for the whole organization, not just your department.

That’s a massive mindset shift and one many leaders struggle with. Even those in the real US Senate struggle to put their personal needs aside for the good of the order.

Great leadership teams behave differently. They don’t show up to advocate for themselves. They show up to align. They leave their departmental biases at the door and focus on collective results. They recognize that the only win that matters is the one with the organization’s name on it, not the one they take back to their teams.

Here’s how you know your team still thinks like legislators:

You leave meetings without clear, shared decisions.

Leaders nod in agreement in the room, then go back, complain to their teams and run their departments however they want.

Every strategic conversation turns into a turf war about headcount, budget, or departmental needs.

No one is willing to sacrifice “I’ for “we”.

By the next day, frontline employees are telling different stories to each other about what they were told, And you lose credibility and trust…fast, as alignment and culture die in that environment.

Here are a few very simple equations to always remember:

Misalignment = Competing Agendas – Collective Results

Culture = shared values + daily behaviors + reinforced systems

Eroded Culture = Culture – Alignment

Strategic Failure = Eroded Culture + Misalignment

In Summary:

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