It is a terrible drain on our energy, as well as the resources of our firms when a leadership team is out of sync due to poor team dynamics. The vast majority of my time is spent working with CEOs and their Boards and Executive Teams – two critical teams in any organization.

The test of an Executive Team is in its ability to successfully lead the execution of their strategy. And this is when things get interesting. How well do they play together? Firms talk of collaboration. It’s the “in” way of conducting business and for good reason, it brings about the best outcomes. But far too often it’s all talk and no walk. It is my observation that collaboration is not easy to attain. It sounds so commonsensical. We need to work well together. What could be more core to the concept of team?

But like so many things we know to be right, collaboration takes a strong commitment and constant focus to achieve. It won’t just happen naturally. A leader has to make it clear that it is just as important how the team works as it is what they work on. By establishing these expectations, communicating guidelines and then holding members accountable the desired work style can be accomplished.

The good news is that not only does collaboration lead to better results but team morale is given a boost as well. Nothing is more frustrating that leading a critical initiative and having it stalled because you cannot get the cooperation you need from your colleagues.

I find it is the best time to conduct a facilitated, collaborative activity when a team is forming, or as is often the case, “re-forming” due to changes in the players. By modeling the way, team members will better understand how to collaborate and know that it is important because of the emphasis its leader is placing on it. And, as with any team-building activity, I recommend tying it to a legitimate business matter to make it more meaningful and impactful. This expands the outcomes from more than learning how to work well together to actually resolving an existing problem or pursuing a strategic opportunity.

Time and resources spent in building a strong and cohesive team devoted to working collaboratively will result in a return on investment exponentially greater than that invested.