Rise of the Symphonic C-Suite

Senior leaders can no longer go it alone in today’s complex, dynamic business environment. To drive their organisations forward, executives can collaborate as a symphony of experts playing in harmony.

As the business landscape grows more competitive and digital disruption continues, many organisations have become more team-centric, networked, and agile. While more collaborative and flexible approaches are taking hold in sales, operations, and other functional areas, however, a big problem remains: The C-suite sometimes lags, operating as an independent collection of functional experts rather than as a coordinated team.

The issue is common enough that 51 percent of respondents to Deloitte’s 2018 Global Human Capital Trends report identify C-suite collaboration as very important – making it the most critical issue in this year’s survey. In addition, respondents at organisations with the highest level of CXO crosscollaboration are the most likely to anticipate growth of 10 percent or more. Stunningly, however, 73 percent of respondents say their C-suite leaders rarely, if ever, work together on projects or strategic initiatives.

The survey points to a significant opportunity for senior leaders to pursue a new, more collaborative, team-based model—the symphonic C-suite. Like a great symphony orchestra, a symphonic C-suite brings together multiple elements: the musical score (the strategy), the different types of instrumental musicians (the business functions), the first chairs (the functional leaders), and the conductor (the CEO). In this model, C-suite members lead their own areas of responsibility but also collaborate with other functional leaders, work on teams that affect the enterprise’s strategic direction, and influence networks of teams throughout the organisation. In short, the goal is a symphony of specialised experts playing in harmony.

A Turning Point

The model is a departure from the way Csuites have historically behaved. In the 1800s and early 1900s, CEOs stood alone at the top, making most of the important decisions and delegating responsibility to functional managers in the business. By the 1980s, the number of functional C-suite roles—such as CFOs, CIOs, and chief human resource officers (CHROs)—increased, with each responsible for his or her domain while operating under a divide-andconquer model.

Amid this increased specialisation, however, a new dynamic emerged: Individual CXOs did not, as a rule, work closely together. This made sense in a relatively static, predictable business environment, where most problems had readily identifiable root causes, were limited in scope, and required deep functional expertise to solve. However, the current business landscape is a far cry from that of the 1980s. Frequent marketplace disruptions, a global economy, and the accelerating rate of technological change mean that the challenges companies face often are more complex, with multiple roots and drivers that cannot be solved effectively by one party working alone.

In such an environment, pairing cross-disciplinary collaboration and deep functional expertise makes a great deal of sense, allowing leadership teams to tackle issues that no single function can satisfactorily address by itself. For example, today’s digitally savvy, well-informed consumer demands that businesses deliver good products and a rewarding end-to-end customer experience. Rising to this challenge requires that organisations understand and fulfill customer needs at every touchpoint—which takes close partnership across functions.

The Symphonic C-Suite in Action

Symphonic C-suites might configure and reconfigure themselves to address different types of challenges. For example:

1. Digital business models. The transition to digital business models is at the top of the strategic agenda for many businesses today. A high-performing digital business aims to deliver its products and services to customers as an integrated experience. To achieve this goal, the CIO and other C-suite executives can work together so that front, middle, and backoffice systems converge to provide a seamless customer experience.

Organisations have a growing opportunity to redesign work and workforces to integrate robotics and AI and to capitalise on new employment models such as gig workers and crowds. CIOs and CFOs can partner with business

2.The future of work.

leaders, supply chain executives, and the CHRO to implement automation solutions and redesign work to create meaningful jobs, careers, and development opportunities.

3.Brand protection.

In a connected and transparent world, customers and employees are inextricably linked to corporate brand. Members of the C-suite can collaborate to manage an organisation’s total brand both internally and externally.

4.Innovation.

Chief innovation officers and chief research officers can play a critical role in driving innovation across functions and throughout the business. C-suite members can work together to ensure successful innovations are shared throughout the organisation and lessons learned are applied to other initiatives.

Cultivating the Symphonic C-Suite

The transition of C-suites to full symphonic mode is just beginning. Fifty-four percent of the respondents to the 2018 Global Human Capital Trends survey say their companies are not ready, or are only somewhat ready, for the level of executive team collaboration they believe is now required.

Where can companies start? A first step is for the CEO to review priorities and determine how each C-suite leader can drive progress more broadly across the organisation. Next, cross-disciplinary projects can be prioritised so that CXOs can form specific alliances and coordinate their efforts. Last, executive teams can put cross-disciplinary projects on the agenda and communicate their collaborations to the rest of the workforce as a model to follow.

As companies execute this shift, teamwork, influence, and expertise become more important. Finding leaders who create fellowship among their peers may require organisations to assess talent in new ways. Achieving C-suite collaboration also requires performance management systems and career paths that facilitate teaming and give leaders cross-functional experience. Deloitte’s survey shows that CXOs who have experience in a greater number of functions prior to reaching their current level are more likely to indicate that their organisation’s Csuite regularly collaborates.

The movement toward the symphonic Csuite is proving to be one of the most powerful and urgent trends for organisations worldwide. CXOs at leading companies understand that working as a team is now essential, and they are beginning to reorganise around this model. This trend is likely to accelerate as organisations begin to recognise that the symphonic C-suite is the most effective way to tackle the complex issues businesses face today.