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The purpose of this paper is to present a Leadership Team Tool for developing reflexivity in the context of leadership teams.

The Leadership Team Tool is based on the theoretical premises of seeing communication as meaning making, and therefore placing discourse and conversation in the center of developing leadership teams.

The paper illustrates how reflexivity can be facilitated through a structured process of using the Leadership Team Tool. An empirical investigation of using the tool in an authentic leadership team setting is warranted to further develop the Leadership Team Tool.

The paper makes a practical contribution to several fields of studies, such as team communication and reflexivity, leadership team research and dialogic organization development. The paper addresses the need to develop solutions to enhance reflexivity, as prior research has not established the best ways to foster reflexivity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what kinds of communication challenges management teams (MTs) experience and to suggest ideas for developing competent communication practices.

Working according to the principles of qualitative research, a total of seven MT members from seven different international companies were interviewed. The thematic in-depth interviews were analyzed by first looking at all references of communication challenges, and then grouping them into six different dimensions.

Most of the communication challenges facing MTs are related to the teams’ meetings, where issues of leadership, decision making and participation may well be intensified. The meetings were experienced as formal communication forums, where MT members do not always express their true opinions either because other team members prevent it or because they are unable to do so. Informal communication plays a pivotal role in facilitating trust and competent communication practices.

MTs need to be mindful of how they communicate and develop a reflective practice in order to develop competent communication practices.

The study illustrates the essential themes that the MT members experience and perceive as central in MT communication and teamwork. Studying MTs from a communication perspective adds a valuable contribution to MT research.