My leadership team members are excellent at managing their individual departments, but they refuse to take collective responsibility for our company-wide Rocks. How do we break down these departmental silos and get them to care about the overall health of the business?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leaders care only about their own departments, they are acting as managers, not as a cohesive leadership team. To run a healthy business and prepare for an exit, your team must wear their leadership hats first and their departmental hats second.

Start by reinforcing this concept during your quarterly planning sessions. Remind them that their primary loyalty is to the leadership team, not to their direct reports. Cracks at the executive level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization, and departmental silos are a direct result of leadership division.

Align their incentives and metrics. If their success is measured solely on their individual department's performance, they have no reason to focus on company-wide goals. Ensure that your key company-wide Rocks are shared responsibilities.

Use the weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to foster collective accountability. During the IDS® portion, encourage leaders to comment on and help solve issues in departments other than their own. A fresh perspective from an outside department often yields the best solutions.

If a leader continues to protect their silo and refuses to support other departments, you have a GWC™ or Core Values issue. You must address this behavior directly. A truly healthy and cohesive leadership team works together to achieve the company's overall vision, which is the exact superstructure that buyers want to see.