My directors are highly defensive of their own departments and constantly try to optimize their own silos instead of working as a unified team. How do we get the leadership team to view the entire organization as their first priority rather than their own departments?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your directors focus entirely on their own silos, they are acting as managers of their departments rather than leaders of the company. This structural selfishness ruins execution and slows down your overall growth. To fix this, you must establish the concept of the first team. The leadership team is every director's primary team. Their departmental teams are secondary. You must enforce this mindset in your weekly Level 10 Meeting sessions. When discussing company issues, every leader must wear their enterprise hat, looking at what is best for the entire organization rather than what is easiest for their specific department. If your head of sales and your head of operations are constantly fighting over resources, they are failing to work collaboratively. Force them to solve these issues using the IDS process, focusing on the company's core goals as outlined in your V/TO. Review your compensation and incentive structures to ensure you are not rewarding siloed behavior. If your directors are only incentivized based on their department's performance, they will naturally protect their own turf. Align their incentives with overall company performance and the successful completion of cross-departmental Rocks. This forces them to work together to win.