Our leadership team trust is breaking down because several members are highly focused on hitting their individual department metrics to secure their bonuses, even when it harms our company-wide Rocks. How do we use the Trust Equation to re-align them to a collective mindset?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When executives prioritize individual bonuses over collective company Rocks, you have a structural alignment problem fueled by high self-orientation. In the Trust Equation, trust is built when credibility, reliability, and intimacy are high, and self-orientation is low. When self-orientation dominates, team cohesion collapses.

To fix this, you must change how you define success on your leadership team. Start by aligning everyone around the V/TO®. Your one-year goals and quarterly Rocks must take absolute priority over any departmental target. If the company does not hit its overall quarterly goals, departmental wins should mean very little.

Review your compensation and bonus structures. If your executive bonus program rewards individuals for hitting siloed departmental metrics even when the company misses its overall target, you are actively paying people to behave selfishly.

Restructure your bonus plans so that a significant portion of any executive payout is tied directly to the achievement of company-wide financial goals and collective Rocks.

Use your Level 10 Meetings™ to reinforce this shift. During the IDS® session, if a leader tries to defend their department's performance while the company is failing, remind them of the first rule of team safety: we win or lose as a single unit. Elevate the conversation to focus on the company-wide scorecard, forcing everyone to act as owners first and department heads second.