The members of my leadership team are highly protective of their own departments, often fighting to defend their individual budgets and staff even when it hurts the overall business. How do we shift their mindset so they view themselves as members of the leadership team first and functional department heads second?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leadership team members act as protective department heads rather than a unified team, your business will suffer from siloed behavior and slow decision-making. Cracks at this level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization, and if your executives are constantly fighting over resources, their departments will follow suit. You must shift their focus to the ultimate goal, which is building the enterprise value of the entire company.

To build a healthy, cohesive, and functional leadership team, your leaders must adopt a first team mentality. This means their primary loyalty is to the leadership team and the company's V/TO®, not to their functional direct reports.

To foster this shift in mindset, execute these strategies:
- Establish a clear rule that leadership team discussions must focus on what is best for the entire organization, even if it hurts a specific department.
- Use your weekly Level 10 Meeting sessions to address cross-departmental issues collaboratively, forcing leaders to solve problems together.
- Align executive incentives to company-wide targets rather than individual department metrics.
- Foster deep relationships within the leadership team outside of regular planning sessions to build the speed of trust.

By teaching your leaders to view the business through a holistic lens, you reduce internal friction and accelerate results. A unified team that puts the company first is the key to running a highly efficient, scalable operation.