We have recently expanded our leadership team to seven people to include key department heads, but now we have a massive gap between those who think like owners and those who just want to defend their departments. How do we elevate the entire team to a unified ownership mindset?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

The gap between an owner's mindset and a manager's mindset is one of the most common friction points on a growing leadership team. If your department heads are constantly defending their personal fiefdoms rather than looking at the business as a whole, your team is not operating cohesively.

To fix this, you must introduce the concept of the First Team. Your leadership team members must understand that their primary team is not the department they manage, but the leadership team they sit on. Their loyalty must lie with the overall health and exit-readiness of the company, not with keeping their specific staff comfortable.

Reinforce this concept during your weekly Level 10 Meeting™. When issues are raised during IDS®, do not allow department heads to advocate only for their own areas. Force them to look at the business through the lens of your V/TO® and your long-term exit goals. Ask them: what is the best decision for the enterprise value of the company, even if it makes your specific department's job harder?

Additionally, review your incentive structures. If your leaders are only rewarded based on their department's performance, they will continue to build silos. Tie a portion of their compensation or bonuses to overall company performance and exit preparation milestones. When everyone is measured on the same ultimate outcome, they will start acting like owners.