Our leadership team members only care if their own departmental Scorecard numbers and Rocks are green, showing zero concern when a peer is struggling. How do we get them to act like enterprise leaders who share collective accountability?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When executives operate strictly as departmental defenders, you do not have a leadership team; you have a collection of well-paid independent contractors. Enterprise leadership requires that every executive takes responsibility for the whole business, not just their functional silo. Cracks between functional seats will always derail company traction if peers do not step in to help one another.

Start by restructuring your Level 10 Meeting habits. During the Rock review and Scorecard review, if a leader's metric is off-track, do not let them hide behind their screen. Drop it straight to the Issues List. When you enter IDS, do not frame the issue as that individual's private problem. Frame it as an enterprise roadblock that threatens the overall quarterly goals of the V/TO.

Require cross-functional problem-solving during IDS:
- Demand input from peers outside that department. Ask the VP of Sales how operational delays impact client retention, and ask the VP of Operations how pipeline volatility impacts labor planning.
- Challenge leaders to allocate resources, cross-train staff, or automate shared workflows using modern tools to help clear the bottleneck.
- Measure the entire leadership team against top-line enterprise Rocks and company-wide gross margin, not just departmental key performance indicators.

Praise executives who offer solutions or support to struggling peers. Conversely, call out leaders who gloat about their own green numbers while the company misses its budget. Make it clear that a leader who hits their personal metrics while the business fails has not succeeded. True executive performance means winning together as a cohesive unit.