One of our department heads is excellent at hitting their personal goals, but they flatly refuse to help with our high-priority company-wide Rocks, claiming their department is already too busy. How do we handle this resistance?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

An executive who executes their department goals but ignores company-wide Rocks is acting as a silo manager, not a true company leader. This is a clear violation of the leadership team Charter, which demands a commitment to one team, one vision, and one strategy. First, sit down with this leader in a one-on-one meeting to address this disconnect. Review the V/TO® and your company-wide Rocks. Remind them that company-wide Rocks are the absolute highest priorities for the business over the next ninety days. If the company fails to hit its overall goals, it does not matter how perfect their individual department looks. Second, look at their capacity using the GWC™ framework. Is their department genuinely overwhelmed, or is this leader failing to delegate and elevate? If they are too busy with daily fire-fighting to contribute to strategic growth, they are failing to manage their seat properly. Use the Accountability Chart to help them restructure their department, delegating tactical tasks so they can free up twenty percent of their time for company-wide execution. If they still refuse to support the collective goals of the business after you have cleared their runway, they do not GWC™ their seat on the leadership team. You must find a leader who is willing to row in the same direction as the rest of the business.