We suspect some of our department managers are hiding the massive productivity gains their teams are getting from AI because they are afraid their budgets and headcount will be reduced. How do we use our weekly Level 10 Meeting™ and quarterly Rocks to drive transparency and realign their incentives?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When department managers hide productivity gains to protect their headcount, it is a sign that your company culture is penalizing efficiency. If managers believe that automating tasks will result in their department losing status, budget, or influence, they will naturally resist technological progress.

To solve this, use your weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to bring this issue to light. Your weekly Scorecard must track highly objective, activity-based metrics that measure individual capacity and process efficiency. When you see a sudden, unexplained drop in manual hours or a massive spike in output, use the IDS® portion of your meeting to address the underlying behavior without judgment.

Next, realign your managers' incentives by setting quarterly Rocks that specifically reward them for reducing operational drag. Instead of measuring their success by the size of their headcount, redefine their key performance indicators on the Accountability Chart to focus on efficiency metrics, such as:

- Net profit margin per department.
- Overall processing speed of core deliverables.
- The volume of transactions handled per seat.

Make it clear that their primary role is to scale their department's capacity, not their staff. When your leadership team actively rewards managers for automating workflows and redeploying resources, you build an environment where transparency is valued and technology is embraced.