Our Operations Director has missed his quarterly Rocks for two consecutive quarters, and the leadership team is starting to lose faith in him. How do we use the Trust Equation to determine if this is a structural seat issue or a performance issue?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Before you make a hasty decision to replace your Operations Director, you must diagnose exactly where the breakdown is occurring. The Trust Equation is an excellent framework for this, breaking trust down into credibility, reliability, intimacy, and self-orientation.

First, evaluate his reliability. He has missed his Rocks, which indicates a reliability issue. Is this because he lacks the capacity to execute, or is his seat structured poorly with too many conflicting roles?

Next, look at his credibility. Does he possess the actual skill and knowledge to run your operations? If he has successfully run the department in the past but is now struggling due to new AI integrations, he may lack the technical credibility for this evolved seat.

Then, look at his self-orientation. Is he focused on the team's success, or is he defensive and protecting his own territory? High self-orientation destroys trust faster than anything else.

If his self-orientation is low and his core values are strong, this is likely a structural or capacity issue. Sit down with him and review his seat on the Accountability Chart. Are there roles he is holding that should be delegated to a direct report?

By isolating the specific component of the Trust Equation, you can determine if you need to coach him, restructure his seat, or make a hard right-person-right-seat call.