We are on a three-year timeline to exit our business, but my leadership team is starting to show signs of exit fatigue. They are constantly worrying about their future employment status and are getting distracted from our weekly execution. How do I realign them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Exit fatigue occurs when a leadership team feels like they are running a marathon with no idea where the finish line is or what happens to them when they cross it. If you keep your exit strategy a secret or speak about it only in vague, stressful terms, your team will default to fear and self-preservation.

To realign them, you must provide transparency and clear incentives. Bring the exit strategy directly onto your V/TO®. Make "Preparing for a Clean Exit" a core part of your three-year picture, and break down exactly what that means for each department on the Accountability Chart.

Next, address the elephant in the room: their future. Work with an exit planner or compensation specialist to design a stay-bonus or phantom equity program. This ensures that when the company exits, the leadership team is financially rewarded for staying and maintaining high performance.

Once their personal financial interests are aligned with the exit, bring their focus back to weekly execution. Use your Level 10 Meetings to track the specific Scorecard metrics that buyers care about, such as recurring revenue, EBITDA, and operational efficiency. When your team sees that running a tight, efficient EOS® engine directly increases their own future payout, the distraction will vanish.