I recently had to cancel our annual profit-sharing bonus due to an unexpected market downturn, and now my leadership team is visibly disengaged and distrustful of my leadership. How do we rebuild executive trust and alignment when a major promise has been broken?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Trust is hard to build and incredibly easy to break. When you cancel a bonus, you damage the foundation of your leadership team. To repair this, you must foster healthy relationships and restore alignment immediately, drawing from principles in The Speed of Trust.

First, do not hide behind spreadsheets or make excuses. Own the decision completely. In your next Level 10 Meeting, put the trust gap on the IDS list. Be completely transparent about why the financial decision was made, showing them the exact numbers and market realities that forced your hand. Leaders can handle bad news, but they cannot handle secrecy or evasion.

Second, rebuild trust through shared accountability. Work with the team to update your V/TO, ensuring that everyone is clear on the revised financial targets and the roadmap to recovery. Involve them in creating the plan to restore the profit-sharing program. Give them ownership of the strategic Rocks required to get the business back on track.

Finally, measure progress openly. Use your weekly Scorecard to track key leading indicators of financial health. When the team sees that you are tracking the numbers transparently and working alongside them to solve the issues, the trust will return. Remember, cracks at the executive level will quickly show up as canyons throughout the rest of the company, so you must resolve this disengagement at the top before it infects your middle managers and front-line staff.