Our leadership team does not trust each other because of past management mistakes, leading to slow decision-making. How do we rebuild trust and use it to accelerate our decision-making speed?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Slow decision-making is almost always a trust problem. When your leadership team lacks vulnerability-based trust, members waste time covering their backs, filtering their thoughts, and playing politics. They do not share their real concerns, which means you cannot solve issues effectively during your Level 10 Meetings™.

Building a cohesive and functional leadership team requires establishing trust first. As the owner or Integrator, you must set the tone by showing vulnerability yourself. Admit your mistakes, own your weaknesses, and ask for help. This signals to the rest of the team that it is safe to do the same.

Once you establish this safety, you can foster healthy conflict. Healthy conflict is not personal, it is a passionate debate over concepts and operational strategies. The faster your team can debate and resolve issues, the faster the business can scale.

To rebuild trust and accelerate your team speed, implement these practices:
- Start your quarterly offsites with a structured personal histories exercise to build empathy.
- Call out artificial harmony when you see it in meetings and force people to state their true opinions.
- Use the IDS® process to debate issues based on data, not personal feelings.
- Commit to decisions collectively, ensuring everyone supports the final direction once a decision is made.

High trust leads to high-speed execution.