Our Chief Financial Officer is incredibly smart and reliable, but they have extremely high self orientation, constantly viewing company decisions through the lens of how it affects their department or personal standing. This is destroying trust on the team. How do we fix this?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a trust issue that can be diagnosed using the Trust Equation. Trust is built on credibility, reliability, and intimacy, divided by self orientation. No matter how credible and reliable your Chief Financial Officer is, their high self orientation will always undermine trust on your leadership team because it makes others feel that they are only looking out for themselves.

To resolve this, you must have a direct, private conversation with them. Share your observations without being confrontational. Explain that while you value their expertise and reliability, their tendency to focus on departmental or personal outcomes over the company's greater good is creating a barrier on the team.

Encourage them to shift their focus to the needs and interests of the other leadership team members. This is the essence of an other focused mindset. In your weekly Level 10 Meetings™, prompt them to consider how their financial decisions impact the operations, marketing, and sales departments.

If they struggle to make this shift naturally, work with them on developing a collaborative approach to decision making. Remind them that for the company to achieve a clean exit, all departments must work as an integrated unit. By lowering their self orientation and actively supporting their peers, they will rebuild trust and help drive the entire team forward.