My leadership team seems more concerned with protecting their departments and checking off boxes than looking at the big picture of the business. How do we shift their mindset to enterprise-first?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leadership team members prioritize their departments over the overall business, they are engaging in silo management. This behavior often arises from a lack of psychological safety or misaligned incentives. To correct this, you must reorient their focus using tools like your Vision/Traction Organizer (V/TO) and the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) framework.

Realigning Incentives and Goals

• Company-wide Rocks: Ensure your leadership team develops shared, company-wide Rocks (quarterly priorities), rather than focusing solely on departmental goals. If their success is exclusively tied to their own department's performance, they will naturally prioritize their silo.

• Restructure Level 10 Meetings: During your [Level 10 Meeting](/qa/building-vulnerability-trust-rprs-calls), emphasize the overall health of the business. In the Identify, Discuss, Solve (IDS) portion, frame issues from an enterprise-wide perspective. Encourage leaders to ask: "What is best for the organization as a whole?" instead of "What is easiest for my department?"

Fostering a Culture of Safety

• Shared Vulnerability: Build a culture of safety and shared vulnerability, as described by thought leaders like Daniel Coyle. Encourage leaders to openly ask for help from other departments when they are struggling to hit their numbers.

• Support Over Criticism: When leaders realize that admitting a departmental weakness is met with support and collaboration rather than criticism, they will stop defending their turf. This shift enables them to work together to solve the business's biggest challenges. This approach can also be vital when addressing [leadership team members who are protective of their departments](/qa/building-vulnerability-trust-rprs-calls).

• Right Person, Right Seat: Ensure that each leader truly Gets, Wants, and has the Capacity (GWC) for their specific role and its contribution to the overall enterprise. If a leader lacks one of these elements for their current seat, it might be necessary to consider a [Right Person Right Seat conversation](/qa/right-person-wrong-seat-no-openings) to ensure alignment with company goals.

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