Prerequisite 1 - Trust-Based Culture
Without trust, the PoR fails before it begins
Most businesses have pockets of trust. Some teams work well together. Some functions operate with mutual respect. But in nearly every organization, there are fractures—gaps in trust that block progress and create dysfunction.
If you’re trying to implement a Plan of Record, you can’t ignore these fractures. A PoR prioritization process depends on a foundation of trust.
Here’s how lack of trust shows up in R&D organizations:
Within Engineering: Distrust often forms at the boundaries between teams or technical functions—especially where dependencies and resource constraints exist. For example, developers may distrust how infrastructure, DevOps, or InfoSec allocate their time, leading to resentment and silos.
Between Product and Engineering: When these two functions report to different execs or operate in silos, distrust can fester. Product may see Engineering as unresponsive to deadlines. Engineering may view Product as oblivious to technical debt and platform risk. The result? Best-efforts mode, constant firefighting, and missed commitments.
Between R&D and the Executive Team: Even when product and engineering are fully aligned or even unified under a CPTO, a trust gap often exists between R&D and other executives. If sales and finance expect “everything is a priority” without acknowledging constraints, the R&D team may stop trying to communicate and may shift into quiet resistance.
Between Executives and the Board: The same dynamics can play out one level up. When the executive team doesn’t feel safe being honest with the board, resource decisions aren’t surfaced. The board may default to vague mandates like “just make it happen,” and real prioritization never occurs.
Distrust breeds dysfunction. It’s the root cause of “best efforts” culture and chronic under delivery.
How to Build Trust at Every Level
There’s no silver bullet, but there is a proven framework. Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and The Advantage offer a blueprint: trust enables conflict, which enables commitment, accountability, and results.
You don’t need to boil the ocean. Start where you have influence:
If you’re a CxO: Diagnose trust across your org. Start where you can lead. Create psychological safety on your own teams. Model vulnerability and candor. Build upward to exec alignment and board conversations.
If you’re a manager: Focus on your immediate team. Create a culture where individual contributors can speak up, say no, and trust that their constraints will be heard. Even a personal PoR—where one employee maps their own time and tasks—can foster clarity and respect.
Trust scales. A team that learns to speak truthfully about capacity and constraints is a team that can commit. And commitment is the foundation of any functioning PoR.
Up Next: In the next post, we’ll look at the second prerequisite: Clarity of Goals—the “why” that ties your PoR to your company’s mission and value.