Bayer COO: we stopped assigning sales targets. Our teams aimed higher

At Bayer Pharmaceuticals, we made a decision that would sound reckless in many large companies: we stopped assigning sales targets to regions or countries. 

We did not eliminate accountability. We shifted it – from an annual number handed down from headquarters to employees deciding where resources will produce the greatest return for patients and the business.

It was one of the hardest decisions I made. My 25-year career had taught me to equate sales targets and budgets with accountability. And there was an added complication: I still had a sales and earnings number to deliver. We are a publicly traded company, so along with our commitment to customers and patients, we guide the financial markets, and I am accountable to our shareholders.

My first instinct was to take that commitment and divide ownership up among employees. But I chose not to. I came to believe that sales targets and budgets can undermine the accountability they were meant to create. 

Eliminating these numbers was only one part of a broader redesign of how we operate. Instead of adding layers to the bureaucracy, we stripped them away. Instead of locking in targets and budgets once a year, we began flowing people and resources to opportunities with the greatest potential. We deprioritized the rest. The goal was to put more authority – and accountability – in the hands of the people closest to the market.

That required me to change my own assumptions about leadership. With the redesign, would people still give us their best? The answer depends on what you believe about your people. Ultimately, I had to trust that giving people more ownership and freedom would lead them to aim higher. 

My conviction that we needed to change didn’t come from a management book or a consultant’s presentation. It came after sitting........

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