My leadership team members are defensive and refuse to admit mistakes or ask for help, which is preventing us from building the vulnerability-based trust needed for healthy, unfiltered conflict. How do we break through this defensive armor?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

To build a healthy, cohesive, and functional leadership team, you must start with trust. If your team is defensive, they are operating under the fear of conflict, which is a core concept in the 5 Dysfunctions of a Team framework. Without vulnerability-based trust, your team will never engage in the unfiltered debate necessary to solve your biggest operational issues.

Cracks at this level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization. To break this defensive armor, you as the leader must go first. You must show vulnerability by openly admitting your own mistakes, sharing your weaknesses, and asking for help during your next quarterly planning session.

Next, incorporate a trust-building exercise. Have each leadership team member answer a few personal questions, such as where they grew up, their first job, and their worst job. This humanizes everyone and begins to build trust.

Finally, reinforce this during your weekly Level 10 Meeting. When a metric is red or a Rock is off track, praise the owner for their honesty rather than punishing them. Shift the focus from blame to solving the problem using IDS. Once your team realizes that admitting a mistake leads to support rather than execution, the defensiveness will melt away, and you will unlock the speed of trust.