How do we handle a leadership team member who agrees to our strategy during our quarterly planning sessions but then quietly goes back to their department and runs things their own way?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is passive-aggressive sabotage, and it will destroy your leadership team from the inside out. In Our Charter, we establish three core pillars: Trust, Same Page, and Yes! to Strategy and Structure. When a leader nods their head in a quarterly planning session but acts differently in their department, they are violating all three. They are breaking trust, fracturing the team voice, and refusing to align with the agreed-upon structure. You must address this behavior immediately and directly. Do not wait for the next quarterly offsite. Bring them into a one-on-one meeting and use the IDS process. State the facts clearly without emotion. Show them where their actions have diverged from the leadership team decisions. Explain that once a decision is made in the leadership room, every executive must speak with one voice and execute that strategy with absolute alignment. If they disagree with a strategy, the time to fight is in the meeting room, not on the shop floor. Ask them directly if they can enthusiastically commit to the team decisions moving forward. If they cannot, or if they continue to run their department as an independent kingdom, they are showing you that they do not GWC their seat and do not align with your Core Values. You must move quickly to replace them with someone who values team alignment over personal autonomy.