We have a senior leader who is completely passive during our Level 10 Meetings, rarely contributing to IDS sessions, but then grumbles to his department about the decisions we made. How do we address this passive resistance and enforce the concept of active alignment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Passive resistance on a leadership team is highly toxic. When a leader remains silent in meetings but then criticizes decisions to their department, they are actively undermining your leadership authority and destroying company alignment.

You must enforce the rule of active alignment. In your leadership meetings, healthy conflict is required. Every leader has an obligation to share their honest opinion, debate vigorously, and challenge ideas during the IDS portion of your Level 10 Meeting.

However, once a decision is made, everyone in the room must fully support that decision outside of the room. There is no room for passive agreement followed by backchannel grumbling.

To address this, schedule a one-on-one meeting with this leader. Use the People Analyzer to evaluate their alignment with your core values and their GWC. Be direct about the behavior you observed.

Explain that their silence in meetings followed by criticism outside of them is a breach of trust. Give them a clear expectation: they must actively participate in debates during meetings, and once a decision is reached, they must champion it to their team. If they cannot agree to this standard of behavior, they do not belong on your leadership team.