We have a leadership team member who is brilliant at their job but frequently acts as a roadblock during our Level 10 Meetings, resisting new operational frameworks. How do you handle this personality clash during our physical session days without causing a permanent rift in our team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

High-performing but resistant leaders are a common challenge, and their behavior during sessions is often a symptom of underlying fear or misalignment. During our full-day sessions, my role is to facilitate these conflicts constructively without allowing personal attacks or defensive posturing to derail the day.

We use personality and behavioral assessments to understand the communication style of the resistant leader. Often, a person who appears to be blocking progress is actually a highly analytical individual who simply needs more details, security, or time to process change before agreeing to it. I use the IDS® process to bring their concerns into the open.

We put the specific operational resistance on the Issues List and discuss it as a team. This takes the emotion out of the conflict and forces us to look at the facts. By framing the resistance as an issue to be solved rather than a personal defect, we can address the root cause of their hesitation. If the leader's behavior is driven by a lack of alignment with our core values or a refusal to be accountable to the team, we address that directly using the GWC™ framework. This objective approach ensures we resolve the operational friction while maintaining team trust.