I suspect my leadership team members are having private conversations after our weekly meetings to complain about decisions we ostensibly agreed on. How do I kill this toxic behavior?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This "meeting after the meeting" is a terminal disease for leadership teams. It is a clear indicator of artificial harmony during your actual meetings and a complete breakdown of trust. When leaders nod their heads in agreement during a session and then gossip in the hallways, they are actively sabotaging your organization's execution.

To kill this behavior, you must establish and enforce a strict standard of healthy conflict and absolute alignment. During your next Level 10 Meeting™, bring this issue to the table as an IDS® item. Do not call out individuals; address the behavior of the collective team.

Re-establish the rule: Disagree and commit. Explain that during our weekly meetings, every leader has the obligation to voice their disagreements, push back, and debate fiercely. However, once a decision is made, everyone in the room must support it 100% outside of the room. There is no middle ground.

To enforce this, use Cascading Messages at the end of every meeting. Spend the last five minutes reviewing the decisions made and agree on exactly what will be communicated to the rest of the company. This aligns everyone’s narrative. If you discover a leader is still gossiping or undermining decisions after the meeting, treat it as a direct violation of your Core Values. Address it one-on-one. If they cannot or will not change, they must be removed from the leadership team immediately.