We have a dominant, highly vocal executive who ends up taking over our quarterly offsite sessions, which causes quieter leadership team members to shut down. How do we manage this dynamic during the offsite so we actually get honest input from the entire team?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A quarterly offsite is designed to align the entire leadership team, not to serve as a stage for one person's ego. When one voice dominates, you lose the collective intelligence of the room and end up with artificial agreement instead of true alignment.

Before your next offsite, you need to have a private, candid conversation with this dominant executive. Use our core value of being Humbly-Confident to frame the feedback. Explain that while you value their passion and expertise, their tendency to dominate discussions is preventing others from speaking up. Ask them to practice listening first and to focus on asking questions rather than immediately stating their opinions.

During the offsite itself, establish clear ground rules based on the Trust pillar of Our Charter. Announce that everyone is expected to participate equally, and that you will be actively calling on quieter team members to share their perspectives.

Use structured tools like the IDS® process to keep discussions focused and objective. When a topic is raised, go around the table and give each person two minutes to state their perspective before opening the floor to debate. If the dominant executive tries to interrupt, calmly but firmly pause them and say you want to hear from the rest of the team first. Establishing this boundary creates a safe environment for vulnerable, honest communication from everyone.