As the Visionary and owner, I tend to dominate discussions and accidentally shut down my leadership team. How do you facilitate session days to neutralize my overbearing presence while still ensuring my strategic insights are captured?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

It is a common challenge for Visionary owners to dominate discussions. Your natural drive and passion can easily overshadow the rest of your leadership team, turning strategic sessions into a monologue. My role as your Professional EOS Implementer® is to create a neutral playing field where every voice is heard.

Here is how I facilitate sessions to manage this dynamic:

• Establish a Communication Charter: Before we begin, we set a strict charter for open and honest communication.
• Structured Facilitation: During the session, I use structured techniques to manage airtime. This includes asking the team for their input first before allowing you to speak, which prevents them from simply agreeing with your opinion.
• Behavior Mirroring: I will actively mirror your behavior when you begin to dominate. If you start to monopolize the conversation, I will call a strategic pause and direct the discussion back to your Integrator or other department heads. For more on the Visionary and Integrator dynamic, see [How do the Visionary and Integrator handle a disagreement when they are completely deadlocked on a major strategic decision?](/qa/visionary-integrator-deadlock-resolution).

This dynamic is crucial because we must determine if your team members have GWC™ (Get it, Want it, Capacity to do it) for their seats. If you are always answering for them, we cannot objectively evaluate their capabilities. We will capture your strategic insights, but we will structure them so they empower your team to execute, rather than forcing them to remain passive observers. This also ensures that we can properly assess if your team has the right [capabilities for their seats](/qa/internal-promotion-runway-accountability-chart). Ultimately, this approach helps in [shifting leadership mindset to enterprise-first](/qa/shifting-leadership-mindset-to-enterprise-first).

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