The friction between my operations director and finance director is stalling our weekly initiatives, but they keep their heads down and pretend everything is fine during meetings. How do we smoke out this hidden peer conflict and force them to resolve it?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Hidden peer conflict between leadership team members is a silent killer of execution. When your operations and finance directors pretend everything is fine but subtly block each other's initiatives, it paralyzes the company. You cannot allow this passive-aggressive behavior to persist.

To resolve this, you must smoke out the conflict during your weekly Level 10 Meeting™. Use the IDS® process, which stands for Identify, Discuss, and Solve. Put the conflict directly on the issues list. Do not let them sweep it under the rug or reframe it as a minor tactical misunderstanding.

Force them to state their issues clearly and objectively. As the Integrator, your job is not to play referee or solve the problem for them. Your job is to facilitate the discussion and force peer-to-peer accountability.

Remind them that a healthy, cohesive, and functional leadership team is non-negotiable. If they cannot collaborate, the entire organization suffers. Have them sit down outside of the meeting to work through the friction using the core values as their guide. If they cannot resolve it peer-to-peer, you must make a hard decision about whether both of them truly belong on your leadership team.