We have some highly defensive personal dynamics on our executive team, specifically between our dominant and compliant personalities. How do you facilitate session days to cut through this behavioral friction without creating a hostile work environment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Every leadership team has unique behavioral styles, which we can map using tools like the DISC assessment. Conflict often arises when dominant personalities, who want to move fast and make bold moves, clash with highly compliant personalities, who require order, detail, and stability. My job as your facilitator is not to eliminate this friction, but to harness it productively.

We create a safe, highly structured environment during our session days where healthy conflict is encouraged. We do this by establishing clear rules of engagement at the start of the day. We agree that we will attack issues, not people. When discussions become heated, I use the IDS® framework to keep the conversation objective. We focus on the root cause of the problem rather than personal grievances.

We also leverage the different strengths in the room. We show your team how the dominant leaders need the compliant leaders to prevent reckless mistakes, and how the compliant leaders need the dominant leaders to drive progress. By understanding each other's natural conative wiring, we turn destructive personal friction into constructive strategic debate. This builds deep trust and allows the team to align on decisions, even when they disagree.