We have a leadership team member who is great at their job but constantly gossips and builds political alliances with other team members behind my back. How do we address this hidden toxicity using Our Charter?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Political maneuvering and backchannel gossip are cancer to a leadership team. This behavior directly violates the Trust pillar of Our Charter, which demands open, honest, and direct communication. When executives build alliances instead of resolving issues face-to-face, they create silos and destroy the psychological safety needed for healthy conflict. To kill this toxicity, you must bring it into the light. Schedule a private meeting with the offender. Do not play their game by being vague; cite specific instances where they gossiped or attempted to build a political alliance. Frame the conversation around your Core Values, specifically being Humbly-Confident and practicing open communication. Explain that on this team, we solve issues using the IDS process in our Level 10 Meetings, not through backchannel whispers. Tell them that their capability in their technical seat does not exempt them from alignment with Our Charter. Give them a clear, binary choice: they must commit to bringing all issues directly to the leadership table, or they must leave the company. If the behavior continues even once after this warning, you must terminate their employment immediately. Keeping a toxic politician on your leadership team signals to the entire company that you value technical skill over cultural integrity, which will utterly derail your exit readiness.