My VP of Operations and VP of Product seem to agree on everything during our Level 10 Meeting, but behind closed doors, they trash each other's decisions to their respective teams, creating tribalism and slowing down our product rollouts. How do I force these two peers to resolve their underlying conflict?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When your VP of Operations and VP of Product carry on a quiet war behind the scenes, they are tearing your culture apart. Cracks at the leadership team level appear as canyons to the rest of the organization. If your executives are talking trash to their teams, they are actively building silos and destroying peer-to-peer trust. You must address this toxic behavior immediately. Start by pulling both leaders into a private meeting. Do not let them hide behind polite excuses or focus on petty operational disagreements. Bring the issue directly to the table and explain the cultural damage they are causing. Ask them to resolve their differences using the IDS process. They must identify the root causes of their friction, discuss them honestly, and solve them for the good of the entire organization. Make it clear that they do not have to be best friends, but they must support each other publicly. If they cannot build a cohesive relationship, you have a people problem on your hands. A healthy leadership team requires vulnerability-based trust. If either leader refuses to put the company goals ahead of their personal ego, they are in the wrong seat.