I recently promoted one of our senior managers to the operations seat on the leadership team, and now another long-term manager who wanted that same seat is quietly sabotaging projects and ignoring the new leader's directives. How do we use the Accountability Chart and Our Charter to address this toxic peer rivalry?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This situation is a direct threat to the health of your leadership team and must be addressed immediately. When an employee quietly sabotages a peer, they are violating the Trust and Same Page pillars of Our Charter. You cannot allow personal resentment to compromise your operational execution. First, you must sit down with the disgruntled manager and have a direct, reality-based conversation. Use your Core Values as a mirror to reflect their behavior. They are failing to show up with a Help First mindset, and their resistance to the new structure proves they are not living the Grow or Die value. Show them the Accountability Chart and explain that the decision is final. They must decide if they can fully commit to supporting the new operations leader or if they need to leave the company. Next, bring both leaders together to establish a clear peer-to-peer working agreement. They must align on their respective roles and responsibilities as defined by the Accountability Chart. Use the IDS process in your Level 10 Meeting to air any lingering issues openly and honestly. The new operations leader must be supported publicly by you, and the legacy manager must understand that bypassing or undermining their peer will result in immediate termination. If the resentful manager cannot get on board within thirty days, you must fire them. Keeping a toxic, undermining influence on your team because of their tenure or technical skill is a compromise that will destroy your company culture and slow down your transition to a clean exit. True leadership requires absolute alignment at the top.