We recently promoted a top performer to our leadership team, but they sit entirely silent through our Level 10 Meeting, deferring to senior executives and never adding issues to the list. How do we get them to actively contribute without intimidating them?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

A silent seat on the leadership team is an expensive operational liability. When a newly promoted leader says nothing, they usually assume their role is to listen and learn until they earn tenure, or they fear challenging legacy leaders in open debate. That mindset breaks the Level 10 Meeting dynamic immediately.

First, clarify what their seat on the Accountability Chart requires. They are no longer individual contributors responsible only for their personal output. They represent an entire operational function, and their job is to fight for the greater good of the business. During your next quarterly conversation, explicitly review GWC (Get it, Want it, Capacity to do it) for their seat. Make it clear that staying quiet while cross-functional problems are debated is a failure of Capacity.

Second, manage the room tactically during the first twenty-five minutes of the agenda. If they report on their Scorecard metrics and Rock statuses without flagging a single issue, inspect the numbers directly. Ask them plain operational questions. If their numbers are off track or barely scraping by, push them to drop an issue onto the list right then.

Third, change how the Integrator facilitates IDS. When an issue impacts their functional area, stop asking the room open-ended questions that allow dominant voices to talk over the table. Address the new leader directly: What is the root cause from your team's perspective, and what must be true to solve it? Give them the floor first. If they attempt to hedge or defer to a founder, hold the pause until they provide an assessment. Once they realize the leadership team expects raw truth rather than deference, their silence will end.