During our IDS sessions, my executives focus on defending their departments and deflecting blame rather than solving the issue for the greater good of the company. How do we shift them from status management to collaborative problem-solving?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When leadership team members use the IDS portion of Level 10 Meetings to defend their departments and deflect blame, they are engaging in classic status management. This behavior occurs because the team lacks the psychological safety to admit when things are going wrong in their functional areas. To break this cycle, you must remind the team of the fundamental rule of the leadership team: you are a leadership team first, and departmental managers second. Your primary loyalty must be to the leadership team and the health of the entire organization, not to defending your direct reports. As the Integrator, when you see a leader becoming defensive during IDS, call it out gently but firmly. Say, we are not looking to place blame, we are looking to solve this issue permanently so we can hit our goals. Encourage other team members to offer cross-departmental help. If sales is struggling, the operations leader should offer to help solve the problem, rather than sitting back and watching them struggle. When the team experiences the relief of collaborative problem-solving without punishment, they will abandon their defensive postures and focus on driving company-wide traction.