My leadership team members still come to me individually to complain about each other's performance instead of addressing it directly in our Level 10 Meeting™ sessions. How do I force them to build direct peer-to-peer relationships and hold each other accountable without me acting as the mediator?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When you allow your department heads to use you as a mediator, you are actively preventing your leadership team from becoming healthy, cohesive, and functional. You are enabling a culture of politics and backchannel complaining, which destroys trust and slows down decision-making. To build a high-performing team, you must refuse to play referee.

The next time a leader comes to you to complain about a peer, stop them immediately. Ask if they have discussed the issue directly with that person. If they have not, tell them you will not discuss it until they do. Instruct them to either resolve it one-on-one or bring it to the weekly Level 10 Meeting™ to IDS® the issue as a team.

By forcing them to address conflict directly, you foster healthy relationships and build vulnerability-based trust. It forces them to operate as a unified first team rather than a group of independent silos. This peer-to-peer accountability is essential for scaling and preparing for a clean exit, because it ensures the business can solve its own problems without relying on your constant intervention.