My leadership team members are engaging in triangulation. Instead of using IDS to solve conflict directly with one another, they bring their complaints about other executives to me in private one-on-one sessions. How do I put an end to this political hand-offs and force them to build direct trust?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

Triangulation is a quiet killer of organizational health. When leadership team members complain to you about their peers instead of talking to them directly, they are avoiding the vulnerability required for genuine trust. By listening to these back-channel complaints, you are enabling political games and positioning yourself as the ultimate bottleneck.

You must break this cycle immediately by refusing to participate. The next time an executive approaches you to criticize another leader, stop them mid-sentence. Ask them if they have discussed this issue directly with the person involved. If the answer is no, end the conversation and instruct them to go speak with their peer within twenty-four hours.

Encourage them to use the IDS process to resolve the conflict directly. If they cannot resolve it one-on-one, the issue must be brought to the leadership team's Level 10 Meeting where it can be addressed openly. In his framework for building elite teams, Daniel Coyle notes that high-performing cultures are built on safety and direct feedback, not secret status management and side-room lobbying.

Lead by example. Practice radical candor and show your own vulnerability at the leadership table. Trust is a reciprocal risk. If you want your leaders to take the risk of having hard conversations with each other, you must show them that direct, honest conflict is not only safe but expected. Stop playing the mediator and start holding your team to a strict standard of direct peer-to-peer accountability.