The Leadership Communication Workshop That Was Doomed to Fail
Sometimes Truth Beats Harmony: Getting What You Need Instead of What You Want
A New York City-headquartered, very large organization's C-level and senior executive team was fracturing over communication issues. The most senior leaders had been pushing for months to address it—they could see how the disconnects were undermining their effectiveness. The CEO didn't want the session at all, but enough people were demanding it that they finally agreed.
From the moment it was scheduled, this workshop was doomed. You can't fix communication problems when the person at the top doesn't believe there's a problem worth fixing.
The Session That Exposed Everything
Using LEGO Serious Play in their Manhattan offices, three hours of building and sharing revealed exactly what was tearing apart their leadership team.
Here's what made LEGO Serious Play crucial: everyone had to build their perspective in 3D, then explain it to the group. No hiding behind corporate speak. No letting the loudest voices dominate. Every executive got equal time to share what they'd built about communication challenges and what they needed to succeed.
The magic happened in the listening. As each person walked through their model, you could see the light bulbs going off around the room. The safety advocates finally understood why the rigor camp felt people came unprepared. The candor champions saw why others needed security before speaking up. Even the CEO seemed to grasp why their team felt unheard.
What surfaced wasn't some minor disagreement about meeting styles—it was three perfectly reasonable values locked in destructive tension, now clearly articulated through tangible models that everyone could see and understand:
Psychological Safety advocates demanded secure conditions before anyone would risk sharing difficult truths
Candor champions believed internal courage mattered more than external comfort
Rigor enforcers (led by the CEO) demanded thorough preparation and due diligence before anyone earned the right to raise concerns
The Solution That Could Have Changed Everything
For a brief, shining moment, it looked like we'd cracked it. The path forward was blindingly obvious and everyone in the room felt it: Define what "rigor and responsibility" actually meant. Create standards. Offer psychological safety to those who met them. Honor all three values. Make everyone happy.
The relief in the room was palpable. Executives were nodding, building on each other's ideas, seeing how it could work.
Then the CEO went nuclear.
The "Failure" That Saved Everyone Time
More rigor and responsibility from people, period. No definition. No safety net. No compromise.
Translation: Deal with it or leave.
Why This Disaster Was Pure Gold
Here's what made this doomed workshop worth every uncomfortable minute: it ended the guessing game forever.
No more hoping the CEO might change. No more wondering if things could get better. No more wasted energy on false optimism.
Just crystal-clear truth about where leadership stood on making anyone's life easier.
Several executives made their exit within months—not in fury, but with perfect information. Others stayed, now operating in reality instead of fantasy.
The Bottom Line
Sometimes clarity is brutal. Sometimes knowing exactly where you stand and how things will always be is the most valuable gift you can receive. Even when—especially when—you don't like what gets clarified.
Because working in the dark with false hope? That's the real failure.
Ready to discover what's really happening beneath your team's communication challenges? Sometimes the truth you uncover isn't the one you wanted—but it's always the one you needed. Contact Us Today
