Here’s a common scenario….As a CEO, you and your ELT have been immersed in your organizational transformation. Changes in your industry, customer needs/demands, economic pressures, and the growth in size of your company have convinced you that fundamental changes are necessary to your continued success, if not survival. You’ve talked about it and considered options with your team for months. You’ve found the burning platform, explained reasons for the changes to employees, involved people up and down the organization, and are executing the changes in processes, procedures, and systems necessary to drive the transformation.

As CEO, you are hearing fewer questions and concerns. It seems to you employees are seeing the positive aspects of the changes and you may be getting over the hump.

Sure, you hear that some employees are pushing back. That’s to be expected, right?  “Some people” just don’t like change but they’ll come around. There will always be a few employees who are angry and frustrated, complaining, cynical, and blaming. Furthermore, you hear from your leaders and managers that these employees just happen to be the poorest performers, who are just mad that they are finally being held accountable. Eventually, the critical mass of engaged employees will win them over or they’ll (hopefully) choose to leave the organization.

Yeah, keep on saying that to yourself. Over time, that may actually occur but ignoring these voices carries big risks. First, they may be the tip of the iceberg. What you are hearing may not be all that is happening. Secondly, these individuals will slow down the progress of your transformation. At worst, they create such a toxic environment that your best employees are avoiding them or needing to emotionally recover after interactions with them. And your managers are avoiding having difficult conversations with them and taking away responsibilities (giving them to the already busy, high potential stars).

As CEO, consider yourself lucky that you probably have few interactions with these employees and they aren’t “your problem” but please don’t ignore them. Assure your leaders aren’t ignoring them either. And assure your leaders aren’t allowing their managers to do so.

Yes, some employees are in fact, “bad apples”. If so, it really isn’t all that hard for skilled, forceful managers to put performance plans in place that will eventually take care of the problem. More often, however, I’d wager that if you look a little closer, the managers of these employees are contributing to these so-called “bad attitudes” because they lack critical management skills. And, it may also be true that they lack management skills because your leaders lack leadership skills. And, THAT IS your problem.

If you are leading a transformation, you must assure that everything you are doing to lead the transformation is cascaded down to each and every level, through each and every leader in the organization. Push back from employees is an important clue that perhaps the transformation is being blocked or slowed somewhere along the line from you, through your executive team, and on to managers. The Bailey Group can help you identify if employee push back can be ignored or if it’s a sign of a bigger issue.