The Leader Factor How to Avoid Manipulative Leadership: 2 Failure Patterns Sabotaging Organizational Change
Apr 29, 2025
Discover the hidden dangers of manipulative leadership in organizational change. The discussion reveals how controlling tactics, like smuggling and muscling, can undermine trust and sabotage long-term commitment. Learn how the resistance to change often stems from identity threats, and why engaging teams in transparent conversations is crucial. Case studies illustrate the fallout from poor leadership decisions, emphasizing the psychological aspects of managing change and the need for trust over coercion. Finally, feedback emerges as a key element for successful transitions.
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Change Threatens Identity
- Resistance to change comes from threats to identity, not from newness itself.
- People resist when change is imposed and forces them to be someone different without choice.
Spectrum of Change Intuitiveness
- Minor change is intuitive and within expectations, but medium and major changes disrupt people significantly.
- Organizational change management exists because these larger changes disrupt skills, knowledge, and emotional states.
Media Company Smuggling Failure
- A media company tried to cross-train journalists across platforms by smuggling the change.
- The journalists felt betrayed and resisted, forcing the company to retreat from the plan.