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Leadership is not about silencing your opposition. It's about managing them.

Opposition is healthy in an organization, it shows the employees their thoughts are important to the success of the firm’s goals. How you address the opposition is the key.  Do you address it with thoughtful logical points? Or do you thrust your decisions upon them?

Understanding your key employees and their ideas, thinking, and goals will help you understand how to turn their opposition into support or, at a minimum, tacit agreement.

There are a lot of different responses employees can have to a new CEO or their ideas. A CEO must be aware of the positions people will take, especially within their leadership group.  Being aware and responding appropriately will define the success of one's leadership.

To do this, we need take a look at these challenging employee response types, and understand the differences between them.

First, we'll define employees that present themselves as supporting the CEO.

  • Blind Support – These are people who seem to support your ideas and they appear to be no cause for concern. But they are likely just people who are there for a job and not concerned about a career. They'll support what you do, but won't add much beyond that, and typically won't help to identify problems or concerns.
  • Indifferent Support – This type of person is here for a job and is not motivated to take a position (pro or con) to new company directions. They will not be concerned about identifying problems or opportunities. They will exhibit no sense of urgency. 

  • Skeptical Support – These people can become a major source of success to your endeavors.  They are problem identifiers and problem solvers.  They are motivated to see the success of the new directions and can help overcome obstacles.
  • Damaging Support – These are potentially dangerous employees because you can never really be certain of their inclinations.  They may lack integrity and can be major obstacle creators, all the while pretending to support you. Backstabbing can occur, leaving reassignment or removals as your only options. They cannot be trusted.

Then there will be people who are indifferent to your ideas.

  • Lack of Motivation for Change – These people are followers and unmotivated by change.  They have a job and that is enough for them.  
  • Lack of Understanding – This is another type of follower who has reached their growth limit in the company.
  • Resistance to change – These types of employees lack motivation and ambition.
  • Negative Indifference – These people are uncommunicative, tend to hide their perceptions, and can be undermining.

Finally, there are those who are in opposition to your ideas.

The people opposed to your ideas and directions will be a major obstacle you must overcome to succeed, and must be identified in order to manage their activity.

  • Vocal Opposition – These are people who can reasonably push back on change, but may lack tact or a real understanding for the necessity of change.  They must be won over, but it may take time.  They may include problem employees, employees looking for another job, or those who are just difficult.
  • Undermining – These are damaging employees and include people are disgruntled for a variety of reasons, including those passed over for promotion, having a negative personality, and the general troublemakers. 
  • Responsible Disagreement – These people are dedicated employees who want the company to succeed, but may lack tact in how they present their opposition.  They may, however, be good problem solvers (which is good for quality control) and can be used for evaluating internal communication.
  • Resignation/Loss of Employees – These are people are unhappy with the company direction and may have an emotional investment in the previous leader, or maybe they're just a wrong fit for the future direction of the company. They can, however, be a great source of potential issues (e.g., issues identified during an exit interview).

Managing Through Understanding

Leadership is not only about pointing out the right way but also understanding the dynamics and emotional views of the employees. The successful leader will have a plan to deal with each of these factions and win them over to a manageable level of support. But you must understand the employees motivations to manage them. That's where the MindScan™ Assessment is valuable.

I explained in my last post how the MindScan objectively measures “why” a person behaves the way they do, provides the deepest possible understanding of behavior in the workplace, and reveals precisely how to align your thinking strengths with your business plan to accelerate success.

Would you like to have this information to improve you or your team’s performance? Then I encourage you take the MindScan™ Assessment for yourself, and learn how it can be used to unlock the secrets to your employees' motivations and success.

Get a Free MindScan™ Assessment, Report, and Coaching Session ($500 Value)!

Get access to the actionable insights that the MindScan™ assessment delivers and receive a complimentary coaching session to review the results (a $500 value)!

Take the MindScan™ Free >>

Dive a Little Deeper into the MindScan™ Assessment!

We invite you to dive a little deeper into the power of the MindScan™ Assessment by reading the following recent posts:

About Coach David Phife

David Phife is a serial entrepreneur who has launched multiple businesses that operated throughout the US and around the world.

He has excelled as an advisor to leadership teams, guiding small businesses to think strategically and pivot based on market changes as well as helping larger businesses become innovative and nimble. He assists executives to be better leaders by understanding and taking advantage of their strengths while managing weaknesses.

He utilizes his years of experience to assist smaller firms and executives to make the change to a larger, more structured organization while maintaining a nimble business model. David can advise on how to consistently calibrate and realign businesses, accelerate innovation while exiting nonstrategic ventures, and provide stabilizing leadership during challenging periods.

‍Great coaches, whether in sports or business, are the most successful because they can identify the talent of their personnel and maximize their skillset to build a winning team. An executive must add to the company’s current abilities and increase the company’s capabilities. Talent alone is not a measure of fit.



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