Blindsided at work: The danger of undermining your team

This article is written by Jenn Lofgren CPHR, MCC, ICD.D for Incito Executive & Leadership Development .

Have you ever been blindsided at work? One day you’re going about your business, and the next, a key member of your team is moved to another division without your knowledge or input. That’s what happened to an Executive Vice President (EVP) I was coaching, who was the last to find out that their team member—and key successor—was being reassigned to lead a division under another EVP, without anyone bothering to consult them.

The CEO had good intentions—there was a leadership gap in a vital growth area of the business, and they saw an opportunity to move a key executive into the role to ensure business success and develop the leader for future, more senior roles. However, by failing to include the EVP in the conversation, the CEO unintentionally damaged the trust in their relationship and the EVP’s credibility with the rest of the team. To make matters worse, the team speculated that the EVP would have blocked the move if the CEO hadn't orchestrated the change.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth. The EVP would have supported the move to do the right thing for the company, but they wanted to be involved in the planning and backfilling the gaps the changes would create. Unfortunately, the CEO's decision unintentionally undermined the EVP's authority, and significantly harmed their morale and trust.

This is a lesson for all of us. Good intentions are not enough—we need to ensure we involve key stakeholders in the decision-making process, especially those most affected by the changes. By doing so, we can avoid damaging relationships, undermining authority, and eroding trust.

Why does this happen?

• Leaders see a faster/shorter path to getting what they want
• Leaders feed their need to have control, be liked, or be recognized for having expertise
• Leaders aren’t aware of a systems perspective of how their organization operates
• Leaders may have strong relationships with certain individuals or departments, leading them to prioritize those relationships over others
• Leaders may have weak relationships with peers or direct reports, leading to a lack of trust and inability to have open, courageous conversations
• The organization lacks a clear strategy and North Star for the leadership team to act cohesively leading to confusion and conflicting priorities
• People in lower levels are receptive or seek the attention of senior leaders to get ahead

What problems does this create?

• Priorities become unclear and change without notice or even acknowledgement that priorities have changed
• Peers and direct reports feel undermined and trust erodes
• Delivery teams have difficulty fulfilling promises and begin to earn a reputation they don’t want
• Good people leave because they don’t want to be part of an underperforming team or feel like the system is gamed
• The focus turns to developing processes and rules or debating how to prevent side door requests rather than doing actual work
• Engagement decreases as a result of reduced autonomy

What are some better ways to achieve results?

• Collaborate with your top team to set clear goals for the collective team in addition to their personal goals
• Build relationships across the entire organization to form a systems perspective with clearly agreed norms and boundaries: ask questions, but don’t advise or make requests at the wrong level
• Ensure changes or decisions are communicated to individuals and teams by their leader
• Recognize that acting outside of the organizations functional flow can be effective in the short term but has significant long-term impacts on productivity and overall organizational culture
• Engage in open and courageous conversations with your top team to collectively find better ways of working

Leadership is more than just achieving fast results. It involves building strong relationships, earning trust, and establishing credibility with your team. Acting alone without considering the impact on your direct reports can sabotage their effectiveness and damage relationships, which is bad for your team and the business. This can ultimately result in reduced engagement, productivity, and negatively impact the bottom line. The solution? Slow down, practice empathy and humility. Take the time to build strong relationships, have those tough conversations, and work towards common goals. This approach creates a culture of trust, autonomy, and collaboration that sets your team up for long-term success.

The original version of this article is on the Incito blog , where you'll find more insights on trending leadership topics.