When we go into companies to help with strategy and team development, we often find one or more leaders in the leadership team who are not aligned with where the company is going. They are either unhappy about a change, a new leader, a new strategic direction, or they are a bad culture fit. They micromanage, can’t self-reflect, and have an unhappy team.

These misaligned leaders aren’t hidden. They’re well known and their negative impact has been worked around and explained away, often for years.

What makes this more difficult is that these leaders are often very hard for CEOs to separate from. They are often very good at what they do, they know how to act the part of a cooperative teammate in leadership meetings, and they have created a belief in the organization that, without them, things will fall apart.

What kind of damage can one person create?

If we look at this through our Three Layer model, Layer 1 is the transactional responsibility of the leader, Layer 2 is the emotion and the psychology experienced by the leader and the team as they get the work done, and Layer 3 is the awareness of the impact this leader has on the organization. Misaligned leaders are a three-layer disaster.

At Layer 1, these leaders tend to control their teams to make sure things get done the way they think is right. This creates far-reaching consequences. The team becomes obedient instead of creative, lessons don’t get incorporated into how things get done, and new strategic directions get ignored if they don’t match the leader’s point of view.

The Layer 2 impact is where the most damage occurs. Teammates who work under leaders like this get externally focused on the leader, always tracking what the leader wants so they don’t risk making a mistake and getting in trouble. This leads to very anxious, self-protective, disconnected teammates and a generally unhappy culture.

At Layer 3, the leader’s awareness of the impact of their behavior is very low, but the team and the organization are well aware. When engagement surveys are taken, these leaders have the lowest scores, and they explain them away as either the fault of the team or the fault of the survey.

What Do You Do About It?

The steps to deal with one of these leaders are simple, but not easy.

First, the CEO has to hold the leader accountable to all three layers of their misalignment. Simple enough, but leaders like this are smart, often very capable people, and they can talk you out of your perspective and leave you feeling confused. “I’m not misaligned with the strategy, I need to stay focused on the work we are doing. I understand the impact the new strategy is having on my already overwhelmed team and I don’t want to stress them even more.”

At Layer 2, they will blame anyone but themselves. “I’m sorry the team thinks I am difficult. I’m sure they would say that about any leader in my position. I have the most responsibility in this org and take my job very seriously.”

At Layer 3, they don’t have any awareness of themselves and most likely won’t gain any. But what they will become aware of is that you’re not nice. You’re the person holding them accountable, and now you’re in their crosshairs.

This is where we see so many CEOs get stuck. They already know this person is misaligned. They already know the impact. But they delay anyway. Sometimes they inherited this leader from the previous CEO and don’t want to be the one who makes the hard call. Sometimes they’ve built a relationship with the person over time and feel responsible for them. Sometimes the leader has convinced them that without them things really will fall apart, and that fear is enough to keep them stuck. There’s discomfort about the disruption and the message it sends to the rest of the organization. And there’s hesitation about making a call that feels irreversible.

So, CEOs work around it instead of through it.

But working around it costs more than addressing it ever will.

This person isn’t failing at their job. They’re fully misaligned with the strategic direction and culture of the organization, and they’re impossible to work with.

In this situation, you’ve given clear feedback with data to support it. You haven’t gotten any new alignment. There’s really only one way forward.

They’re bad for the organization in every way, and most likely the organization is bad for them too.

What is the aftermath?

The positive impact of separating from leaders like this is instant. People step up. Usually, it’s people from the departed leader’s team who have been hiding their talents, waiting for the opportunity. The work gets done more efficiently and faster when teammates can weigh in and share responsibility. The heaviness in the culture lifts, and the leadership team can drive strategic goals more quickly because all the leaders are aligned.

We have never worked with a CEO who has ever said “I wish I held onto that person longer.”

One bad apple spoils the bunch. A misaligned leader in a leadership position negatively impacts everyone they touch.