Transformational Leadership

Solution Summary

Late last year, your CEO had heard that you were developing skills as a transformational leader. Though your service organization (450 people - with 30 managers, spread over two sites and three shifts) was successful in terms of the market, internal organizational culture was in a shambles.
When you did your initial research, this is what you found:
*People didn't know each other very well, with the exception of a large aggregate of small cliques who tended to bully and overpower other employees. These cliques were team-centric.
*Chronic complains about policy and higher management
*Passive resistance to all improvement efforts - sometimes just for the entertainment value
*Teams and divisions tended to not work well together (poor bridging social capital)
*Mixed bag of transformational (servant) leaders and command-and-control leaders in management roles throughout all levels of the organization. Some got it. Some didn't.
*Morale and motivation was very low. Employees tended to not put in the extra effort.
*Processes were well entrenched, but filled with bureaucracy and not efficient
*Customers got what they wanted, but it took a long time
*People felt like management was messing everything up and didn't listen to team members
*Customer demand was growing exponentially - the market was exploding!
*Cost pressures and intense competition were very close to forcing cuts and outsourcing of work.
In other words, things looked good for the company in the market, but internally the work environment was filled with many organizational diseases.

You developed and implemented a brilliant strategy that combined a solid top down push from the CEO through the entire management chain. Also, you implemented a fantastic engagement strategy within the grassroots that would open the door for *all* employees to co-create the future. You also created simple-to-collect metrics that provided a means to measure success. From a theoretical perspective, your plan was flawless.

Top leadership supported the plan completely and became deeply engaged. A strong grassroot movement showed promise and completed projects that had good influence. For the first two months, you were on a roll! Your reputation as a transformation leader / change agent was well accepted.

But then - the corporate immune system kicked in. Even though you had made remarkable initial progress, significant resistance to your plan arose in full force. To understand what was happening, you conducted a second assessment. This is what you find:
Some first line managers had became passively resistant - and complained that too many of their staff were pulled away to work on improvement projects.
Some of your best change agents in the grassroots movement were becoming discouraged over the emotional abuse from their peers. They wanted to continue, but were getting burned out.
Newer change agents were questioning whether or not they should continue.
Bureaucracy was starting to creep into the effort.
A few teams openly mocked the plan and called it a flavor of the month.
Your CEO remained on board, but some of the senior managers began to push for some relief from your steadfast forward momentum. They were feeling the heat from the first line managers that reported to them.
The metrics were showing some regression - confirming your assessment. Managers who were embarrassed by their lack of progress began to loudly protest the metrics as a waste of time.
Managers and change agents who were active in your program were facing significant peer-pressure to back off and return to the old work patterns.
Your meetings that were once bustling with excitement and enthusiastic people were starting to become dull and poorly attended.

Question: Your CEO has asked to meet with you. She wants to discuss your assessment of the program. An effective transformational leader herself, the CEO is looking for the steps to take in the next three months - steps that will once again put the program on a healthy path. She has asked that you prepare a brief plan that describes the key steps to move to the next level. She's looking for a good plan established on the concepts we are learning in this class.
What is your plan to deal with this resistance?