Many of today’s best leaders are great listeners. They lean into what their teams are really saying and feeling, and pay close attention to not only the values of the organisation, but to those of the people who bring it to life. They work hard to build shared commitment to a clear, inspiring future. But even with all this, many still struggle to deliver the lasting, breakthrough change they envision.
Often, it’s not their message or their intentions that are the problem. It’s what’s happening around them. The small but powerful cues that people in the organisation pick up on every day. These cues, or ‘signals’, speak just as loudly as any formal strategy. And when they conflict with the leader’s vision, they can quietly but powerfully undermine it.
Effective leaders must learn to see and challenge these hidden contradictions. But how do they go about it?
What do we mean by ‘signals’?
Signals in this context are the often-unspoken behaviours, habits and routines that shape how things really work. Things like how decisions are made, who gets rewarded, what’s praised, what’s tolerated, and who speaks up in meetings. They’re the small rituals and expectations that tell people what the organisation truly values.
These signals might influence how performance is reviewed, how quickly emails are answered out of hours, or who gets ahead. They are embedded in process, tone, language and routines. Although they are normally invisible, they can be incredibly powerful. If they aren’t recognised and challenged, organisations might find it difficult (or even impossible), to change.
A vision derailed
In their seminal article ‘The Reinvention Roller Coaster’, Tracy Goss, Richard Pascale and Anthony Athos shared a striking example from IBM. In the early 1990s, the company was trying to reinvent itself. Leaders pushed for a new culture of entrepreneurship that emphasised more speed, agility, and innovation.
But those aspirations were consistently blocked by one of the organisation’s strongest signals: the 'IBM way'. Any new idea had to follow a five-step plan and pass a set of rigorous value projections before being taken seriously. This process had become symbolic of how IBM operated. The clash between the entrepreneurial rhetoric and the reality of what people had to do day-to-day (be measured, risk-averse, and deeply procedural) sent a clear message. Don't bother changing.
The lesson still holds. It’s not enough to ask for change if the environment still sends out signals that say "stay the same".
The responsibility of leadership
If signals are the context through which all messages are filtered, then leaders must learn to see that context clearly. That means stepping outside the day-to-day and asking “What are we really saying here?” What might people be picking up on that contradicts what we’re trying to build?
It might be the unspoken pressure to stay late. Or a tendency to reward fire-fighting over foresight. Or a performance system that encourages caution rather than creativity. These are all signals. They tell people how to behave, even if that’s the opposite of what leadership says they want.
Start by spotting misalignment
The first step is awareness. Leaders must actively audit the organisation’s signals and how they shape behaviour. Some will be obvious. Others will be buried deep in custom and culture.
Take the example of an organisation launching a new wellbeing strategy. If managers are still rewarded for team output driven by long hours and high availability, the message is mixed. One signal says, “We care about balance.” Another says, “Success means always being on.” People will believe the latter.
Small shifts can unlock big change
Although the big shifts matter, it’s often the small signals that make the biggest difference. The best insights will often come from people in your team, who are at the coalface and who are expected to live the culture every day. Their frustrations, patterns, and workarounds can reveal which signals are getting in the way.
It is not always the grandiose gesture that removes symbolic barriers; sometimes simply fixing small issues that over time have become examples of ‘the way things are around here’ can facilitate real change.
Why signals matter so much
An (oxy)moronic leader is someone who pushes for change without seeing the contradictory forces that prevent it. They overlook the ways in which habits, practices, and assumptions conspire to keep things just as they are. But leaders who are willing to look more closely and engage deeply with their people and culture can start to name and shift the signals that hold them back.
And that’s the real work of transformation. It’s not just about crafting the right vision, it’s about removing the signals that make that vision hard to believe. In the end, it’s not the size of the strategic plan that drives progress. It’s the alignment between what’s said and what’s signalled. It’s clearing the path so people feel safe and inspired to walk in the new direction.
People might not always see the signals around them, but leaders must. If they can’t shift, neither will the organisation.
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