Working Under Inexperienced Leadership: How Much Is Reasonable to Absorb vs. Escalate?

TL;DR

• Managers rarely push back on change because they don’t care, they push back because they’re already overloaded.

• What looks like resistance or excuse-making is often a sign that capacity has been exceeded.

• Change doesn’t replace a manager’s workload; it stacks on top of it.

• Accountability erodes when managers are expected to lead change they haven’t had time or support to process.

• Restore capacity first, and accountability often returns without force.

Working Under Inexperienced Leadership: How Much Is Reasonable to Absorb vs. Escalate?

Part of learning is the ability to adapt which comes naturally in absorption; however, when there is no more to learn and your health, your people, and your sanity is at stake, it is time to escalate.

Most Managers Don't Resist Change, they Observe it.

Managers sit in a difficult middle space.

They are not setting strategy, yet they are responsible for outcomes.

They are not immune to uncertainty, yet they are expected to project confidence.

They are not untouched by change, yet they are tasked with leading others through it.

When change arrives, managers don’t experience it once.

They experience it repeatedly.

They absorb it:

• From senior leadership, as expectations

• From their teams, as fear or frustration

• From operations, as disruption

• From themselves, as pressure to “get it right”

Change doesn’t replace existing responsibilities.

It layers on top of them.

And over time, that layering creates strain that rarely shows up on dashboards or reports.

What Looks Like Resistance is Often a Capacity Signal

When managers say things like:

• “We need more time.”

• “The team isn’t ready.”

• “This feels rushed.”

• “We tried something like this before.”

It’s tempting to hear excuses.

But more often, these statements are signals, not objections.

Signals that:

• Cognitive load is already maxed out

• Emotional bandwidth is depleted

• Risk feels higher than reward

• Something important might break if they push forward

A manager who feels steady can move through uncertainty.

A manager who feels depleted will protect whatever stability remains.

That protection is often misread as resistance.

Accountability Breaks When Capacity is Ignored

Accountability is often treated as a character trait, something people either have or don’t.

In reality, accountability is a behavior that depends on conditions.

When managers have clarity, authority, support, and space to think, accountability tends to show up naturally.

When those conditions disappear, accountability doesn’t vanish because the manager stopped caring.

It disappears because the system no longer supports follow-through.

Pressure without capacity doesn’t create accountability.

It creates hesitation, delay, and surface-level compliance.

Why Pressure and Reminders Often Backfire

When change stalls, organizations often respond by tightening control.

More check-ins.

More documentation.

More urgency.

The intention is understandable.

But for managers already operating at capacity, pressure doesn’t motivate, it actually constricts.

Under sustained pressure:

• Decision-making slows

• Risk tolerance drops

• Communication becomes cautious

• Initiative fades

Managers stop leading forward and start managing exposure.

From the outside, it looks like disengagement.

From the inside, it’s self-preservation.

Change Management Fails When Managers Haven't Proccesed the Change Themselves

Managers are human before they are leaders.

Yet they are often expected to:

• Communicate change immediately

• Model confidence publicly

• Answer questions they’re still wrestling with

All before they’ve had time to understand:

• How this change affects their role

• What trade-offs it requires

• What risks they’ll be accountable for

You cannot ask someone to steady others while they are still finding their own footing.

When managers hesitate, it’s not defiance.

It’s instinct.

A Necessary Truth: Sometimes It's Not Capacity...It's Performance

Not every manager who resists change is overwhelmed.

Some managers genuinely aren't doing the work.

There are managers who:

• Avoid responsibility consistently

• Deflect feedback instead of acting on it

• Hide behind excuses even when support is available

• Resist change as a pattern, not a moment

And in those cases, the issue is not capacity.

It’s performance, readiness, or fit for the role.

Recognizing capacity collapse does not mean excusing chronic avoidance.

How to Tell The Difference

Overloaded managers tend to:

• Want to do the work but feel stuck

• Show effort without consistent follow-through

• Engage when support and clarity increase

• Improve when pressure is reduced and expectations are clear

Underperforming managers tend to:

• Avoid action even after capacity is restored

• Resist feedback repeatedly

• Deflect responsibility rather than own impact

• Show consistent patterns of avoidance

Capacity issues fluctuate.

Performance issues persist.

Leadership requires discernment, not blanket explanations.

Holding Both Truths at Once

Strong organizations hold two truths simultaneously:

• Some managers are overwhelmed and need support to lead well again.

• Some managers are not doing the work and must be held accountable.

When capacity is restored, and performance expectations are clear, accountability becomes meaningful, not reactive.

Anything less becomes either cruelty or permissiveness.

Neither builds strong leadership.

The Leadership Shift That Makes Changes Stick

If organizations want managers who:

• Own change

• Lead decisively

• Follow through consistently

They must stop asking:

“Why won’t they step up?”

And start asking:

“What does this manager need to lead this well, and are they willing to do the work?”

Because leadership doesn’t fail from lack of skill.

It fails when capacity collapses, or when accountability is avoided.

Before your next change initiative, ask yourself:

Are we asking managers to carry change without restoring the capacity, or confronting the performance, required to lead it?

The answer will tell you whether change will stick… or stall again.

♻️ If this helped you see manager resistance differently, share it so someone else can lead with more clarity.

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