The Covert Saboteur Pattern in the Change Process

At the start of my workshop on leading consciously through change, I introduce the covert saboteur pattern as a housekeeping rule. It helps participants recognize unconscious behaviours that may undermine their personal and leadership growth. The same pattern can surface in organizational change and no one is immune, especially the professionals responsible for delivering change.

A pattern, not a person

The covert saboteur is an unconscious pattern of behaviour that can surface when transformation reaches the edge of what feels familiar, certain or controllable.

It can happen to anyone, regardless of experience. In fact, expertise can sometimes make resistance harder to recognize because the reasons for maintaining the status quo can sound informed, practical and entirely rational.

The objective is not to label people or dismiss disagreement. Legitimate challenge is essential to responsible change. The objective is to notice when a concern is being used to improve the work and when it is being used to prevent progress.

Recognizing the pattern: Three signs

These signs are not sequential. They may appear independently, overlap or reinforce one another.

Recruit

Recruiting begins when a concern leaves the appropriate decision-making space and moves into side conversations. Instead of raising the issue directly, someone looks for colleagues who will validate their position.

Informal discussion is not inherently problematic. It becomes a warning sign when its purpose is to recruit allies, reinforce a predetermined conclusion or pull others away from constructive participation. The result is often a shadow conversation running alongside the formal change process.

Drama

Change contains real complexity. Plans shift, dependencies are missed and risks emerge. Drama begins when every obstacle becomes proof that the entire transformation is flawed or destined to fail.

A manageable issue becomes a crisis. A difficult meeting becomes evidence that nobody supports the change. One negative comment becomes "everyone is saying it." Energy is focused on speculation, urgency and emotional escalation instead of moving toward understanding and resolving the problem.

Tension

Tension is the internal root of the pattern: the quiet tug-of-war between moving toward the future state and clinging to the safety of the current state.

When someone working on change feels this friction but does not communicate what is happening, they give up their power to influence it. Left unaddressed, the tension can surface indirectly through recruitment or drama. On a project, it may also appear as analysis paralysis, over-reliance on process or repeated revisions that delay the next step.

Two language signals

The covert saboteur pattern has two distinct linguistic markers: "what if" and "yeah, but." For example:

"What if it creates more problems than it solves?" "Yeah, but we've always done it this way." "Yeah, but it's not working."

Listen for these language cues. They are signals of the pattern at play. By contrast, someone who is not resistant will phrase the concern differently. The point is not to label but to pause and test the underlying driver.

Taking Response-ability

Response-ability is the ability to choose how we respond in any given moment. In a change process, that means becoming conscious of our role and choosing our response rather than reacting from an unconscious pattern. It means asking questions, addressing the issue and moving forward consciously:

• Recruit: Is the concern being raised where it can be addressed, or recruited outside the room?
• Drama: What do we know, what are we assuming and what action does the evidence require?
• Tension: What needs to be communicated directly, and what is getting in the way?

This is what it means to lead consciously through change. It begins with self-awareness and the willingness to interrupt the pattern. It also creates the conditions in which concerns can be converted into conversation.

Consider the covert saboteur pattern a housekeeping rule for your next change initiative.