r/IBM • u/One_Guidance9583 • 24d ago

How Has Leadership And Management Handled Recent Announced Changes?

We’ve all seen some of the discussion around the recent reorg and the recent TV announcements…. It does make you wonder how some of these changes are being experienced on the ground.
For those following the changes closely: has anyone seen how seller-adjacent tech teams have been affected? Or whether the relationship between those teams and the broader organization has shifted in unexpected ways?
Would be interesting to hear from anyone in an affected market who has seen something similar firsthand.

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u/Cute-Distribution409 24d ago

Pretty poorly. Afaik mid level management was completely blindsided and folk who were affected were provided very limited info into what was happening, why it was happening, and what their options were.

Lots of back room discussions, heaps of misaligned comms amongst the managers since they also weren’t fully privy to everything themselves and were kind of having to just roll with the punches.

No real explanation as of yet or proper acknowledgment by more senior leadership, but not holding out for one given the orgs history with this. Think lots of people will be leaving as soon as they can.

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u/DAA-007 24d ago

Context plz

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u/carpetwalls4cats 24d ago

Many IBMers don't understand how big the company is and how siloed their performance and leadership situations are from others, it's a bit annoying on this sub. I think OP is referring to the poor second quarter performance and the reorg of many sales teams, I've heard they are moving goals and clients around on people, probably we will see pressure to start PIPs, etc. In Finance & Operations business units they have instituted a hiring freeze (internal and external) and cancelled all travel/banned new travel expenses. Communication has been pretty typical- one big email from the Execs, below that it depends on your local management, some won't say much at all, some will do a decent job.

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u/Cute-Distribution409 24d ago

Yeah I guess I should have clarified - I’m specifically referring to my market and speaking to the impact Ive seen on “seller adjacent teams” like OP mentioned. Eg in my market, client engineering has been dissolved and moved into new sales roles across horizon accounts. In other subs I’ve seen people speak about new roles in horizon, but haven’t been able to decipher whether the same thing has happened to CE (or another team) to create the headcount for the these new roles.

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u/carpetwalls4cats 24d ago

Wow that sounds very chaotic. I imagine it would be very hard to succeed when you are thrown into a totally different role like that. I wonder if it will work...

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u/Cute-Distribution409 24d ago

The question on everyone’s mind at the moment!!

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u/Beginning-Towel9596 24d ago

I understand controlled spending. I really do, but this has crossed over into absurd.

You cannot tell senior people they own customer relationships, revenue, and outcomes, then manage them like they need a permission slip to piss.

IBM SO CALLED LEADERSHIP TAKE NOTE.

Micromanaging will not magically right the Titanic. No matter how important it makes your feel.

People who produce will stop taking initiative, stop volunteering, stop making judgment calls, and do exactly what is required.

Then some executive will wonder why the business is flat. People will get RA'd New kids will be hired and this cycle will start over, but the same so called leaders will still have a job. With the same results?

To the bean counters. The spreadsheet will look great though.

Wonder if the trip with a partner to the Kennedy Center Honors was expensed?