Leadership Drift– The Unseen Cost to Business

Across industries, a silent crisis is taking hold—not one driven by market instability or disruptive technology, but by a gradual loss of leadership effectiveness and strategic focus.

It’s a crisis costing trillions globally, and it’s showing up in almost every boardroom conversation.

Organisations today are drifting. Senior leaders, often overwhelmed by short-term pressures and operational firefighting, have lost sight of long-term goals. Strategy becomes reactive, and innovation stalls.

Simultaneously, many managers lack the confidence or authority to act decisively. They avoid accountability, delay hard conversations, and often step in to do the work themselves rather than lead others to succeed.

This phenomenon is known as Strategic Drift and Leadership Drift.

Strategic drift occurs when organisations lose their forward momentum. Meetings become task-focused, not outcome-driven. Teams operate with tunnel vision, and the pressure is placed on getting results for today – fire fighting.

Leadership drift follows close behind, where capable individuals struggle to influence, set standards, or drive consistent performance. Managers and leaders have become fearful of holding people accountable and focus more on keeping the peace than actually holding people accountable.

We blame the new Gen but it is not so much a Gen issue but a leadership issue.

The causes are not surprising—but they are avoidable:

• Lack of clarity – Without a clear vision, shared values, or defined roles, accountability becomes impossible.

• Cultural avoidance – Many leaders fear conflict, which prevents necessary conversations and hinders performance.

• Underdeveloped capability – Technical experts are often promoted without the leadership training needed to succeed in people management.

• Short-termism – Executive pressure to deliver immediate returns undermines long-term culture, capability, and innovation.

The consequences are real: decision bottlenecks, high staff turnover (especially among high performers), cultural fragmentation, and slowed commercial performance. And yet, with the right frameworks in place, the drift can be reversed.

Leadership transformation is not about sending people on a one-size-fits-all training program. It’s about reshaping behaviours, mindsets, and systems.

When leaders are given tools to diagnose what holds them back, when they are coached to build habits of accountability, and when governance structures are aligned to empower—change happens.

Organisations that focus on behavioural elevation report:

• 30% more executive time spent on strategy
• 50% fewer operational decisions being escalated
• Double the number of meaningful performance conversations
• Noticeable improvements in innovation, cohesion, and productivity
• Clear, measurable uplifts in profitability and staff engagement

Culture doesn’t collapse overnight. It declines when leaders stop leading with intention. It’s time to re-centre leadership, sharpen strategy, and refocus the workforce on sustainable, high-impact results.

The drift can be corrected—but only with deliberate, confident action.