Creating Alignment - Moving from Understanding to Action Why alignment is harder to sustain than it is to create A recent post on this topic explored why so many organisations find themselves working hard without making the progress they expect. One of the central arguments was that agreement at [...]
Turning Resistance into Resilience – A Smarter Way to Lead Change Most leaders are taught to overcome resistance. Push harder. Communicate more. Tighten controls. But what if resistance isn’t the enemy of change – just badly handled information? In the previous article, we explored how organisational drag shows up early and [...]
How to Spot Organisational Drag Early – and What to Do About It Most organisations don’t stall because of a lack of ambition or intelligence. They stall because drag quietly builds up inside the system. In his recent article, Turning Drag into LIFT, Rory explored how strategic resistance acts like aerodynamic [...]
Execution Gaps – Where Momentum Dies in the Wake Ideas are easy. Follow-through creates lift. Execution Gaps, or Base Drag, appear when projects start but never finish. Energy launches forward but leaves turbulence behind. Common signs include abandoned initiatives, untracked goals, or enthusiasm fading after the workshop. The strategy looks active [...]
Resistance to Change – The Shockwave That Stops Momentum Even the best strategy fails if people can’t adapt. Resistance to Change, or Wave Drag, appears when transformation hits a culture not yet ready to absorb it. The faster you try to move, the stronger the resistance becomes. It’s rarely open defiance. [...]
Leadership Overhead – When Direction Adds Drag Leaders should create clarity – not complexity. Leadership Overhead, the organisational version of Induced Drag, arises when senior teams send mixed messages, set too many priorities, or fail to operate as one voice. The result is confusion disguised as busyness. In the LIFT Model, [...]
Cross-Team Conflict – When Collaboration Becomes Collision Most drag doesn’t come from individuals – it comes from misaligned groups.Most drag doesn’t come from individuals – it comes from misaligned groups.Most drag doesn’t come from indMost drag doesn’t come from individuals – it comes from misaligned groups. Cross-Team Conflict – the “Interference [...]
Operational Bottlenecks – The Everyday Friction That Slows Delivery Some forms of drag are subtle – not structural, but procedural. Operational Bottlenecks, the “Skin Friction Drag” of business, appear when daily routines clog progress. They’re not dramatic – just constant. And over time, they slow everything down. You’ll recognise them as [...]
Structural Misalignment – When Form Creates Resistance Structure should serve strategy, not resist it. Yet many organisations outgrow their own design. Structural Misalignment – the organisational equivalent of Form Drag – happens when structures, reporting lines, or decision rights no longer match the work that needs doing. The result is effort [...]
Organisational Friction – The Hidden Weight Slowing Your Progress Even well-led, capable teams can feel heavy. Progress slows, decisions drag, and everyone’s busy without clear momentum. That isn’t a failure of effort – it’s friction. Organisational Friction builds up quietly through unclear communication, overlapping roles, or cumbersome processes. Like Parasitic Drag [...]
