Is Your Leadership System Coherent?

When the story of “who we are” no longer matches the lived experience of “how we work,” the leadership system becomes incoherent.

Why This Matters

Employees do not only perform tasks — they interpret. They ask:

• What matters here?

• Who belongs?

• What gets rewarded?

• How are decisions made?

• Where does power live?

Leadership answers these questions, explicitly or implicitly. When the system fragments, meaning fragments.

How Coherence Breaks

Most organizations never intentionally designed their leadership system. It accumulated through legacy norms, inherited models, and unexamined managerial habits.

Meanwhile, the workforce evolved — identities, expectations, and meaning-making all changed. The leadership system stayed modern while the workforce became postmodern.

The result is a widening gap between the narrative of “who we are” and the experience of “how we work.”

Downstream signals

When the leadership system loses coherence, the signals are cultural and psychological:

• Identity fragmentation between units
• Cultural variability across sites
• Loss of trust and psychological safety
• Disengagement and quiet attrition
• Belonging and identity tensions
• Narrative fatigue (“we say X but experience Y”)

Culture does not break in slogans — it breaks in meaning.

The Leadership System Diagnostic Tool™

The Leadership Diagnostic Tool™ evaluates 20 indicators across four domains that influence execution, engagement, culture, and retention:
• Leadership Architecture
• Development & Transfer
• Performance & Engagement Integration
• Postmodern Competencies

Scores reflect system coherence, behavioral maturity, and cultural impact.Who It’s For

Designed for senior leaders who steward culture and identity, including:

• CHRO

• CPO

• VP People & Culture

• VP Talent & Leadership Development

• CEOs in post-growth or multi-site environment

  Fit profile:
  1,000 – 10,000 employees
  Hybrid or multi-site workforce
  Cultural or identity transition underway
  Values feel aspirational more than embodied

Take the Leadership System Diagnostic™
A 5-minute assessment for CHROs

Culture lives downstream of leadership.

Optional Debrief

For those who would find value in exploring the systemic implications of their score, a confidential 30-minute debrief is available directly with Dr. Steve Firmand at:
steve@crucialleaders.com

No representative will call. No sales follow-up.