Pattern where decision-making power flows to people who avoid responsibility, while accountability flows to people without authority. Creates systematic execution failure.
The pattern of protecting teams from leadership instability by absorbing the chaos personally. The exhaustion of being the organisational shock absorber.
Pattern where choices get made, unmade, and rehashed repeatedly. Appears as careful thinking but is actually decision erosion that drains organisational trust.
What’s visible on the surface; the obvious behaviours, outcomes, or problems.
Intervention that addresses visible symptoms without identifying the invisible driver. Training, restructuring, new policies that fail because the thing beneath the thing remains unchanged.
The force or dynamic beneath the surface that consistently shapes behaviour and outcomes.
The unofficial rules, shadow processes, and unspoken agreements that shape how organisations actually function—often contradicting stated values and official processes.
The intervention of identifying and articulating invisible organisational patterns, disrupting the protection that keeps dysfunction hidden. Not emotional venting—surgical identification of hidden dynamics.
Dynamic where one person covers gaps created upstream, preventing those gaps from becoming visible to others. The competence that masks system failure.
A recurring organisational dynamic that creates predictable outcomes. Not random—structural. Patterns follow blueprints across different contexts.
Identifying recurring signals or dynamics in decisions, behaviours, or organisational processes.
People whose cognitive processing detects second-order effects, system-level friction, and organisational patterns before they become visible in metrics. Often trained to doubt their signal.
Organisational dynamic where authority is unclear and accountability is blurred. Creates confusion about who actually decides and who’s actually responsible.
The collective agreement not to name obvious organisational dysfunction. Not neutral—active protection of current arrangements even when dysfunctional.
Addressing the invisible pattern creating visible problems. Interrupts the root dynamic rather than managing symptoms.
The recurring signal beneath surface events that points to hidden drivers or systemic dynamics.
The practice of identifying invisible organisational dynamics (the “thing beneath the thing”) that create visible dysfunction. Goes beyond surface symptoms to map hidden drivers.
The informal unofficial rules, hidden processes, and unspoken agreements that shape how organisations actually function that govern behaviour, often contradicting stated values and official processes and policies.
The invisible organisational dynamic, hidden rule, or shadow system that actually drives visible problems. The root pattern creating surface symptoms.
State of seeing too much pattern information too early without the capacity or permission to act on it. Not insight—cognitive overload from pattern recognition without outlet.
Pattern where goals are constantly reframed to avoid accountability. Not fluid strategy—blur weaponised to escape consequence.
When official processes, stated values, or formal rules contradict the actual functioning of the system.
Solution that fixes the visible problem without addressing the root cause.
The visible problem or frustration that is actually caused by the hidden system.
The fog of confusion, overthinking, and circular processing that results from unstable organisational systems. Not individual messiness—systemic instability being absorbed cognitively.
The structure, rules, and hidden dynamics shaping the signals.
Understanding how systems—not individuals—generate recurring patterns, behaviours, and outcomes.
A predictable, repeatable outcome caused by the interaction between signals and the hidden system.
Solution that addresses the hidden drivers so recurring problems are reduced or eliminated.
The invisible organizational dynamic, hidden rule, or shadow system that actually drives visible problems. The root pattern creating surface symptoms.
The invisible labour of constantly re-explaining, re-clarifying, or buffering between unclear leadership communication and team execution needs. Accumulates over time and burns people out.