When growth exposes an unsettled leadership culture
Apex Solutions (Fictional company name), a mid-sized technology firm, looked like a success story from the outside. Revenue was climbing, client demand was strong, and the seven-person Senior Leadership Team (SLT) was packed with technical experts.
Inside the business, it felt very different.
The SLT was fractured, reactive, and unclear on the kind of culture they actually wanted to build. Each leader had their own version of “what good looks like,” which meant employees were constantly adjusting, guessing, and bracing themselves for the next shift in priorities.
What Apex really had was not a performance problem, but an unsettled leadership culture. And like many high-growth organizations, they reached the point where senior leadership team coaching was no longer a “nice-to-have,” it was a business necessity.
How inconsistency showed up every day
On paper, each leader was strong. In practice, their lack of shared identity and standards created instability across the company.
Conflicting priorities
One week, “speed to market” was the rallying cry. Leaders pushed for rapid, scrappy releases and rewarded teams for moving fast. The next week, “no defects” became the new religion and launches were delayed for exhaustive quality checks.
The real driver was not strategy, it was volume. Whoever spoke the loudest in the previous SLT meeting set the tone. Teams learned to wait and see which agenda would dominate next.
Varied accountability standards
Different leaders rewarded different behaviours:
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The Head of Product tolerated late delivery as long as documentation was flawless.
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The Head of Operations enforced deadlines but ignored cut corners and missing process steps.
People learned to “code-switch” depending on who they reported to. What counted as success changed from meeting to meeting, which spiked anxiety and quietly eroded trust.
Passive-aggressive conflict
Tough conversations almost never happened in the room. Disagreements went underground:
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Projects were quietly undercut in side meetings.
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Middle managers received conflicting directives from different SLT members.
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Leaders vented about each other privately, instead of addressing issues directly.
The result was classic: silos, competition over collaboration, and a steady drip of cynicism through the middle of the organization.
The cost: morale, safety, and retention
The impact of unsettled leadership showed up clearly in the data:
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Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS): -15
Most employees were “detractors,” openly discouraging friends from joining. This was not just a mood issue, it was a clear indicator of a negative work experience. -
Voluntary Turnover Rate: 22%
Nearly double the industry average for similar-sized tech companies. Exit interviews named the same themes: “inconsistent management” and “lack of clear direction.” The estimated cost of this churn was $1.2 million over one year in recruitment and training. -
Psychological Safety: 3.1 / 7.0
People did not feel safe to speak up, challenge decisions, or admit mistakes. Innovation was limited to “safe ideas,” and real risks or insights stayed unspoken.
Behind every number were smart, committed people working in a system that made it hard to do their best work.
Senior leadership team coaching as the turning point
Apex engaged in a structured four-phase senior leadership team coaching program, centered on a core outcome: Collective Leadership Accountability. The goal was not to “fix” individual leaders, but to transform how they led together as the culture carriers of the business.
Phase 1: Audit and awareness
The process started with a hard mirror:
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360-degree feedback and leadership assessments for each SLT member, mapped against the organization’s stated values and lived experience.
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Data review sessions that surfaced a tough truth: individually, the leaders were capable and accomplished; collectively, they were misaligned, low-trust, and unclear on shared values.
This was the first real turning point. The team had to sit with evidence that their leadership was actively harming culture and performance, not just “a bit messy.”
Phase 2: Defining the leadership team identity
Next, the SLT had to decide who they wanted to be together.
In focused, offsite work, they defined their Ideal Leadership Team Identity, not as a poster of values, but as tangible behavioral commitments.
They landed on three non-negotiables:
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One Voice
Resolve conflict in the room. Once a decision is made, present a united message to the organization. -
Intentional Candor
Give direct, timely, respectful feedback to one another and to your teams. No more back-channel commentary. -
Value-Driven Time
Spend the majority of leadership time reinforcing the company’s declared values in decisions, conversations, and rituals, not just chasing tasks.
They also rebranded themselves internally as the “Apex Stewardship Council”, a signal that their role was not only to manage results, but to steward culture and people-centered leadership.
Phase 3: Accountability and coaching in real time
With identity defined, everything shifted to practice and accountability.
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Behavioural check-ins:
Every SLT meeting began with a simple ritual: each member named where they had seen a peer live one of the commitments, or where they had seen a gap. This normalized feedback as a shared responsibility, not a CEO-only function. -
Conflict coaching:
Individual and group coaching focused on building the muscles for direct, emotionally intelligent conflict. Leaders practised language, worked through real scenarios, and learned to stay grounded in the discomfort of honest dialogue instead of defaulting to avoidance.
Over time, “Intentional Candour” moved from a phrase on a slide to a lived habit.
Intentional candour with kindness means you tell the whole truth, look the other person in the eye, and still leave their dignity fully intact. Marderé Birkill
Phase 4: Cultural shift and measurable results
Within six months, the culture felt different and the numbers confirmed it:
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eNPS: up from -15 to +32
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Voluntary Turnover: down from 22% to 7%
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Psychological Safety: up from 3.1 to 6.5 / 7.0
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Inter-departmental conflict incidents: dropped from 2.5 per month to 0.4
Employees reported clearer direction, less internal politicking, and a leadership team that finally sounded aligned.
The Apex Stewardship Council was not perfect, but it was consistent. That consistency unlocked trust, retention, and the space to innovate again.
What this could mean for your leadership team
If you see echoes of Apex in your own organization, you are not alone.
Unsettled, inconsistent leadership cultures are common in high-growth, technically strong companies. The good news is that with the right senior leadership team coaching, you can turn that chaos into clarity and collective accountability.
The questions to ask are simple:
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Do we have a clearly defined leadership team identity?
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Would our people describe us as united, or as seven different versions of leadership?
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Do we hold each other accountable for the culture we say we want, or do we outsource that to HR and middle management?
At Sage & Summit, this is the work we do every day with executive teams who want to lead with unwavering purpose, emotional intelligence, and a culture that people are proud to be part of.
If you are ready to turn your SLT into a true stewardship council for your culture, explore how our team coaching and executive leadership programs can support that journey.
