The Leadership Health Check: Is Your Executive Team Built for 2026?

Consider the last twelve months in your organisation. The strategy was signed off and the town hall went well, yet critical initiatives seem to be stuck in "pilot" mode. 

You might notice the same two executives carrying every big decision, while the rest of the team feels more like a steering committee than a dynamic leadership group.

Trust in senior leaders is also under strain. Only 14% of UK workers say they have faith in senior leaders’ decisions. That erosion shows up in slower adoption of change, more challenge behind the scenes and ultimately a higher cost of making anything stick.

In this environment, the most important question is not "Is our strategy right?". A better question is, "Is the leadership system at the top capable of delivering it?".

The Market Reality Your Leaders Are Operating In

Today’s senior teams are juggling several non-negotiable challenges. They face a shifting labour market, a widening AI value gap and a growing deficit in trust.

The Flexibility Mandate

On the labour front, flexibility has become a hard filter for talent. The CIPD found that around 1.1 million UK employees left a job in the last year due to a lack of flexible working. Leaders who design senior roles around constant office presence are shrinking their talent pipeline.

The AI Value Gap

The gap between digital leaders and laggards is widening. McKinsey’s research shows that companies with strong AI capabilities achieve much higher returns. They see two to six times higher total shareholder returns. Yet, a BCG study reveals that only around 5% of firms are achieving material value from AI at scale. This points to a pattern of heavy investment with disappointing impact.

The Empathy Deficit

HP’s latest Work Relationship Index paints a similar picture of strain. Only 28% of workers consistently see empathy from their leaders. A change programme can be technically perfect but still meet quiet resistance. This happens when people do not feel heard or understood.

Signs Your Executive Team Is Actually Healthy

A team that is genuinely ready for 2026 broadcasts its health through its behaviour. These signs appear long before the quarterly results land.

• Hybrid Fluency: These leaders treat hybrid work as a design challenge. Meeting formats are built so remote participants contribute with equal weight. Decision quality would hold steady if the team had to work remotely for a month.

• ESG in Real Decisions: In a healthy team, ESG shapes boardroom choices. In major investment discussions, someone consistently challenges the governance assumptions behind a deal. This happens before sign-off, not after the press release.

• Tech and Data Confidence: Executives interrogate AI roadmaps with confidence. They ask concrete questions about how a model improves margin or risk. A red flag appears when AI is in slide titles but not P&L conversations.

• EQ in Action: Emotional intelligence is visible in how difficult situations are handled. When a tough decision is announced, pushback is aired and handled constructively. People understand the reasoning, which keeps alignment intact.

  
  

Symptoms That Your Leadership System Is Under Strain

When a leadership system struggles, the symptoms show up as operational friction.

• Strategies lose steam. Product launches might be on time but fail to deliver expected adoption. This happens because ownership across functions is shallow.

• "Hero" leaders carry the load. One or two executives become the bottleneck for every significant risk. This slows down responses and creates obvious succession risks.

• Silo targets are hit, but shared goals are missed. Individual functions hit their numbers, but cross-functional priorities slip repeatedly. No one feels fully accountable for the joint outcome.

• Engagement data flags low trust. The layer below the executive team hesitates to challenge assumptions. Risks surface late and opportunities are missed.

These signals describe a system that might be delivering this year’s plan, while quietly building next year’s execution gap.

What a Leadership Health Check Involves

A Leadership Health Check provides a clear, evidence-led view of your team. It shows where leadership behaviour is helping or hindering your strategy.

1. Behavioural Diagnostics

Targeted interviews and observation reveal how the team makes decisions under pressure. This often explains why bold strategies leave offsites with momentum but reappear from governance rounds in a much safer, slower form.

2. Psychometrics and 360-Degree Feedback

We use assessments to inform real choices. You can see who thrives in ambiguity and could credibly sponsor AI work. You can also see who is best suited to stabilise critical operations.

3. Role and Portfolio Mapping

Mapping responsibilities frequently reveals overlaps and gaps. Clarifying who owns which outcome often avoids unnecessary hires. It helps the team focus on work that drives real value.

4. Meta-Team Dynamics

We treat the executive group as one system. We assess trust and psychological safety, then link them to hard indicators like decision speed and rework rates. For example, low psychological safety often sits alongside slow decisions and high rework, which gives a clearer case for addressing it than culture language alone.

What a 2026-Ready Executive Team Looks Like

A 2026-ready team is recognisable in the way it works day-to-day.

• The team is agile in practice. Decision rights are clear. When a market shock arrives, the group can revisit a choice quickly. They do not get bogged down in territorial debates.

• The group is genuinely customer-led. Conversations about AI are anchored to actual customer journeys. They are also linked to the employee experience.

• Resilience is combined with learning. After setbacks, the team holds structured debriefs. They focus on assumptions and behaviour, which reduces repeat errors.

• Challenge moves freely. Middle managers feel safe raising early warning signs.For boards, that tends to mean fewer nasty surprises, more grounded transformation updates and a shorter list of “critical person dependency” risks.

Before Your Strategy Fails, Check the System Running It

Most organisations invest heavily in strategy and technology. Far fewer test the executive team responsible for delivering them. 

As a simple starting point, ask your top team one question at your next meeting,

“Which of our behaviours would stop this strategy from landing?”

It is valuable to capture their honest answers.

If you want a clearer, independent view of your leadership system, you can begin a confidential conversation with Adastrum. Explore what a tailored check could look like for your organisation. You can reach us through our Leadership Development or Meta Team Development services.