Fictional sample. Carrow Water is an invented organisation; every person, figure and quote in this report is made up to show what a finished report looks like.
Drift Review · Final report
Carrow Water
What a review of 50 conversations, three focused exercises and two Drift Checks found, what was decided, and what moved.
Prepared for
Chief Executive and executive team
Prepared by
Richard Bourne
Engagement
February 2026 to October 2026
Report date
26 October 2026
1 · Summary
Carrow Water measures itself very carefully, and hears itself much less clearly.
Across 50 conversations, the ideas people raised most were Beyond the scoreboard, Ground truth and What goes unsaid. Asked what three things they would fix, the most common answers were clear decision rights (30 of 50), listen to the front line (28) and fewer, better measures (24).
50conversations across 10 teams and the executive
3focused exercises, chosen from what the review found
10decisions logged; 7 done or in place
46→18average gap between the most and least concerned leader, out of 100
What we found
Two ideas were blind spots: staff raised Beyond the scoreboard and What goes unsaid far more often than leaders’ first scores suggested. Leaders also disagreed most about exactly these, with a gap of 75 points on each between the most and least concerned leader.
What was done
The executive chose the moderate option: metric amnesty, corridor cards, capability fire drill. They led to 10 logged decisions, 7 of them already done or in place.
What moved
Average drift moved only slightly, from 52 to 48. The larger change is that leaders now see the organisation far more alike: the average gap between them fell from 46 to 18 points. The Chief Executive’s own scores rose, which usually means seeing more, not doing worse.
2 · Where leaders started · 9 February 2026
Leaders agreed on some things and saw others very differently.
Each of the 5 executives took the Drift Check separately. The dot shows the team’s average drift for each idea; the line shows the range from the least to the most concerned leader. Ideas are ordered by how much leaders disagreed.
Holding 0–34Drifting 35–64Unexamined 65–100Range across leaders
Most drift (team average)
Unlearning63
Decisions nobody made60
Inherited assumptions58
Widest disagreement
Beyond the scoreboard13–88
What goes unsaid13–88
Ground truth25–88
These became the questions the review set out to test: is the drift leaders see the drift people live with, and who is closer to the ground on the ideas where they disagree?
3 · What people told us · February to April 2026
People asked to be listened to, and for decisions to have owners.
Every conversation ended with the same question: What three things would you fix? Bars show the share of the 50 conversations that named each.
In their words
Beyond the scoreboard12 conversations
We report spill hours very carefully. We talk about why they happen much less.
Wastewater networks, manager
Leakage is the number everyone watches. So we chase the jobs that move the number, not always the jobs that matter.
Leakage and field repair, manager
We close complaints fast. Whether we solve them is a different question.
Customer contact centre, manager
Ground truth11 conversations
Head office plans the network from maps that are years out of date. We work from what's actually in the ground.
Wastewater networks, front line
The script tells us what to say. It doesn't tell us what's actually happening out there.
Customer contact centre, front line
There are people here who already know exactly what needs to change. They're just not in the room.
People and culture, manager
What goes unsaid10 conversations
I raised the overflow at the pumping station three times. Each time it went into a system and disappeared.
Wastewater networks, front line
Customers ring about the same street flooding every time it rains. I log it and it goes nowhere.
Customer contact centre, front line
We know the costs on some schemes are wrong. Saying so feels like breaking ranks.
Capital delivery, specialist
Borrowed capability9 conversations
The old operators could smell a filter going wrong. We wait for the screen to tell us.
Water treatment, front line
The modelling is done by the consultant now. We sign it off, but I'm not sure we could challenge it.
Wastewater networks, specialist
The contractor knows our patch better than we do now.
Leakage and field repair, front line
4 · Your map
Where Carrow Water has drifted, in its own people’s words.
The same twelve ideas as the Oppositism map, around Ground truth at the centre. Each circle is sized by how many of the 50 conversations raised that idea, and coloured by its place on the arc.
SeeChallengeAcknowledgeIncludeRedesignGround
Idea
Conversations
One voice
Beyond the scoreboardRedesign
12
We report spill hours very carefully. We talk about why they happen much less.
Ground truthGround
11
Head office plans the network from maps that are years out of date. We work from what's actually in the ground.
What goes unsaidGround
10
I raised the overflow at the pumping station three times. Each time it went into a system and disappeared.
Inherited assumptionsSee
9
We run the works to the procedure because the procedure is what gets audited, not because it's the best way to run it.
Borrowed capabilitySee
9
The old operators could smell a filter going wrong. We wait for the screen to tell us.
Friction as dataSee
7
Half the alarms on night shift are noise. Everyone knows which ones to ignore, and that worries me.
UnlearningRedesign
7
We've had four leakage strategies in six years. Each one was going to be the one.
Decisions nobody madeChallenge
6
Nobody decided we'd stop doing manual sampling on weekends. It just stopped when people left.
What change costsAcknowledge
6
We were told the new shift pattern was better. Nobody asked what it cost the people with kids.
Productive tensionInclude
3
Disagreeing with the plan is fine in private. In the meeting, it's settled before we arrive.
What we're bound toInclude
2
People are busy, but if half our reports stopped tomorrow I doubt anyone would ring.
Holding frameworks lightlyInclude
2
We follow the stage-gate process even for jobs it was never designed for.
Alternatives, not oppositionRedesign
2
Our best changes started as someone quietly trying something better, not a programme.
5 · The gap
Two of the ideas people raised most were ones leaders had scored as only moderate drift.
Each idea compares leaders’ first Drift Check average with the share of conversations that raised it. An idea counts as high when leaders scored it 55 or above, or when at least 16% of conversations raised it.
Idea
Leaders’ drift
Leaders’ range
Conversations
Reading
Ground truth
58
25–88
22%
Shared concernLeaders and staff both see drift here.
Inherited assumptions
58
38–88
18%
Shared concernLeaders and staff both see drift here.
Borrowed capability
55
38–88
18%
Shared concernLeaders and staff both see drift here.
Beyond the scoreboard
50
13–88
24%
Blind spotStaff raise it far more than leaders' scores suggest.
What goes unsaid
50
13–88
20%
Blind spotStaff raise it far more than leaders' scores suggest.
Unlearning
63
50–88
14%
Leaders' worryLeaders score it high; few conversations raised it.
Decisions nobody made
60
38–88
12%
Leaders' worryLeaders score it high; few conversations raised it.
Alternatives, not opposition
55
38–63
4%
Leaders' worryLeaders score it high; few conversations raised it.
Friction as data
53
25–88
14%
QuieterNeither group put much weight on it.
What change costs
48
25–75
12%
QuieterNeither group put much weight on it.
Productive tension
40
25–50
6%
QuieterNeither group put much weight on it.
What we're bound to
33
25–38
4%
QuieterNeither group put much weight on it.
Holding frameworks lightly
53
38–63
4%
QuieterNeither group put much weight on it.
Shared concerns (Inherited assumptions, Borrowed capability, Ground truth) are where to build agreement fast. Blind spots are where the review adds most: leaders were split on them, and the people closest to the work were not.
6 · What we did · May to July 2026
The executive chose the moderate option, and three exercises followed.
Bold
A twelve-month reset of how performance is measured, reported and discussed, led by the Chief Executive, with every regular report re-justified from zero and a standing front-line voice at the executive meeting.
Moderate · chosen
Three focused exercises over a quarter, aimed at the themes people raised most: measures that drive no decisions, concerns that don't travel, and skills held only by suppliers. A second Drift Check six months on.
Light
Adopt three habits immediately: corridor cards at the monthly leadership meeting, a fresh-eyes log for new starters, and a rule that every new initiative names what it replaces.
The review also identified 11 people across the organisation who already see clearly where things need to go. Their names were shared privately with the chief executive, and several took part in the exercises below.
Metric amnesty
Beyond the scoreboard · May 2026
Who
Executive team, heads of service and report owners (34 people)
What we did
Listed every regular report, dashboard and KPI pack. For each, named who reads it and which decision it drives. Anything driving no decision went on a retirement list, with no blame for having built it.
What we found
147 regular reports and dashboards. 61 could not be linked to any decision. Report preparation took an estimated 1,900 staff hours a year across those 61.
What it produced
38 reports retired, 14 merged into others, 9 kept under review until January 2027.
Corridor cards
What goes unsaid · May to July 2026
Who
Six leadership and operational meetings (78 attendees in total)
What we did
Near the end of each meeting, everyone wrote anonymously what they would say in the corridor afterwards. The chair read the cards out unedited and the group chose one to act on.
What we found
112 cards. The most common themes were concerns already raised that went nowhere (31 cards), doubts about capital scheme costs (17) and workload from duplicate reporting (14).
What it produced
Six issues acted on, including a direct escalation route for repeated overflow and flooding reports, and an open review of three capital scheme estimates.
Capability fire drill
Borrowed capability · June 2026
Who
Control room and network teams (19 people)
What we did
The control room ran a planned four-hour shift with the supplier's analytics dashboard switched off, working from raw telemetry and network knowledge, with full fallback in place.
What we found
2 of 9 controllers could confidently interpret raw telemetry for the trunk mains. The alarm prioritisation logic was documented only by the supplier. Three manual procedures referred to equipment no longer installed.
What it produced
A capability register for the control room, alarm logic documentation brought in-house, and paired training for controllers.
7 · What was decided
10 decisions, each with an owner. 7 are done or in place.
Type
Decision
Idea
Owner
Status
Stop
Retire 38 regular reports and dashboards that drive no decision
Beyond the scoreboard
Director of Finance and Regulation
Done
Change
Merge 14 overlapping reports into the monthly performance pack
Beyond the scoreboard
Head of Performance
Done
Change
Open a direct escalation route for repeated overflow and flooding reports from the contact centre
Paired training: experienced and newer controllers working raw telemetry
Borrowed capability
Head of Control Room
In progress
Try
Each executive works one front-line shift per quarter
Ground truth
Chief Executive
In progress
Change
Open review of three capital scheme estimates raised on corridor cards
Productive tension
Director of Asset Delivery
Done
Stop
Weekend duplicate reporting for the leakage programme
Unlearning
Head of Leakage
Done
Try
Fresh-eyes log for all new starters in operations
Inherited assumptions
Director of People and Culture
In progress
8 · What moved · 12 October 2026
Leaders now see the organisation much more alike.
The same 5 executives retook the Drift Check 8 months after the first. For each idea, the upper line shows the range of their answers in February 2026, the lower line in October 2026. Dots mark the team average.
Before · 9 February 2026After · 12 October 2026
Gaps closed
The largest narrowing was on Beyond the scoreboard (75 to 12), What goes unsaid (75 to 12), Borrowed capability (50 to 12). Beyond the scoreboard and What goes unsaid were the blind spots the review surfaced.
Averages moved less
Average drift went from 52 to 48. That is expected: the exercises were about seeing and choosing, and 8 months is short for systems to change.
A score that rose
The Chief Executive’s overall score rose by 9 points. Read alongside the narrower gaps, this looks like seeing more rather than things getting worse.
Drift Check scores are a conversation starter, not a validated measure. Please don’t set them as targets: once a drift score becomes a KPI, people manage the score instead of the drift.
9 · What you keep doing
The aim is for Carrow Water to need outside help less, not more.
Corridor cards
At the monthly executive meeting, run by the chair.
Fresh-eyes log
Every new starter in operations, read and answered by their director.
Stop before you start
Every new initiative names what it replaces, checked at the investment panel.
Yearly Drift Check
The executive team retakes the check each October and discusses the widest spread.
10 · Method
How this review was done
Four steps: a Drift Check with the executive team, a Listening Review, focused exercises chosen from what the review found, and a second Drift Check.
The Listening Review began with a handful of names and grew by recommendation until the same themes kept returning. Each conversation lasted about 30 minutes and ended with one question: What three things would you fix? Quotes are as close to verbatim as notes allow, and attributed only by team and level.
Conversations by level: 17 specialist, 15 manager, 13 front line, 5 executive.
The reviewer’s own background is in commercial service transformation, which will have shaped what he noticed. Findings are offered to be challenged.