A few conversations lately have stuck with me.

One senior leader said:

“We’ve got good people. But we’re not aligned, and I don’t know when that happened.”

No drama. No headlines. Just a slow drift under pressure. And the longer it goes on, the harder it is to bring back.

It’s Not Strategy That Falls Apart... It’s Confidence and Alignment

Civic leaders today are managing more than ever: new technologies, changing community expectations, central reforms, and tight budgets. It’s no longer a question of whether the work is important... It’s whether teams still know how to move forward together.

Transformation doesn’t fail because ideas are bad. It fails when confidence erodes, when teams pull in different directions, and when no one’s had time to stop and realign.

As Vijay Luthra points out in Government Transformation, stalled efforts often come from rushing into delivery without shared understanding and from repeating past mistakes without learning from them.

Why AI Is a Pressure Point... But Not the Problem

We’ve heard this repeatedly:

“Councils don’t have a vision for AI, and they don’t have the right support to get started.”

Most aren’t resisting AI. They’re unsure where to begin. There’s a sense that something important is happening but the internal alignment, focus, and confidence needed to respond just isn’t there yet.

AI is just one example. But it’s a clear signal of a wider pattern: new pressures emerging faster than teams can orient to them.

Early Signs of Drift Are Quiet...  But Costly

This kind of misalignment rarely shows up as open disagreement. It hides in day-to-day habits:

• Repeated conversations that lead nowhere

• Cautious decisions made in isolation

• Projects slowing down, despite the right intentions

• Mixed messages at the frontline

• Staff quietly unsure about the plan

These small symptoms compound. They slow momentum, erode trust, and eventually impact outcomes.

Misalignment Doesn’t Fix Itself

Adam Grant puts it simply:

“Teams don’t fall apart from one big failure. They erode through a series of small misalignments.”

Government transformation studies back this up. Lack of shared focus and direction isn’t just inefficient — it makes staff and leaders question whether change is even possible.

Momentum doesn’t come back on its own.

A Short Reset. Built for Civic Teams. Adaptable to Today’s Pressures.

At Praxxis Group, the team behind OPAL3, we’ve designed a short, focused programme to help civic leadership teams get unstuck.

It’s not a strategy rewrite. It’s a reset. Four sessions, two hours each. Designed to move your team from “busy but unclear” to “aligned and confident”...  without the overhead of major consulting.

The sessions are structured to:

• Understand your current reality including new pressures like AI

• Realign on the few things that matter most right now

• Explore practical next steps and safe experiments

• Create a clear, shared action plan that middle management can carry

If your team wants to use one of the sessions to explore early AI opportunities or test a low-risk experiment, we can support that.

Pilot Now Open: 2–3 Early Adopters

We’re currently running this with a handful of councils and looking for two or three more.

This is for leadership teams who feel the signs of drift, or who want to stay ahead of it.

You’ll get a clear walkthrough of how the process works. No pitch. Just a chance to see if it makes sense for your team.

Contact us today

References

• Why Government Transformations Stall and How to Course Correct – Government Transformation
• Change Management in Government – ThoughtExchange