How to Spot and Fix Values Drift in Your Team (Before Culture Breaks Down)
Values drift doesn't happen overnight. It sneaks in gradually in small compromises, quiet tensions, and unspoken trade-offs. One day you're talking about quality, collaboration, and care for people. The next, you're fielding complaints, cutting corners, or wondering why things just feel off.
That's the thing about values: if they're not actively lived, they're passively lost.
"You can’t talk your way out of a situation you behaved your way into."
—Stephen M.R. Covey, The Speed of Trust
What Values Drift Looks Like
We define values drift as being when a team or leader starts acting in a way that contradicts the organization's stated values, even if unintentionally. It's the software team that says "quality first" but skips testing to meet a deadline. It's the company that touts employee development but never gives people time to train.
It often starts with pressure—a deadline, a KPI, a fire drill—and then slowly becomes the new normal. You see it in the behavior. QA finds more bugs. The backlog balloons. Tensions rise between teams. People start blaming instead of collaborating.
And it's not just what happens, it's what people see. If a leader says one thing and models another, the team won't just feel confused. They'll feel disillusioned.
People are easily influenced. If they see a leader violating the values, they'll either follow suit or become disengaged. It's like speeding: most people go 5 mph over the limit, but when a patrol car is visible, they slow down. Leaders set the pace.
How to Catch It Early
Drift becomes dangerous when we wait until the signs are glaring. By then, habits have formed and culture has calcified. The earlier you catch it, the easier it is to course correct.
That's why frequent touchpoints matter.
In 1-1s and team meetings, don’t just ask about tasks. Ask how people are doing, how they feel about their work, what they’re noticing in the team. These small moments give you a heads-up before things derail.
And what to do when you spot the early signs?
Use conversations to guide small shifts
Bring attention back to shared values
Encourage reflection and grace over blame
Adjust KPIs or rituals if needed to realign behavior with values
Because what you measure shapes what people focus on. If you're measuring bug fixes instead of long-term quality, you'll get quick patches instead of stable code.
"It isn’t so much the problems we face that cause us difficulty, as it is how we see the people involved."
—The Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace
A Personal Example: When Quality Lost to Speed
As a QA Manager, I experienced this firsthand. Our engineering and QA teams were separate, and while quality was a stated value, deadlines often won. Developers under pressure skipped proper testing. QA found themselves flooded with bugs. The backlog grew. Relationships frayed. QA began to feel like developers didn’t care.
My first step was to help my QA team reframe what they were seeing. The developers weren't negligent, they were reacting to pressure. I encouraged empathy, not antagonism. Then I partnered with the software engineering leaders to diagnose the problem and looped in Product Management.
Together, we looked at what was driving the misalignment. Tight release dates were a key culprit. We gave feedback to stakeholders: either we needed more time, a reduced scope, or to accept reduced quality. Eventually, we settled on a middle path of slightly extended timelines and reduced scope. That brought us back in alignment with our stated commitment to quality.
Realignment Is Leadership
This is where values-driven leadership matters most. Not in making the poster, but in making the tough decisions, pausing to reflect, and addressing the tension. Not avoiding it.
Because when the team drifts, the leader steers. Not by force, but by example.
"The most effective leaders lead not by coercion or control, but by inviting others to see differently—to see more truthfully and more completely."
—The Arbinger Institute, The Outward Mindset
Join the Conversation:
Have you ever experienced values drift on your team? What helped you notice it and how did you respond?
We're continuing this discussion over on LinkedIn. I'd love to hear your take on how leaders can spot drift early and bring their teams back into alignment.
👇 Share your story or insight here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/illumin8-advisors/
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