Most alignment debt is paid for in a specific currency: the conversation that did not happen. The disagreement left unspoken in the meeting becomes the escalation three weeks later. The performance issue nobody named becomes the standard everyone quietly learns is negotiable.

Consider a pattern reported this month. A manager recommended terminating an underperforming senior report after six months of documented results. The leader above them repeatedly softened the standard and resisted the recommendation. The decision was never resolved — and the cost did not stay contained to that one employee. It spread. The manager concluded they were not trusted