RLD Group Releases Applied Research and Diagnostic Tool to Help Leaders Create AI Value Through Alignment

Leaders can now spot fragmentation early and create measurable value with AI

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, March 24, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — RLD Group, a WBENC-certified boutique leadership consulting collective, has released an applied research paper and diagnostic tool to help business leaders turn early AI momentum into shared capability so AI can create value through alignment, not disruption.

The applied research, published as AI Leadership: Create Value Through Alignment, was built from 25 cross-functional senior executive interviews to give senior leaders a practical framework they can use to strengthen leadership capacity, team alignment, and enterprise coherence before fragmentation compounds. These real-world insights were also converted into an actionable diagnostic tool and playbook to help leaders spot fragmentation early and focus first on the highest-leverage fixes.

“Most organizations do not have an AI tool problem first. They have a leadership alignment problem that AI is about to expose and amplify,” said Lisa Duerre, CEO and Co-Founder of RLD Group. “That is why this research matters now. Leaders need more than adoption activity. They need stronger leadership capacity, team alignment, and enterprise coherence if they want AI to deliver measurable business value. Our findings and new diagnostic tool provide senior leaders with a practical toolset they can use to strengthen alignment before fragmentation compounds and value is lost across the system.”

Key findings and results include:
1. Fragmentation quietly derails AI ROI in any industry
2. Three interconnected drivers reinforce each other and determine the success or failure of AI initiatives
a. Silos – increase the cost and complexity of AI adoption.
b. Exploration Constraints – When curiosity and inquiry are limited, teams miss opportunities to share lessons, build confidence, and accelerate adoption.
c. Under-Designed Conversations and Collaboration – Conversations are essential infrastructure for scaling judgment, trust, and learning across the organization. When they are under-designed, they limit the ability to scale AI and impair adoption, trust, and usage.

To help leaders act on these findings, RLD Group created:
• A downloadable diagnostic tool that helps executives identify where alignment breaks down first across I–WE–US: the individual leader, the team, and the enterprise
• A practical 30-90-day action framework to reduce fragmentation and accelerate measurable impact

“From decades of experience in AI research and engineering leadership, I’ve seen that technology scales when leaders design for the interdependencies between people, processes, and systems,” said Alenka Znidarsic, PhD, Lead Researcher. “AI accelerates whatever leadership system already exists, so if alignment is weak, fragmentation shows up as tool sprawl, uneven guardrails, duplicated effort, rework, and rising risk. As AI work started to cross more functions, we kept seeing the same costly patterns, so we wanted to give senior leaders a practical tool to address root causes before fragmentation compounds and negatively impacts AI adoption and usage efforts. The AI Leadership Alignment Jumpstart Diagnostic Tool reconnects decision pathways, usable guardrails, and operating rhythms across I–WE–US so organizations can build shared capability and turn AI momentum into measurable impact.”

As AI work crosses more functions, this paper helps leaders strengthen alignment so AI can create greater value through execution, trust, and shared capability — not more silos, churn, or rework.

The RLD Group research team behind this work included Lisa Duerre, Susan Nelson, Rachelle Niemann, and Alenka Znidarsic, PhD. It was intentionally assembled to bring together expertise across AI research, engineering leadership, HR and organizational leadership development, executive coaching, cybersecurity, and wellbeing—reflecting the cross-functional realities of responsible AI adoption.

Read the full paper, and download the AI Leadership Alignment Jumpstart Diagnostic Tool at https://rldgroupllc.com/ai-insights-paper.

To learn more about the RLD Group, visit https://rldgroupllc.com.

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About RLD Group
RLD Group is a WBENC-certified boutique leadership consulting collective focused on helping leaders fix the leadership system AI is about to amplify. RLD Group co-creates in real operating conditions to help organizations build trust, reduce fragmentation, and sustain performance under pressure. Grounded in real-world leadership experience, applied research, and real operating conditions, the RLD Group’s work strengthens leadership alignment across the individual, team, and enterprise (I–WE–US) so AI adoption can deliver measurable business outcomes — faster decisions, stronger execution, usable governance, and sustained performance. RLD Group’s work focuses on the system-level conditions that shape results: how decisions are made, how priorities are set, how information flows, and how accountability works. Learn more about the RLD Group and its work by visiting https://rldgroupllc.com.

References: RLD Group. (2026). AI Leadership: Create Value Through Alignment. Insights Paper.

Lisa Duerre
RLD Group, LLC
+1 408-789-8388
lisa@rldgroupllc.com
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