If you look closely at your executive team or boardroom, you might see it:

• Compliance without commitment (doing the bare minimum).
• Subdued energy or slightly edgy sarcasm in meetings.
• Overprocessing low-stakes decisions while delaying the big ones.

This isn’t burnout. It’s rust-out.

This insight was originally explored by Peter H. Bailey in Fast Company in June 2026, whose whitewater metaphor offers a powerful way to understand how teams can pause, reset, and regain clarity. It struck me as I recalled some of the paddling moves from my years as a young canoeist. I can clearly link those moments of pausing, noticing the water, and planning the next stroke to what I see in leadership teams undergoing executive team coaching.

As Bailey highlights, rust‑out is the quiet crisis of under‑stimulation and cognitive fatigue. It is highly contagious in hybrid or virtual corporate setups.

Teams don’t break down because they can’t work hard. They break down because they can’t think clearly.

Reading the Water: How Leadership Teams Can Break the Cycle of Rust‑Out

The article uses a brilliant whitewater rafting analogy: knowing when to backpaddle, eddy out, hold position, and read the water. In the corporate world, that means creating a deliberate, physical space for reflection.

When I conduct executive team coaching and boardroom observations, I often see leaders try to solve this with a new framework or another workflow tool. But you cannot optimise your way out of a human spirit problem.

To break the rust, leadership teams need to step away from the digital noise and reconnect in the physical world. They need high-stakes, real-time collaboration that forces clarity.

How is your leadership team reading the currents this quarter?

If your board or executive team would benefit from independent observation, collaborative support, or reflective teamwork, please get in contact to discuss how this can be integrated into your coaching programme.