Diagnostic Frameworks

Diagnose

Structural assessment tools derived from IRSA research. Apply these frameworks to identify architectural misalignments in your institution—before they become execution failures.

How it works:1Identify symptoms→2Trace to architecture→3Map to theory
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Is This a Rupture or a Transition?

NEW
Legitimacy Assessment

Assess whether your institution is experiencing a difficult transition (recoverable through reform) or a legitimacy rupture (requiring re-founding). Based on the LGIT framework.

LGITStart

Why Do Decisions Take So Long?

Authority–Mission Alignment

Assess whether authority structures governing commitment are aligned with mission-critical time horizons. For institutions where capital is available but outcomes fail to materialise.

RCA Extension IStart

Is Our Funding At Risk?

Capital Fragility

Identify which fragility cycles your capital is coupled to—financial, political, capability, or civic—and assess decoupling opportunities.

RCAStart

Is Our Funding Too Short-Term?

Funding Horizons

Evaluate whether your capital cycles are aligned with mission cycles. Identifies mismatches between funding horizons and outcome timescales.

Alignment CapitalStart

All Process, No Decisions?

Governance vs Authority

Diagnose whether governance mechanisms are proliferating without providing time-bounded authority. Identifies procedural completeness without execution capacity.

RCA Extension IStart

Are We Ready for Patient Capital?

Long-Term Readiness

Assess whether your organisation is ready for long-horizon capital structures. Evaluates structural prerequisites for patient, regenerative funding.

PSCStart

Are We Losing Sight of Why We Exist?

Mission Drift

Identify early signs of mission drift and purpose erosion. Assesses whether institutional memory systems are preserving intent across time.

Institutional MemoryStart

Can Our Charter Be Rewritten Against Us?

Charter Protection

Assess whether your constitution, charter, or foundational rules can defend themselves against reinterpretation and capture.

Semantic FinanceStart

Is Our AI Doing What We Intended?

AI Alignment

Evaluate whether your AI systems' objectives are aligned with your institutional mission. Identifies drift between stated goals and operational behaviour.

Semantic FinanceStart

Is Our 'Why' Being Forgotten?

Founding Erosion

Detect whether your organisation's founding narrative is being gradually reinterpreted. Identifies semantic drift in how your mission is communicated.

Semantic FinanceStart

Is Our Fund Still Serving Its Purpose?

Fund Drift

Assess whether your fund's investment thesis is drifting from its original purpose. Identifies structural vulnerabilities in mission-aligned capital.

Semantic FinanceStart

Are We Learning From Mistakes?

Anti-Learning Diagnosis

Diagnose whether your institution defaults to anti-learning—where lessons fail to alter behaviour. Identifies Update Suppression, Feedback Penalty, and Model Rigidity patterns.

ILAStart

Why Does Nothing Ever Change?

Structural Learning Barriers

Identify which fragility cycle—legitimacy, authority, capital, or narrative—is suppressing learning in your institution. Maps structural barriers to the four dominant anti-learning patterns.

ILA-CoreStart

Are Our Promises Just Words?

Commitment Strength

Assess whether your institutional commitments have real binding strength or are performative. Can they be quietly bypassed or reversed?

CEAStart

Has Our Watchdog Lost Its Bite?

Regulator Drift

Evaluate whether your oversight institution has drifted from its founding mandate. For regulators, ombudsmen, and civil rights bodies that may have lost effectiveness.

LGITStart

When Controversy Hits, Do Decisions Hold?

Crisis Governance

Identify whether your institution can maintain decision integrity under public pressure—before controversy becomes crisis. Diagnoses Frozen (paralysis) vs Escalatory (reactive) governance failure patterns.

GDSStart

Why These Diagnostics?

Research patterns that inform our diagnostic framework

Explore our research
7 yrs

Avg. time to measurable drift

From founding to first signs

3-5

Leadership cycles

Before mission reinterpretation

60%+

Foundations show drift

Within 20 years of founder death

2-3x

Higher drift risk

In donor-advised vs. operating

Related Interactive Tools

After diagnosis, explore these dashboards for deeper quantitative analysis:

Fragility Simulator

Model shock resilience

Cycle Alignment

Calculate Δ and Λ scores

Purpose Erosion

Track mission drift

Need a Custom Diagnostic?

These frameworks can be applied to specific institutional contexts. If you're working on complex systems where standard approaches haven't explained persistent underperformance, we may be able to help.

Discuss Your Context