As Latin American companies confront slowing growth, talent churn and the demands of hybrid work, leadership effectiveness is being redefined. Strategy and charisma are no longer enough. Increasingly, performance hinges on something less visible: the assumptions leaders and employees hold about one another.
New doctoral research by Dr. Candice Fast suggests those hidden beliefs – often unconscious – can measurably shape engagement, productivity and service outcomes. Her study, Exploring Implicit Belief Alignment in Leaders and Followers, argues that leadership success depends not only on decision-making and execution, but on the mental models quietly governing workplace interactions.
The findings are particularly relevant for Colombia’s corporate sector, where hierarchical traditions often coexist with modern performance management systems.
After surveying 203 participants across North America, Dr.Fast applied validated psychological instruments and statistical modelling to examine how implicit beliefs influence workplace structures. The results indicate that misaligned assumptions between leaders and employees can account for up to 5% of passive behaviour within organizations. In financial terms, this margin is significant.
Why the 5% effect matters
In large corporations, even a 5% increase in engagement can translate into millions of dollars in productivity gains, improved customer satisfaction and lower operational friction. Applied studies cited alongside the research show that teams fostering collaborative belief structures recorded 5% to 10% higher engagement levels and measurable reductions in turnover costs.
For Latin American enterprises – where employee disengagement and retention are endemic challenges – such increments can determine whether performance targets are met or missed.
One of Dr.Fast’s more striking findings is that positive perceptions alone do not guarantee proactive performance. Companies must move beyond the catch phrasing of “positive thinking.” Leaders who unconsciously associate teams with traits such as conformity or passivity may inadvertently reinforce those behaviours, regardless of stated values.
In other words, culture is not shaped solely by policies or incentive systems, but by cognitive framing.
This has implications for multinational corporations operating across the region. Cultural and national variables were shown to influence how expectations are formed and interpreted within teams. In cross-border environments – from Bogotá to São Paulo to Mexico City – misalignment can quietly erode efficiency and collaboration.
As Latin American firms expand internationally and global groups deepen their regional footprint, leadership models that account for cognitive alignment may become a differentiating factor.
Unlike much academic work, Fast’s framework is designed for operational use. It emphasises structured self-assessment to surface subconscious assumptions, the use of 360-degree feedback to identify perception gaps, and the comparison of belief patterns with engagement data. It also encourages organisations to reframe limiting narratives through facilitated dialogue and to embed cognitive flexibility into leadership development programmes.
These tools align with a broader professionalisation of management practices across Latin America, where firms are increasingly adopting analytics-driven approaches to human capital strategy.
Fast’s corporate experience includes more than a decade at The Walt Disney Company, a global operator known for embedding service standards and behavioural alignment into its operational model. The relevance of belief alignment is evident in complex organizations where consistency, collaboration and innovation must scale across thousands of employees.
As an industry insider, Ursafe has publicly endorsed the groundbreaking research, describing it as a practical roadmap for measurable performance improvement. But the broader significance lies more in timing than endorsement. “The clarity it brings to the dynamics between leaders and employees makes it a benchmark for modern organizational development.”
Latin American businesses are navigating inflationary pressures, digital transformation and generational shifts in workplace expectations. In this environment, marginal gains in engagement and trust can compound quickly.
The study’s conclusion is clear: leadership success is not determined solely by strategic vision or authority, but by the invisible assumptions shaping daily interactions between managers and teams.
For companies willing to measure and recalibrate those assumptions, belief alignment may prove to be more than a theoretical construct. It may become a competitive lever – one capable of turning subtle cognitive shifts into tangible financial results.
In a hemisphere where growth increasingly depends on talent retention, innovation and cross-cultural agility, Dr.Candice Fast’s vision of leadership is grounded less on what organizations do — and more on how they think. “Beliefs, though invisible, are among the most powerful tools leaders possess,” highlighted the data researcher.
