Zero trust has become a cornerstone of modern cybersecurity, praised for its ability to minimize lateral movement, restrict unauthorized access, and protect against insider threats. For organizations navigating distributed workforces and constant digital expansion, it offers a compelling answer to “who can access what, and when?“
However, for many leadership teams, the experience of deploying zero trust reveals a more complex truth.
“We’ve implemented zero trust across the board, so why are our people still bypassing the system?”
CIOs and CTOs increasingly ask this question as they notice workarounds emerge, productivity slows, and project timelines stretch.
According to Gartner, 63% of organizations worldwide have fully or partially implemented a zero-trust strategy — an encouraging signal of progress. But as adoption grows, so does complexity. Many leaders are now navigating the difference between having zero trust in place and having it work seamlessly across teams.
Here’s the truth: Zero trust is essential to modern security. However, when applied without business alignment, it can backfire — slowing productivity, undermining innovation, and increasing risk through shadow IT and fractured collaboration. The challenge is no longer whether to implement zero trust, but how to ensure it enables, not obstructs, the business.
Why Zero Trust Is a Strategic Priority, Yet Easy to Overreach
There’s no denying why zero trust became the framework of choice. With the rise of remote work, regulatory pressure, and a growing web of connected endpoints, the need for precise access control has never been greater. Perimeter security still matters, but it’s no longer enough on its own.
Zero trust works best when guided by clear principles and grounded in an operational context. It shrinks the attack surface, reduces credential abuse, and builds digital confidence.
However, it falters when applied as a blanket policy, detached from the way people actually work. Over time, that friction starts to work against the business and not for it.
A recent Gartner report warned that 75% of U.S. federal agencies likely won’t fully implement zero trust through 2026 due to limited funding and skill gaps. This isn’t just a public sector issue. Across industries, many organizations still lack the clarity, executive buy-in, or cross-functional collaboration needed to make zero trust effective and sustainable.
When zero trust isn’t aligned with real workflows, it underperforms and interferes with the actual work. The signs are subtle at first, but show up quickly in how teams work, collaborate, and deliver.
Early Warning Signs: When Zero Trust Starts to Strain Business
Zero trust should make your organization safer and smarter. However, when implemented without flexibility, it can quietly start working against the very productivity and innovation it’s meant to protect. These signals aren’t failures; they’re early warning signs. Spotting them early helps prevent unnecessary friction, workarounds, and slowdowns that become harder to untangle later.
A. Access Delays That Undermine Momentum
Access controls are essential, but when they become too complex, they can bring workflows to a halt.
Progress suffers when employees need approvals from multiple systems just to open a shared file. These delays may not trigger system alerts, but they surface in missed deadlines, rework, and lost momentum.
Consider this scenario: A finance analyst requests access to a budgeting tool during mid-quarter planning. The request routes through multiple IT layers, causing a 3-day delay that pushes back a leadership budget review.
B. Friction Fatigue Across Teams
Even well-intentioned security features can cause burnout when poorly calibrated.
Frequent multi-factor authentication (MFA) prompts, timeouts, and re-authentication routines interrupt flow and degrade user trust. When these experiences pile up, employees often turn to shortcuts just to stay productive.
One instance is when a product manager switches between a CRM and a design platform, only to be logged out due to inactivity. After authenticating twice during a customer meeting, they miss a key decision moment.
This is more common than many leaders realize. Cybersecurity Dive reports that 42–84% of employees and IT teams worry about shadow IT and fragmented access. Meanwhile, 45% of IT admins rely on 5-10 tools to manage permissions. That’s not just inefficiency; it’s friction at scale.
C. Innovation Slowdowns and “Security Says No”
When the path to adopting new tools feels unclear or unnecessarily slow, innovation stalls.
Over time, teams stop proposing new ideas, not because they lack initiative but because the process feels too hard to navigate.
Here’s how that can show up in practice: A marketing team wants to test an AI-powered campaign platform. However, the previous tools took over six weeks to clear security. Rather than risk delays, they cancel the pilot despite the short opportunity window.
Repeated roadblocks like this foster a culture of hesitation. Security starts to feel like a blocker, not a partner — that perception alone can slow transformation.
How Workarounds Can Erode Control
When people encounter too much friction, they don’t give up; they find another way.
Often, this means using unapproved tools or unsanctioned processes (shadow IT) to get work done. According to Gartner, 41% of employees already acquire or modify technology without IT’s knowledge, a number projected to hit 75% by 2027.
These workarounds introduce duplicated data, broken version control, inconsistent permissions, and invisible access paths. They chip away at your governance model and introduce vulnerabilities without warning.
The financial risk is real. The average cost of a data breach now stands at $4.8 million, with insider-driven incidents ranking among the most costly.
If teams are bypassing systems, it’s not necessarily a discipline problem. It’s a signal that your processes haven’t kept pace with how people work. Spotting this early on will allow you to course-correct before the side effects compound.
Shifting Leadership Mindset from Enforcer to Enabler
Security frameworks are crucial in shaping company culture. A system built on restriction can erode trust and drive disengagement over time.
Unlocking the full value of zero trust starts with reframing it as a leadership opportunity. That shift begins with integrating security into the workforce’s functions and not just the systems they access.
1. Co-Design Zero Trust with Leaders and Users
Security should align with how work happens on the ground. Collaborate with business units and frontline teams to design policies that support real workflows.
2. Adopt Risk-Based, Context-Aware Controls
Not every user or action demands maximum friction. Implement adaptive authentication and step-up security only when risk signals justify it. That’s how you protect sensitive data and systems without disrupting how people work.
3. Automate for Flow, Not Just Control
Use platforms like single sign-on (SSO) to reduce the login burden while maintaining visibility. Investing in intelligent provisioning enables new joiners and cross-functional teams to onboard fast and safely.
Crucially, measure both security and user experience. This factor is critical because if your system is “working” but people are working around it, it’s not working at all.
4. Communicate Security as a Business Enabler
Security should show up in business metrics: uptime, faster delivery, and cost avoidance. Reframe it not as a constraint, but a capability that enables teams to move confidently even in complexity.
Leadership Pulse: Know When to Pivot
Zero trust isn’t a one-time rollout. This framework is a strategic capability that should evolve alongside your business.
The most resilient organizations view security and productivity not as opposing forces, but as co-drivers of transformation.
Ask yourself:
- Are teams complaining about access delays or approval fatigue?
- Is there a rise in shadow IT spending or risky tool usage?
- Are your cybersecurity efforts mostly reactive, rather than anticipatory?
If the answer is yes to any of these, it’s time to recalibrate.
Leading the Shift
When implemented thoughtfully, zero trust becomes a powerful lever for effective leadership. Now is the time to reassess your implementation through the lens of impact: on people, productivity, and progress.
Moving forward means broadening the conversation beyond IT. Bring in voices from operations, HR, legal, and frontline teams. When security is co-owned across functions, it becomes more resilient and realistic.
Security should never feel like an obstacle course. With the right mindset and design, it becomes a strategic accelerator that keeps your organization fast, focused, and resilient.
