When Strong Governance Still Produces Strategic Drift: Meaning Translation Failure in Institutional Decision Systems

Conceptual research article introducing translation drift — the gradual loss of interpretive coherence as strategic intent is translated across layered governance systems under delayed feedback.The paper explains why capable institutions can experience strategic drift not despite strong governance, but because of it. It reframes organisations as interpretive learning systems and shifts the unit of analysis from decisions to the translations through which meaning moves.Relevant for organisational learning, governance design, portfolio management, long-horizon decision systems, and institutional strategy. Version 1.01 (Feb 2026)Minor theoretical positioning refinements, boundary clarification, formalisation schematic, and language precision updates. No change to core argument. This version supersedes V1.0 and introduces no change to the core theoretical claim. Version 1.02 update: This version adds an explicit cross-reference to the AI-Augmented Impact Frames architectural paper to clarify the conceptual positioning of this article within the broader research programme. No arguments, definitions, figures, or claims have been changed. The revision improves scholarly traceability and programme coherence only.