February 6, 2023
Building meaningful alignment throughout an organization is difficult. Think of the times when you’ve been absolutely clear in your own mind about what needs to happen but then struggled to help create that same level of clarity in the minds of your peers or the broader team.
This happens in all kinds of organizations at every conceivable level, yet this is the heart of leadership. To gain clarity about the direction we need to take and then align the actions of the organization accordingly.
In our Coaching work with leaders, we help them put focused energy into getting a deep understanding of what’s actually happening in the organization. You don’t want to overstate it. You don’t want to understate it. You just need to state it accurately.
In that moment, you create the conditions to build genuine clarity about what needs to happen next. You can confidently assess what needs to happen and define the strategies and plans required. You can see how you and your peers need to grow and evolve. You can also see how your organization will need to continue to transform.
And this is where the deeper challenge starts to emerge. We may be clear about what needs to happen but the broader organization is not.
It is often when we try to translate direction throughout the organization that the wheels fall off. We may outline a communications plan or meet with our line managers to help them understand the plan and then we trust that our trajectory is going to be shared with accuracy, conviction, and support.
To take it one small step further, as the organization transforms, we need the skills, behaviors, and perspectives of our team members to transform as well. But we often don’t provide the necessary and relevant training and support they need to bring their performance into alignment with the needs of the organization.
This is also where the opportunity lies. High-performing organizations tend to put more emphasis on building that end-to-end alignment. Here are a few things you can do:
- Focus on the Fundamentals. This starts with clearly linking the Goals and Strategies of the organization to your Mission and Vision. You need to know how the pieces fit together and so does your entire organization. It will let everyone start on the same footing regardless of their role or position.
- Over Communicate. Alignment isn’t a one-and-done exercise. It’s not as simple as an announcement at an all-staff meeting or an email to the entire organization. Sustained communication is essential. We encourage you to over communicate in hopes that you just might communicate it enough. The odds of over doing it are low.
- Skill Build. An organization that is highly aligned requires that all team members have shifted how they’re looking at things, how they’re doing things, and what things they’re doing — all of which require them to deepen their skills. Done well, the transformation of their skills comes with sustained communications about how the organization is changing in order to reinforce alignment.
- Call Your Coach. If you haven’t taken time to specifically talk through this with your Coach, now’s the time. Building alignment through the organization requires clarity and consistency as you work with your entire team. Crafting the right messages and defining the right actions is best done in consultation with an unbiased advisor. If you don’t have a Coach, this would be a good moment for a conversation.
If you’re a leader in your organization, this is your responsibility.
Unaddressed, the time, energy, and talent of your organization will leak into things that simply are not a priority. Everyone will be busy — maybe even burning out — but you will not be making the progress that you need.
