Alignment Drives Results

Too often leaders assume that team members and people throughout the organization become aligned through a process of constant communication (drumbeating)—until expected results fail to materialize. Then they wonder what happened, saying something like, “I thought we were aligned on what needed to happen.”

Here’s a case in point: The senior leadership team of a large consumer products manufacturing company recently spent considerable time, effort, and money redirecting the organization’s strategy and culture. New goals were set, bold strategies were launched, and an aggressive culture change agenda was embraced. Six months into the envisioned transformation, after endless hours of communicating new expectations, the senior team acknowledged that the incessant communication, surface agreement, and heightened activity had not translated into real alignment throughout the organization. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence in today’s organizations.

When it comes to achieving Key Expectations and Key Results, remember that you’re always going to face different levels of alignment. The highest level, the level that engenders complete ownership and real personal investment, is what we refer to as “Complete Alignment.”

Complete Alignment brings people to a level of agreement, commitment, and involvement that motivates them to do everything necessary and possible to fulfill expectations and achieve the desired results. When people arrive at Complete Alignment, they not only invest their “hands and feet” in the endeavor, they also pledge their “hearts and minds” to get it done. And they don’t stop until they achieve it, which is what happened when the senior leadership team earlier mentioned gained Complete Alignment throughout the organization—not only were the new goals and bold strategies achieved, but the organization’s culture shifted in ways that enabled them to repeat their success in future years.

To learn more about creating Complete Alignment on your teams and in your organization, we invite you to join the Accountability Community at www.partnersinleadership.com, where you can review actual client case studies.

Accountability Community is a registered trademark of Partners In Leadership, Inc.