How to improve leadership alignment and why it matters

So why does leadership alignment matter? Well, let me paint a picture for you.

Imagine a team of football players all running in different directions with their own agendas, just trying to score touchdowns on their own. Chaos, right? The same thing can happen in businesses when leaders aren’t aligned with their teams. You have different departments working towards different goals, sending out different messages, and ultimately leading to a lack of focus and confusion both internally and for customers. Leadership alignment is about keeping everyone moving in the same direction, towards the same goals, like a bunch of crew rowers.

Leadership alignment is the process of ensuring that all leaders within an organization are working towards the same goals and objectives. And that they are aligned with their teams on purpose, process, and direction. Alignment is essential for organizational success, as it helps to create a unified and focused organization. Along with alignment comes accountability. Leaders and individual contributors need to hold one another accountable for progress and success. Without this shared accountability alignment can often become messy.

What happens to your business without leadership and team alignment?

Everyone is working towards their own goals and agendas, which are often in conflict with each other. This leads to a lot of wasted time and resources, as people are constantly duplicating efforts or working at cross-purposes. Different processes, different levels of customer support, and lack of consistency. It makes for a disjointed and miserable customer experience.
There is no clear sense of direction, so the business is constantly changing course. This makes it difficult to attract and retain employees and customers, as they don’t know what to expect from the business. No shared vision is a great way to create an organization where everyone goes rogue.
Employee morale is low, as people are confused and frustrated by the lack of leadership alignment. This leads to a bad employee experience, and high turnover, which further undermines the business’s ability to achieve its goals. And also feeds a bad customer experience, which undermines brand loyalty and long-term growth.
The business is vulnerable to competitors, who can easily exploit its weaknesses. This can lead to market share losses and even bankruptcy. Often competitors are looking for a way to knock your business down a peg. Lack of alignment contributes to a lack of innovation and agility. That contributes to opportunities for your competition to poach your talent and best your offerings.
In the end, everyone loses. The employees lose motivation and engagement and sometimes their jobs, the customers receive a poorer experience and can lose their favorite products or services, and the shareholders (if any) lose their investment. Employees suffer, leaders suffer, customers suffer, and the business suffers.

But hey, at least everyone got to do whatever they wanted!

So what are some steps you can take to create alignment?

There are a number of things that leaders can do to promote alignment within their organizations, including:

Set clear goals and objectives: Leaders need to clearly define their organization’s goals and objectives. Managers need to clearly define their team’s goals and objectives, that support the organization’s goals and objectives. This will help to ensure that everyone is working towards the same things.
Establish a shared vision: Leaders need to be on the same page regarding the organization’s goals and objectives. This can be achieved by developing a shared vision that all leaders agree on. First, define, then focus on the “how.” Then communicate.
Communicate effectively: Once defined, communicate, communicate, and communicate some more! Leaders need to communicate effectively with their team members. This includes sharing information about the organization’s goals and objectives, informing them of expectations regarding how they can support those, as well as listening to feedback and concerns and taking action.
Empower employees: Leaders need to empower their employees to make decisions and take action. This will help to create a sense of ownership and responsibility among employees. All part of that shared accountability for success. Leaders, gain alignment and get out of their way.
Celebrate success: Leaders need to celebrate success when it happens. Small steps can lead to big victories. Reward for a job well done. Recognize. This will help to motivate employees and keep them focused on achieving the organization’s goals.
Encourage collaboration: Leaders should work together, rather than in silos. Model this behavior for teams. This can be achieved by encouraging cross-functional teams and ensuring that leaders are aware of each other’s responsibilities, where there may be overlap, and where they need support. The same goes for managers and their teams.
Lead by example: Leaders should model the behavior they want to see in their teams. Talk the talk and walk the walk. This includes being open to feedback, remaining accountable, admitting mistakes, and working collaboratively with others. Among other things.
Provide training and development: Leaders may require additional training or development…pssstt…I’m a leadership coach as well… to ensure they have the skills they need to work collaboratively with others, remain accountable, communicate effectively, align on strategy, motivate their teams and grow the business.

Now, let’s get to the good stuff – the benefits.

There are many benefits to leadership alignment, including:

Increased productivity: When leaders and their teams are aligned, they are more likely to make decisions that are in the best interests of the organization. They may not always be happy decisions, but they can lead to increased productivity and efficiency.
Improved decision-making: When leaders are aligned, they are more likely to make sound decisions that are based on a shared understanding of the organization’s goals and objectives. They communicate openly. And remain agile and flexible. This can help to avoid costly mistakes for the business.
Enhanced morale: When leaders are aligned, they are more likely to create a positive and supportive work environment. A positive snowball effect. This can lead to increased employee morale and a more positive employee experience. Back to that, talk the talk and walk the walk.
Improved customer experience: When leaders are aligned, the organization is more likely to provide a consistent and high-quality customer experience. This can help to improve brand loyalty and increase sustainability.

By following these tips, leaders can promote alignment within their organizations and improve their chances of success. Want to chat more in-depth about how to achieve leadership and team alignment…

Schedule a no-strings discovery call and let’s chat!

About Scott Span, MSOD, CSM, ACC: is CEO at Tolero Solutions. As a people strategist, leadership coach, and change and transformation specialist, his work is focused on people. Through his consulting and training work he supports clients to survive and thrive through change and transition and create people-focused cultures and a great employee experience. Through his coaching work, he supports people willing to dig deeper to identify and overcome what’s holding them back, change behaviors, accelerate performance and achieve their goals.

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