Expert opinion: Alignment is about shared purpose

One of the biggest challenges that CEO’s face today is successful execution of strategies. And the reason strategies fail to get executed is because the leadership team is not aligned to the ‘whys’ and ‘ho¬ws’ of the strategy. Also, a lot of senior level leadership teams are not able to gel as a team and get aligned to each other. This becomes a major stumbling block in organizational success. For any strategy to see the light of the day, the teams at the top need to buy-into the strategy, and agree on the first steps in order to execute it. They need to have a shared purpose and each member of the team needs to be aware of their own strengths and areas of developments. Also, appreciation of the strengths of others in the team and respect for each other are critical and these aspects make for the cornerstones for individuals to align as a team. Without a top team that is aligned, any organizational strategy, however, good it may be, may not see the light of the day. For execution to happen, top team alignment is critical.

The best way to measure alignment is to first remove the ‘subjective element' of alignment. The first step is to define alignment objectively. Hence, it is best to define the aspects around understanding of the larger purpose (the vision) and what will lead to it, for example, customer experience, process, people etc. The next step then is to see how individual leaders in the team view the various elements. The degree of convergence and divergence is a great measure of alignment in the team. Our Talent Management brand, Right Management uses a great tool – “Workforce Navigator” (WFN) to measure team alignment. It captures the views of the team members on two scales of various organizational elements — “The degree of importance” and the “degree of satisfaction”. The analysis gives a very strong indication on how aligned the entire team is on each of the elements. Alongside this, we need to remember that leadership behavior is best measured on the ground. Hence, the amount of conflicts and time for decision-making is a good indicator of the alignment a team has.  

The cornerstone for any team alignment is appreciation and respect for others. Hence, understanding each-other’s personality and appreciating their strengths is extremely important. Each leader needs to understand and appreciate the interdependencies individuals have with each other in the team. We have always found that facilitated discussions in Leadership Alignment sessions also work very well. You need to bring in data from tools like WFN and Psychometric tools into the discussion. Creating a platform for continuous discussions between team members (not review discussions) ensure that alignment is sustained. 

Our group company, Right Management does substantial work in this area. A case-in-point is the recent work they did for a large retail company which is undergoing a transformation journey as part of their 2020 vision. The board and CEO were facing the challenge that the speed of execution on the ground was not what it needed to be. Also, there were a lot of conflicts in the team (CEO’s and functional heads) resulting in delayed decision and lack of required support to each other. The diagnostic conversation and tools gave an indication that the leaders had not completely bought into the vision. There was misalignment (and in some cases lack of trust) between the old guards and some new leaders who had been hired from other organizations. The situation also became complex because of the working style of some individual leaders due to their personality style. 

We spent two days with the entire leadership team to get them to appreciate their vision, the building block to it. The team reflected on the speed of execution and how leadership behavior was impacting it. They were able to share and discuss feedback with each other in a non-threatening environment. The entire team felt a different level of energy and ownership towards making the vision happen and also helping each other in doing so. 

Alignment to the larger vision and to each other’s strengths, and an appreciation of interdependencies is what is required for increasing internal cohesion. Yes, there can be conflict of interest but everyone comes with their unique strengths — a great team always ensures a great balance. Organizations can ensure that there is no conformity bias but still optimal alignment by creating a non-threatening environment. If people feel they will be judged, they will seek to display the “right” or “appropriate” behavior.