As a leader, have you found that your teams are directionally correct, but there still seems to be a missing spark? That spark is alignment.
When teams are misaligned, astute managers can see the signs. People tend to talk past each other. Everyone comes to the table with their own ideas, and in their excitement to share them, they fail to actually listen to each other. But in the world of the instant and immediate, the best way to align your team is by embracing the value of long-form narratives. When you catalog missions, goals, and metrics early on, you create a fail-safe contract with the company and its key stakeholders.
The Danger of Polite Space
When I worked at Amazon, we used long-form narratives to literally spell out our complete thoughts. If I share a PowerPoint presentation with my team, and I use three bullet points to get my ideas across, there’s too much white space left over, too much room for interpretation. To keep everyone aligned on the company’s mission, we need a playbook that removes any guesswork. A focus on critical thinking can help you refine your vision.
To get to this point, I like to bring everybody into a room and ruthlessly debate our ideas. This is the time to get it all out there. Everyone should be encouraged to ask any questions and challenge the content. By the end of the meeting, everyone aligns on all decisions, which are codified in a long-form document. That document becomes an artifact and a contract between you and the company, and in the face of any future confusion, it will serve as living proof of the vision that was agreed upon. And, in doing so, you eliminate the danger of polite space.
The Power of Clearly Defining Success
One of the most crucial elements of this strategy is aligning early and aligning often, particularly with new team members. When an employee joins a team, they need to know what success looks like and how to get there. Goals, responsibilities, and metrics need to be laid out in detail, or alignment is not possible. People may be directionally clear but get lost in the details when things are not explicitly stated. Your team is not properly aligned if each member cannot answer the following questions:
- What is their role?
- What is the mission/purpose they are working towards?
- What does success look like for a project or role?
- How is success measured for that project or role?
- What are they committed to?
When your team is properly aligned, you’ll know it. You’ll see it in their results– higher productivity, optimized efficiency, increased motivation, and boosted morale. Using alignment as a learning tool and teaching opportunity builds a team culture around discipline, with the value of alignment embedded at its core. Aligned teams are unstoppable; investing time and energy into aligning your team is an investment in your company’s future success.