The “arrangement in a straight line” immediately triggers the word order in my mind - alignment in our organizations and lives create order.
What does order feel like? It feels like organization, proper prioritization, and clarity around strategy, and the actions that stem from strategy.
Imagine the possibilities, the productivity, and the impact that could stem from regular order.
Last week, we talked about how practicing “active listening” can lead us in identifying “root cause” issues vs. surface level issues, and how that can save organizations some serious time and money.
When we’re able to identify and strategize around “root causes”, we can begin to achieve a more regular order in our strategies.
When we become razor sharp at identifying root causes and building strategies around them - we create order - or alignment in our organizations.
Why is it critical to success?
Without continuous alignment - we encounter a lack of clear direction, a lack of connection between the organization’s vision and operations, and a team that may feel like they’re not able to maximize their performance.
Here’s a framework that can help you as a leader, practice continuous alignment:
The Continuous Alignment Framework:
Listen -> Identify Root Causes -> Translate -> Set Priorities
We have the ability to practice this framework over and over again - daily - with ourselves and our teams in order to create repeated clarity.
Let’s look at each of the components within the framework:
Listen: Practice active listening daily with yourself and your team - what are you hearing? What is and is not being said?
Identify Root Causes: Pinpoint the correct, underlying causes of issues/scenarios that need to be addressed.
Translate: Connect the key issue list with the vision and mission of the organization - what is the ideal solution using the lens of the organizations’ identity?
Set Priorities: Based on quarterly objectives, prioritize key issues to keep in step with where you’re headed.
This is a repeatable framework that can be used daily with the team. When working through each of these components, it opens up a conversation with our team and invites them intothe practice of listening first, pinpointing issues accurately, and designing solutions and outcomes that are in alignment with the vision and mission of the organization. The continuous alignment framework empowers them to make decisions on our behalf in a way that we can trust as leaders.