Alignment 101: What is Alignment and Why do I Care?

Today we’re going to start talking about how to get people and teams aligned. When I told people I was starting a newsletter, several folks said to me “you’ve got to write about that thing you do where you somehow get people on the same page without pissing them off.” It came up so much, unprompted, that I knew it had to be a major topic for the Dot Release. 

Most things in life are too big for one person to do alone. Alignment is what lets people work independently towards a common goal. That’s why being able to identify misalignment, and get people  aligned is such a useful skillset. 

This is a huge topic and I’ve got a LOT to say about it. I’m going to start with a series on Alignment 101. It will lay down the basics concepts and tools. My goal with the Dot Release is that each article delivers something you can apply right away. So first, we’ll build some foundations and then I’ve got lots of ideas for 201 or 301 level articles to help you level up from there. 

To give a concrete example, alignment means you can leave a meeting, come back a week later and the work that has been carried out since that meeting will still fit together towards your goal. If you left the potluck planning discussion thinking you were all set for a great meal, you don’t want to get to the potluck and find nothing but six apples, eighteen bags of potato chips and a chainsaw. (Though if you’re a juggler, that could be a good challenge.) 

Lack of alignment doesn’t always show up as a straightforward disagreement. It can look like:

• Misunderstanding. People thought they were all on the same page but they weren’t. Maybe someone thought that you’d need to build that picnic table and a chainsaw would come in handy. 
• Unvoiced disagreement. People nodding along who don’t mean it. Who needs salads, when potato chips are the perfect food?
• Post-alignment overriding. People who were there were all on the same page when at one point, but then some people got redirected or overridden, whether arbitrarily or for good reasons. If you compound that with a lack of agreement on how to communicate post-alignment you’re definitely increasing the odds of a chainsaw showing up.
• Lack of specificity in the alignment. You need to find the right level of detail to ensure you’ll not just have food, but the right variety of food. Or you all agreed on “good” without defining what “good” means. In a future article I’ll dig into more specifics of how to around values, goals, or tasks.  

Your Dot Release: Identify an area where you think you’re being affected by a lack of alignment. Write down or talk through (to yourself or someone else) exactly what isn’t aligned. Sometimes understanding that clearly and with specificity is enough to see the next step you can take to improve the situation.

In the next newsletter I’ll start talking about how to navigate disagreements. I hope you’ll join me there. And please do send me feedback, questions, and things you think I’ve missed as we go through this series. Replying to this email goes right to my inbox.

Welcome to the Dot Release, my newsletter for focused and actionable career, leadership, and product advice. You don't need a full upgrade, just implement a dot release! If this has been helpful for you, please forward and share with a friend. Subscribe.