Article: Exploring Alignment

by Laura J. Stone

I was on the phone recently with a client. During the call I asked him, "Jim, what are you being rewarded for? Do you know what results are expected from you and your team?" He paused. I think my question must have caught him off guard because it was one of those longer than usual quiet moments.

"Interestingly, I really don't know," he replied. "But this is what I think is important and what is expected from our team," and from there he launched into a long list of his perceived expectations about what results were expected and what they should be doing. His list certainly seemed valid to me, but I wondered if his boss and stakeholders would agree. Just how aligned is his thinking with that of his boss and his stakeholders?

Changing Business Needs

Business needs are constantly changing. For example, work that was valued and applicable just 18 months ago may no longer be the focus needed to drive results now. Most likely current business needs and demands have evolved in your field or industry. The needs of your stakeholders, defined as your clients, your customers and your team members, continually shift and it is up to you and your team to understand the unique challenges your stakeholders face and what keeps them up at night.

The more closely aligned your team is to the needs, goals and concerns of your stakeholders, the better able they will be to respond and deliver results. The following steps will guide you through the process to align expectations and to surface your unique core levers in order to produce superior results.

Team Perspective

You and your team are at the heart of the process for how you will strategize and implement changes. For this reason, it is important to begin with your team and work toward an understanding of their perspective. As a jumpstart, the following ideas may help you bring the train out of the station. Have a dialogue around:

  • What does our team provide that our stakeholders cannot get anywhere else?
  • What are the things our stakeholders rely on us for?
  • What are the weaknesses of our team and how do we recommend addressing them?

Lastly, ask your team to shift perspectives to that of their stakeholders. If your team was standing in the shoes of your stakeholders, what would they say your stakeholders value about your team? Ask your team to come up with a list, prioritize that list, and then grade themselves on each activity, task or deliverable.

The reason for this exercise is two-fold. The first reason is that through this exercise the team will discuss, will debate and will discover areas where team members' thinking overlaps and areas where the thinking is disparate. Secondly, it forces your team to see themselves and their work and value through the eyes of their stakeholders. This data provides a baseline in order to compare the team's thoughts with the stakeholders' feedback. Even though no actions or goals have been planned, this is the beginning of alignment.

Asking for Feedback

Your team's thinking and perspective is only part of the equation. For the full formula, teams need to reach out and proactively ask others for their candid and revealing input. The combination of your team-assessment and the conversations with their stakeholders will provide valuable data to understand their and others' perceptions in order to work toward alignment.

Asking for and receiving candid feedback may feel a bit awkward. It takes courage on your team's behalf to want an honest opinion about themselves and their work. Feedback can be confronting, and may bring the team to face issues that they have successfully avoided or ignored for quite some time. (We've all been there!) Fortunately, time and time again we find that stakeholders are thrilled to be asked to give feedback, and they gravitate toward supporting the person or team in the asking seat.

External Feedback

We may perceive something to be a certain way, but how do we really know? Our client, Jim, made an educated guess about his stakeholders' wants and needs, but unless he asks, it is only his best guess. Clarity about external perceptions is one of the great strategic levers. The knowledge and insights your team will gain will allow them to target their efforts and discover their core levers - those areas, that when focused on, produce great results aligned with your strategic goals.

After the team has discussed what they believe stakeholders value in them, it is time to turn their attention to understanding external perceptions. The intention is to become clear about how your team is perceived by others. Your team's objectives are to understand what others value about their work and how your stakeholders depend on you.

The questions are similar to what you discussed together as a team. Pick three or four stakeholders and ask them:

  • What does our team provide that you cannot get anywhere else?
  • What do you rely on our team for?
  • What are our team's gaps and how would you recommend addressing them?
  • What are your greatest concerns that keep you up at night?

Understanding the Gap

When you are finished meeting with your selected stakeholders, your team will have armfuls of data including a team-assessment of their strengths and areas for growth, and stakeholder feedback. The team will need to sort through and surface common themes - areas where the team's assessment and that of their stakeholders overlap. The team will also notice that there are discrepancies. Things your team had not thought of before or areas that they thought were going well but that your stakeholders feel could use some attention.

Planning for the Future

Given what your team learned, how would making these changes bring your team results, are they doable and most importantly, does your team want to make the changes needed to achieve the results?

Exploring the questions posed in this article should bring your team closer to developing their strategy. We all have choices. With some introspection and understanding from our stakeholders' perceptions, your team will have data that can help them make the educated decision about the right next steps to align their strategy and goals with what is expected of them and gain clarity about why they are really here.

Author: Laura J. Stone, Principal, StoneWorks Strategic Consulting, Inc.