Ep238: Alignment: Get it and Keep it (Free Workshop)

Most teams believe they’re aligned. But alignment rarely breaks overnight. It drifts.

Priorities shift. Roles become unclear. Communication breaks down. Before long, teams are working hard but not necessarily moving in the same direction.

In this episode, Humanergy coach Quay Eady shares practical strategies leaders can use to spot alignment drift early and bring their teams back onto the same page.

You’ll learn how alignment gaps often show up in three areas, priorities, roles, and behavior, and how a simple alignment recalibration conversation can help leaders restore focus, ownership, and accountability.

Quay also introduces a practical model leaders can use to resolve misalignment while staying on the Green Path with Humanergy’s framework for What Great Teams Do Great.

If you lead a team, manage projects, or want stronger collaboration across your organization, this conversation will give you tools you can use immediately.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why alignment rarely breaks suddenly, it drifts
• The three most common alignment gaps in teams
• How to clarify priorities and create focus
• How role clarity improves accountability and decision-making
• How leaders reinforce behaviors that support high performance

This workshop is part of Humanergy’s free monthly leadership series, where our coaches share practical leadership tools leaders can apply right away.

You can register for upcoming sessions at:
 https://humanergy.com

Learn more about Humanergy's work: https://www.humanergy.com

Join the Humanergy community on LinkedIn.

Sign up for our FREE leadership workshops. 

Transcript

Humanergy (00:15)
Hey, I’m Mimi with Humanergy. This workshop is part of our free monthly leadership series where we share practical tools leaders can use right away with their teams.

In this session, Quay Eady presents on alignment. Most teams think they’re aligned, but alignment rarely breaks overnight. It drifts. Priorities shift, roles get fuzzy, and communication starts to break down.

In this workshop, Quay will show you how to spot alignment gaps early and lead the conversations that bring teams back onto the same page.

You can register for our free sessions on our website, and we hope you’ll join us.

Over to Quay.

Quay Eady (00:52)
Let’s talk about it today, guys. Alignment.

We really want to get it and keep it. In the chat, you all put out some really good things when it came to being on the same page and getting alignment. It allows you to, what some people say, row the boat. Yes, row in the right direction. Your goals are met on time. The most important thing is that there are fewer mistakes and fewer breakdowns in communication. That’s what teams really need.

Most teams really think they’re aligned, but alignment drifts quietly. It’s not a loud thing. It doesn’t break down overnight. It breaks down slowly, and it creates drift when there’s no recalibration.

So the way we’re defining alignment today is ensuring that all parties have the same picture of success, timelines, roles, and expectations. The picture in my mind is the same exact picture that’s in your mind. We are aligned. The team is moving in the right direction. We’re all marching to the same beat.

Because alignment can turn into misalignment really fast. And that can end up with costly mistakes. Could you imagine how much it’s going to cost to fix this railroad?

Costly mistakes are not on anyone’s list. No one is planning for costly mistakes. So high-performing teams, the best teams in the business, notice drift early and do whatever they have to do to bring everyone back onto the same page.

Drift happens in the gap. These alignment gaps are really important to think about. There are tons of alignment gaps that could happen, but these three are the ones you’ll see most frequently. There’s either a gap in the understanding of priorities, people’s roles, or people’s behavior.

Alignment drift really happens in these gaps. That’s when we’re not aligned on those three things.

So let’s walk through the three quickly, and I’ll give you some signals of when they’re happening.

First, a priority gap. That’s when everyone around you is busy, but no one is focusing on the right thing. People are coming in, they’re there, they’re doing their time, but there’s really no momentum toward the goal. We’re not really accomplishing anything.

This doesn’t have to be because someone is out of touch. It could be because there are competing priorities. The direction is shifting so fast that it’s hard to keep up, especially if communication isn’t effective.

Sometimes there’s also something called initiative overload. We’re always chasing noise instead of impact. That constant urgency will definitely create priority gaps.

You’ve all heard the saying: if everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.

So we have to be very clear. Are people busy and busy in the right direction, or are they just busy doing nothing?

Number two is a role gap. This is all about ownership. This is when ownership is assumed rather than explicit.

This is when you hear things like, “I thought John was doing it.” If there’s a John in here, not you. “I thought Dale was doing it.” Not you either, Dale.

That’s what a role gap sounds like.

Decisions start to stall. Who’s making the decision? I thought they were making it. I thought you were making it. If everybody thinks somebody else is doing it, nobody actually does it.

Then work starts to circle back. Things get reworked. They’re not done correctly. It’s funny that we can always find time to do something over, but rarely find time to do it right the first time.

I’m not going to get into quantum physics, but time is time. If we have the time to redo it, we could have done it right the first time.

Clarity of ownership is powerful because it builds trust between team members and the leader. Role clarity helps close that role gap and helps the team move stronger and faster.

Now the third one is the behavior gap. Some people call it a conduct gap or a standards gap. This is when the values on the wall don’t match the behavior within those walls.

Sometimes we say as a company we’re committed to collaboration, innovative thinking, or open communication. But no one has the hard conversations. No one has the one-on-ones. No one has the coaching or development conversations that actually change how people think and behave.

Without recalibration, the standards soften. When the standards start to change, the culture starts to change. Then the words on the wall become dusty words on the wall instead of the way we show up every day for our clients, our customers, and our members.

Alignment starts to drift when there’s a gap in priorities, roles, or behavior. But those gaps can be closed.

There is hope. There’s something we can do as leaders to close these gaps and restore alignment. I’ll give you two levels.

The first level is what we’ll call an alignment recalibration conversation. This could be a one-on-one, a team meeting, a project meeting, anything. It’s three simple questions that produce powerful results.

First, clarify what matters most.
The best teams keep their priorities visible and reinforce them. You’ll hear leaders say, “What matters most right now is X, Y, and Z.”

That gives people focus and momentum.

Second, who owns what.
This defines ownership and accountability. Who decides what? Who executes what? Who supports what?

One of my favorite ways to end a meeting is: “Who’s doing what by when?”

When that’s clear, you get faster decisions and less friction.

Third, reinforce behaviors that support performance.
What behaviors will help us succeed? How do we need to show up and work together?

The best teams don’t just state their values. They model them and reinforce them. That builds accountability, collaboration, and trust, which leads to stronger cultures and sustained performance.

This three-part recalibration conversation is the practical way to get alignment and keep it.

There’s also a second level, which is a model you can download for free from our website.

This model helps teams stay on the green path, which focuses forward on solutions and is rooted in communication that is caring, honest, and direct. It helps you avoid the red path, which includes attacking, ignoring, blaming, or being defensive.

When misalignment happens, you can use this model to ask a few key questions.

Do we have the right team?
 Are we truly aligned?

If not, you start with foundational questions:

Who are we?
 What are we really trying to achieve and why?
 What external reality are we facing?
 What obstacles are in our way?
 What are our non-negotiable behaviors for working together?

If that foundation is strong, you move into improvement.

Do we have the right plan to achieve our goals?
 What are our deliverables?
 What resources do we need?
 Who’s doing what by when?

And finally, the discipline cycle.

Are we doing what we said we were going to do?
 Are we implementing the plan, making the right decisions, meeting, checking in, supporting each other, and solving problems?

Level two is powerful, but I recommend starting with level one, the recalibration conversation. Then use the model annually to make sure your team is aligned and moving in the right direction.

Alignment simply means we all share the same picture of success, timelines, roles, and expectations.

And when alignment is strong, it accelerates performance, productivity, and overall success.

So from me to you, friends, when it comes to alignment, you’ve got to get it and keep it.