The 6 Keys to Organizational Alignment

To win a crew championship, the racing team must align perfectly with each stroke.  

To win a championship in any organization, perfect alignment is the most important ingredient.  

Yet, being aligned isn't as easy as it sounds.  

Last week in Dallas, NFL officials informed the owners of the league's 32 franchises that their teams had spent $800 million on fired coaches and front-office executives over the past five years. 

The league office believed this significant cash outlay would remind owners that their lack of patience is costly. But if you're heading down the wrong road, being patient won't keep you from being lost.

For most of the 32 owners, who have made billions of dollars with their success in other businesses, patience isn't their real problem. While it may be a virtue in some contexts, patience only works when an organization is perfectly aligned.

Unfortunately, many owners don't understand how to build this alignment within their organization. They focus instead on acquiring talent, finding the right play-caller, and listening to people on the outside who aren't qualified to offer advice.  

So what is organizational alignment?

Alignment is “a state of agreement or cooperation among persons or groups with a common cause or viewpoint.” When your organization really nails it, all employees — from entry-level to your leadership team — share and act on your vision.

Organizational alignment is the glue to performance excellence. It’s the absolute compatibility between strategic paths (goals, objectives and activities) and cultural (values, practices and behaviors).

Strategy implementation cannot happen without execution, and that requires a completely invested organization. It also requires a lean one; the larger the staff, the harder it becomes to handle alignment daily.  

Here is where rowing and football come together. Creating alignment in any organization is similar to creating the fastest boat in a crew race. Each oarsman must be perfectly harmonious with each stroke, aligned with one another upon entering and exiting the water.

The same goes for championship organizations. Each member must understand his/her role and believe in the philosophy. Each row of the oarsman matters, as does each member working within the organization's framework.  

To create this perfect harmony, owners must follow these steps and stay patient.

1. The ownership group defines the team — the philosophy on the macro level — from the leadership style to dealing with players, contracts, agents, employees and staff. The organization is an extension of the owner's business beliefs. The only constant of the team is the owner; everyone else will come and go — therefore, the ownership group must define the philosophy.

2. Have complete and total faith in the organization's philosophy. Don't rely on mid-level hires to create the philosophy. People will come and go — BUT the philosophy must always remain.

3. Have a lean organization — the fewer people involved, the easier to create unity and perfect strokes each day. Less equals more.

4. Have one voice at all times. One voice to preach the message constantly.

5. Don't solicit outside opinions. Rely on those hired to handle their roles.

6. Be patient. Perfect alignment will always win over change.

It takes planning and effort to gain alignment.

Once aligned, as with any great crew boat, winning will occur.