Is Your Leadership Team Aligned?

Does it ever feel like your executive team keeps having the same debates over and over again?

There can be lots of reasons for this, but there's an important one hardly anyone talks about.

It’s not clear, well-established priorities - though it's critical to be on the same page about what the organization is focusing on, and what that means when you need to make tradeoffs.

It’s not improved team dynamics - though this is an essential investment because a dysfunctional leadership team has tremendous ripple effects.

It’s not even clear, documented decision-making processes - though, as I've written before, these can really help your organization go from stressed to strategic.

It’s that you aren’t aligned on your organization’s role.

Your role - in your community and within your cause's ecosystem - helps you understand:

→ What you do best as an organization
→ How you help
→ How to collaborate effectively with others

Here’s why it matters:

When you all have different ideas about your organization's role, you will continue to consistently have very different ideas about:

→ How you should deliver your mission
→ What investments to make
→ What impact looks like

Misalignment on role leads to too many "priorities" being shoe-horned into strategic plans, confusion during implementation, and demoralized and exhausted staff.

Here’s an analogy to help with understanding:

Let's say you're currently sitting in Washington, DC, but you need to get yourself and your team to San Diego, CA in the next four days.

You have access to maps, helpful navigation equipment, and a wide variety of transportation options.

How will you get there?

You can research the options, discuss them, and make a choice.

But one of the most important pieces of information you need to know is - who are you?

A pilot and a bus driver both have the skills, knowledge and resources to get from Washington, DC to San Diego, but they'll have entirely different ways of getting there.

A pilot may be able to drive a bus, but they won't know the best routes, where to stop, or which roads to avoid to get to San Diego on time.

A bus driver may be able to start a plane and get it moving down the runway, but may not be able to get it off the ground.

Your role is fundamental to your impact & success.

And your executive team's lack of alignment on this may be one of the biggest things holding you back.

I'd love to hear - are you spending time defining your organization’s role? Join the conversation over on LinkedIn.