Deep Alignment – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

The two fibers that align everything and everyone

Photo by Ameer Basheer on Unsplash

There’s a lot of talk about getting everyone in the same boat, rowing together, aiming every arrow at the same target. So how do we pull it off? How do we reach the alignment a team needs to achieve what it sets out to do? Perhaps the question we skip, the one we should ask first, is why that alignment matters. An organization is defined by its purpose, its values and every action it takes day to day in its own distinct way, which is what sets it apart.

Alignment means understanding the work that needs doing, yet one ingredient is still missing. Explaining the vision and convincing a group of people that once they reach the destination things will be much better than today, or wonderful for everyone, is part of the basics. It’s an elementary leadership task that should never be dropped. Assertiveness plays an important role here in knowing what to say, how to say it and to whom. Even after all that effort, though, the job isn’t done. Alignment needs one more element.

In a previous post I wrote about deep change and how to bring it about. The counterpart of deep change is deep alignment. Alignment happens in our most basic fibers, at the level of values and purpose. When we share a purpose, a common one beyond our own, it’s because we’re willing to get in the boat, share a bench, take an oar, row and give everything to reach the goals that fulfill it. By the same logic, it’s easy to see how someone can step off "the best boat they could ever have boarded." It all depends on who the boat is best for.

When purposes are in tune, we find deep alignment. I call it deep because it goes beyond what we usually mean by alignment. That depth makes the point that it has to happen at the level of purpose. Otherwise, any alignment effort will be fleeting, with short-term results. Working out how to align the purposes of every person in an organization may be one of the biggest jobs we as leaders need to understand today, learn and, above all, put into practice as soon as possible if we want to adapt as well as we can to the world we live in.

A person’s fibers are their values and purpose. So are an organization’s. Once that’s clear, what else do we need to be aligned?

A hug and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. Congratulations to my colleague Natalia Loyato on earning her ACC coach credential from the International Coaching Federation (ICF). It reflects your work, discipline and commitment to coaching excellence, and I’m truly happy for you.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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