How to Increase Team Alignment and Commitment

The Importance of Team Alignment and Commitment
Based upon over three decades of hands-on leadership and team experience, we consider team alignment as a key indicator of organizational health and high performance. Team alignment occurs when all members of the team are working together effectively and willingly to achieve shared goals in a way that makes sense to the people AND the business.

As a team leader, do you fully appreciate the power and promise of team alignment in realizing individual, team, and organizational goals?

Team Alignment and Commitment Research
Our organizational alignment research across eight industries and over 400 companies found that highly aligned companies and teams not only grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable, but they also outperform unaligned organizations at these rates:

• Customer Retention 2.23-to-1
• Customer Satisfaction 3.2-to-1
• Leadership Effectiveness 8.71-to-1
• Employee Engagement 16.8-to-1

How Can You Increase Team Alignment and Commitment?

1. Assess the Current State of Team Alignment
   First you need to assess your current level of alignment to figure out the level of psychological team safety, strategic clarity, cultural accountability, team health, and team capabilities.  Get input from all team members and the key stakeholders they must serve and influence to understand answers to questions like:
   
   – Do we understand, believe in, and agree upon individual and team goals and priorities?
   – Do we have a clear line of sight to how we impact the overall organization?
   – Are we clear on who is responsible for which tasks and where the interdependencies lie?
   – Are team norms and performance expectations clear and agreed to at the individual and team level?
   – Are there adequate and appropriately allocated resources?
   – Do results depend upon collective effort, multiple skills, judgments, and experiences?
   – Have we co-created a team charter that everyone buys into?
   
2. Agree Upon the Critical Few Moves to Increase Team Alignment and Commitment
   There are multiple reasons why a team may lack optimum alignment. Ensure that you actively involve your team and their key stakeholders in analyzing the current situation and co-creating how to create high performance. 
   
   The most common challenges are:
   
   – Lack of true strategic clarity that causes confusion around the day-to-day actions and priorities that carry the team forward
   – Lack of an agreed-upon decision making process
   – Insufficient or misunderstood skills or capabilities of individual team members
   – Interpersonal conflicts among some team members
   – Misunderstood assumptions and misaligned cultural beliefs and business practices
   
   Agree upon the one or two actions that would most impact team alignment? Then ruthlessly focus on improving, measuring, and rewarding those factors.

The Bottom Line
When you have a team that agrees upon what collective success looks like and on the path to get there, you have a team with a sense of purpose that enhances engagement and performance. Are you ready to aim for the level of team alignment that smooths the path to success?

To learn more about how to increase team alignment and commitment, download 7 Immediate Actions to Create Alignment with Goals