1. Leadership Alignment

There is no standard ‘right way’ to making an organisation successful.

Successful organisations do share common characteristics however, and an unrelenting alignment of its leaders to its cause is one of those.

This does not mean that everyone must be in a position of continual agreement - it’s important to cherish and nurture disagreement – it means that the reason why the organisation exist and the fundamental values that guide decision making should be seen as non-negotiable.

The very best organisations have leadership teams that are focussed on delivering its purpose together, using a clear improvement system that defines, at a structural level, how.

They are the privileged custodians of that system during their time in post and should strive to create the best possible environment for it to be enacted.

Frequently, it is a long series of unhelpful paradigms that creates a leadership team, often resulting in a team of individuals that are challenged by the organisation and their own experiences to do the best that they can.

To understand this is to be continually cognisant that we have all experienced different lives up to the point we start a journey of change together and that the reason anyone takes action is because they are hoping to experience a sense of achievement and respect from those around them, in short, enjoy increased self-esteem.

We must assume positive intent from all.

This empathetic position is a necessary starting point when it comes to a team aligning to a given direction; this is the essence of collaborative work. Individual endeavour in a different direction is only undertaken because of a belief that they will do better that way, but no individual can win or lose. The only important measurable is how effectively your organisation delivers its purpose as seen by its beneficiaries.

An empathetic leadership team feeling a strong constancy of purpose together is critical for success.

In this series, you will discover how to align on the reason why an organisation exists and also how to go about delivering that purpose in the most productive way.