One of the biggest obstacles to the success of teams and organizations is achieving alignment. Webster defines alignment as “an arrangement of groups or forces in relation to one another.” Webster defines misalignment as “a condition of being badly or improperly aligned.”Regardless of whether an organization or team is attempting to overcome misalignment or to achieve alignment, the challenges that must be overcome are the same. The five most significant challenges to achieving team and/or organizational alignment are:
1. Attaining shared understanding of business and human dynamics
2. Building and sustaining an environment of trust
3. Gaining commitment
4. Instituting accountability
5. Exercising oversight and providing timely feedback
Unless these challenges are overcome, alignment is not possible and expected results will be sub-optimized.