Why Leadership Alignment Matters Today

What does it take to get people to align with the leader’s vision or goal?

Roadshows? Cascades? Emails? Meetings? Repetition?

It’s a challenge. Tactics matter but the right strategy and framework are much more important.

The ‘misalignment tax’

In our recent webinar, “Leadership Alignment: Three Conversations That Matter for Communicators,” we explored why the gap between strategy and execution is widening globally and what three conversations need to happen to make success more likely.

Wayne Aspland, Co-Founder of Clear Leaders, and a Senior Leadership, Strategy, and Change Communication Professional, shared the findings of a study involving 55 CEOs, strategy officers, and consultants across five continents.

And what did they discover? There is a “misalignment tax” that eats up organizational time, capacity, and trust in organizations. It was not a simple communication task after all.

Three conversations communicators need to have

But there is a solution. It involves a framework centered on three types of dialogue: executive, public, and private conversations. Aspland shared insights on how these conversations support the company’s strategy and ability to pivot.

Executive Conversations: These focus on achieving genuine C-suite unity and resolving hidden agendas before a strategy is shared with the organization to prevent conflict. 

Public Conversations: This is when we move away from top-down cascades toward two-way “listening tours” that foster employee ownership and bridge the “say-do gap” in leadership.

Private Conversations: These are the critical daily dialogues where middle managers translate high-level strategy into specific, relevant work for their direct reports.

Aspland elaborated in this framework during the webinar and showed how communicators can shift from managing messages to becoming enablers of a more nimble and dynamic organization.

Attendees went home with another useful and effective tool for communicating better. If you are an IABC member, you enjoy free exclusive access to these webinars and masterclasses. So don’t miss out on the next opportunity to learn and sharpen your skills.