I’ve got a confession. The title is honestly somewhat of a clickbait. Because I’ve witnessed a lot of dysfunctions in teams and organizations across several industries. And summarizing them to 3 neat, common reasons why friction compounds is easier said than done.
But I have noticed one is way more prevalent that others.
You’re probably suffering from misalignment
All the organizations I’ve worked for and with have shared one trait: they’ve been misaligned. And it has created issues to left, right, and center. So, if you’re trying to figure out what’s stopping you from winning, I’d recommend to start looking for where you have misalignment.
3 common types of misalignment
Incentives vs intention
This is large enough for me to have written a stand alone piece on it. Read it here.
To summarize it: creating a functional incentive and goal structure is REALLY hard. A lot of leaders fall short here. First step is to figure out which behaviors are desirable for you to succeed. Then take a long, hard look at the goals and incentives you have in place. Do they point in the same direction? More often than not, they don’t.
Strategy vs capability
Your strategy is clear. Your goals and incentives are aligned. But nothing happens. Why?
A potential issue is misalignment between strategy and capability. And by capability I mean much more than mere competence, because it runs deeper than that. I want to highlight 3 perspectives on capability that needs to be aligned with your strategy.
Competence
Competence is the piece that’s easiest to identify. What key skills do you need to carry out your strategy? Which ones do you have? What is the gap? Do you plan to fix it through hiring or upskilling?
Structure
Structure is more complex than competence. Do you have the digital and human support system that enables the strategy? Are your processes adapted to the strategy or a legacy of old ones? Are your decision pathways clear and fit for purpose? Have you designed a system where it is easier to do right than wrong?
Motivation & culture
This part is usually the hardest. Because it has everything to do with humans. And humans are complex beings. Changing a culture takes a lot of time and effort. But it also requires that a majority of people in your organization are willing to do the work. Not everyone will be and you need to come to terms with that. Resistance can come from many places but you as a leader must act on it. Sometimes acting means longterm change management. Sometimes it means letting go of people who have previously served you well.
Owners vs operations
This misalignment is a tricky one to address. Simply because it is often quite sensitive.
There is a power dynamics between owners and operations that’s seldom spoken about. Before we continue further, I might add that the dynamic is different when the owner is operational, too, but I won’t dive deeper into that type of ownership in this article.
The power the owner has is to have a final say on things. Ultimately they create the owners directive. They appoint the board, which in turn appoints the CEO, and it trickles down from there. They set expectations, targets, and are responsible for the culture.
So, it is easy to believe they have all the power. They don’t. Because operations have the power of information. Owners cannot be as knowledgeable as operations, unless they’re in it. Which, unless they’re operational (and thus excluded from this article), they should not spend their time micro managing the organization.
So, what’s the harm you may say? You may argue that the power dynamics creates a balance in itself. Which it can do, but oftentimes, it creates a different beast.
That beast is operations using the power of information to run the business in a way it sees fit, not necessarily the way the owners want. The thing is, that operations might be right here. They will probably know way better what the organization needs to thrive, than the owners do. Because of the information asymmetry. But, it doesn’t stop friction from compounding.
Owners starting to mistrust operations because it doesn’t really add up. And the information seems fragmented somehow. Operations being annoyed with the owners because “they just don’t get it”. So, they might start to work more behind the curtains than before. Use the mandate they’ve been given more freely. Because every time they’ve consulted the owners and board, decisions have either slowed down or gone in the wrong direction.
This builds resentment over time. In both directions.
Is misalignment completely avoidable?
Short answer: no.
Long answer: perhaps, but let’s not aim for it.
Misalignment can be prevented through clarity, transparency, and trust. In an optimal world that is enough. Reality is way messier than that. Because in reality, you need to make trade-offs every single day. Speed vs quality, one feature against another, the list goes on. That inevitably creates misalignment.
But you can design your way around it, you may argue. And while you probably could, it would mean creating processes, guidelines, and documents that are extremely detailed. Which A) will slow you down immensly, and B) only work until you stumble upon a new necessary trade-off.
My argument is that misalignment is a natural part of business. Heck, even life. The only time you can be completely aligned is when you stand still. And no business has ever succeeded from standing still.
Instead of seeing misalignment as inheritedly bad, I suggest you see it as a natural part of business. It is going to be there whether you like it or not. The key is to take a step back, identify which fishes are big enough to fry, and act swiftly on them.
Enjoy your meal.