When everyone on a team clearly understands their role in the A-to-B (daily tasks), their role in the A-to-Z (big picture goals), and can connect these to their own values, work is both more energizing and more efficient. According to Gallup, 71% of employees rank clarity about their role and goals as critical to their engagement, yet only 50% report having it (Gallup, 2022).
Task compliance is an important part of alignment, but it is only part. Finding alignment between your personal values and your company’s values creates a throughline that helps task alignment fall into place more naturally. For example, if one of your company’s core values is innovation, how does your particular team’s work align with the company’s vision of staying ahead of industry trends? If one of your personal values is recognition, how are you bringing recognition to the innovative contributions and solutions of both those on your team and in other teams?
To be clear: trying to make yourself care about something you don’t care about is a fruitless effort. What makes the real difference is when you can clearly see how the company values that already exist feed into your personal values and the contributions you make to the company.
Alignment needs to happen on two levels:
- Within the Team: Are we clear on how our goals and behaviours align with the company’s values and mission? Do we trust one another to work toward the same outcomes?
- Across the Company: How does our team’s work contribute to the organization’s broader mission? Are we modelling the culture and collaboration we hope to see in other teams?
Here’s the challenge: alignment doesn’t mean competition. Building team pride isn’t about winning against other teams or departments—it’s about showing mutual investment in each other’s success. Think about the culture and behaviors your team models for others. Are you fostering collaboration, or unintentionally creating silos? How could stronger alignment with other teams enhance both your performance and theirs?
“The whole point of collaboration is that you give and take from each other, and that's how you create things that are totally new.” — Virgil Abloh
Ask yourself and your team:
- What’s our team’s role in accomplishing the company’s mission?
- What feedback could we give to other teams to help them succeed?
- What feedback should we request to improve our collaboration with them?
True alignment doesn’t just help your team perform better—it amplifies the success of the entire organization.