All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get, but may not be getting the results they want. 

Most leaders struggle because their organization is misaligned and are addressing the symptoms rather than the root cause. 

When leaders I work with aren’t getting the results they want, their natural instinct is to push harder by adding pressure, increasing accountability, bringing in new/different resources, and attacking the obvious problem, which causes their team to work harder. 

I often challenge the leader, suggesting that results are not random. They are the product of how their organization is aligned. 

Your strategy, priorities, systems, culture, communication, and decision-making processes are all working together, whether intentionally or unintentionally, to produce the results for your most recent project. 

If results aren’t where you want them to be, the first question I ask is, “What in your current alignment is producing this outcome?” 

It shifts away from blame and toward curiosity and root-cause thinking. If you want to cure something, you can’t just address the symptoms; you have to look closely at the root cause. Things don’t need to be perfect. They need to be aligned.

Misalignments compound over time. Unclear strategies, competing priorities, values that aren’t reinforced and lived up to, and processes that reward the wrong behaviors are all things that can cause your organization to stray further and further from its goals and results it wants. 

All organizations are perfectly aligned to get the results they get. It is the leader’s role to focus on getting aligned.