It’s pretty much the same on most large enterprises or companies where the more the departments and people are, the
more complex are the processes and methods for communication. Many seem to have managed to regulate the flow to
make everything organized, but only a few CEOs have truly mastered the ways on how to keep everyone from the
simplest worker up to the managers become genuinely aligned and on the same page.
As you should know, the most successful companies are those that are aligned – on strategy, purpose and objectives - or
in other terms, Streamlined.
Generally, most people assume that this is the role of a senior leader, yet much of this alignment happens at a team level.
Over 70% of employees said to be disengaged from their company, & good managers can do more to ensure that their
team is on the same page as their purpose, their tools, and their output.
While many of us have tried being in a leadership position, here are tips on how a manager kept his teams aligned:
No matter how you try to align everything & yet there’s no shared understanding, this alignment will only last briefly or
temporarily. It’s like having two people on the same boat & one starts rowing forward while the other is rowing backward.
Great teams row constantly together in the right direction, even when the destination shifts.
The best approach to do this is to get everyone in a room & leave their assumptions to make sure everyone understands the
same thing about how your product works.
Establishing this shared understanding takes a bit of work, however, pays off many times over. We still create and refer to
the directional map until now and it helps quickly clear up any misconceptions about how our product functions.
Great managers eliminate obstacles so that team members can concentrate on one thing and really get it done. But when
everybody has a single focus on one area, you may be so focused on your own domain that you lose sight of the big picture.
Good managers can act as this omniscient, omnipresent force that has a laser focus on your team’s level of quality, and can
keep everyone on track to meet it.
Everyone is always ensured to stay up to date with our key operational and product metrics. We place these in a single
dashboard where it’s visible to the entire team. So that everyone can focus deeply on their work yet at a glance can see if
our level of quality is being kept up or if there may be fires that need to be put out.
Numerous leaders attempt the “command and control” style of administration, where decisions come from the top to the
bottom. They make the decisions then instruct the team what to do and who is required to leave and build it. With this scene,
it’s very difficult to keep the team aligned. It’s greatly demotivating to just execute someone else’s orders. If you deny a team
of making their own choices, don’t be surprised when they leave you for a team where they are allowed to decide.
A great way to help solve this is to create a culture where individual team members are given direct input into the product
roadmap. We do this at a micro level at our weekly ideation sessions. Many team members might be reluctant to share ideas
early on, but you can help things along by asking questions of your team, which inevitably teases out new ideas.
Is this the most impactful thing we can work on right on? Could we solve this problem in a different way? Are we even
solving the right problem at all? Good questions are truly a great way of nudging people towards having an impact on your
roadmap. And the more impact your team feel they’re having, the more aligned everyone will be.
For a regular manager with a heavy list of demands, alignment can always feel like nice to have as opposed to pressing
priority. One or two misaligned individuals might not seem like much in the short term, yet it can be extremely damaging for
your team and your company in the long run when you ignore this.
Get your alignment right with Streamline to prevent your team from floating off course and avoid any icebergs approaching
soon. Don't forget to drop your comments or questions below and visit as on our site to know how we can help your team
stay on the same page.
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