How to align with your team to overcome any obstacle

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I see it every day, all the time: different perspectives, power struggles, and misaligned personalities. In any industry, leaders and managers are constantly solving problems and making decisions of all sizes that often require team collaboration. Although a solution may not be able to consider every dimension of a problem, we can make a decision that considers enough dimensions to satisfy as many stakeholders as possible. This step, however, is easier said than done.

How can we overcome obstacles from different perspectives and create alignment to make better decisions as a team? By aligning each individual piece in the same direction.

With everyone aligned on scope, criteria and mindset, as different as our roles are, we all know which direction to go. An effective team effort depends on this alignment.

Related: "The Alignment Factor": Collaboration is the Backbone of Alignment

To start a productive conversation that leads to effective solutions, the first place a team needs to be aligned is on the scope. To do this, we must align our perspectives with the magnitude of the problem. Different people might perceive the scope of a challenge differently. Until the scope is aligned, any discussion is unlikely to help resolve the issue.

A couple evaluating their dog's diet, for example, may have different scopes: one partner may talk about the dog's diet for the animal's health, while the other is concerned about its impact on the monthly budget. Both subjects are important, but they must be treated separately. Once they identify which is more important, budget or diet, they can align with that scope and have a meaningful discussion.

Approach the scope first to draw a boundary around the intended goal in which to find an applicable solution. This anchors team brainstorming to a focal point while allowing as many divergent ideas as possible to stay within that scope. Let everyone bring their point of view, but discard anything that differs.

Once the scope is defined, we need to align with criteria (which can be used to judge a solution as good or bad) to help narrow down the possible solutions with consensus within the team.

A CMO and a CFO can have very different problems to solve, for example, market share for the CMO and profit margin for the CFO. This can lead to a hassle when making a decision, even when looking at the same scope, such as a brand budget. To work together on this decision, they need to establish the criteria they will use to assess the value of their solutions: Higher profit margins for the year or long-term brand building? Then, management teams can align and focus their solutions on what brings the most value to the business. The CMO and CFO can make their own decisions in operations as long as those decisions have a positive impact measured by this set of shared criteria.

By successfully defining these kinds of shared criteria among team members, you create an overall standard that can be used to measure results. Criteria act as safeguards, minimizing the possibility of team members making counter-efforts and eliminating disputes over end results.

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