7 tips on how to create real alignment in your teams.
First of all, for many years I thought alignment meant giving in or agreeing to someone else’s suggestion and to follow them. A not very empowering thought, particularly when you work in groups or you are part of a team. This belief led me to the avoidance of joining groups and to choose to do my own thing.
In 2011, I discovered the co-operative alignment technique, which was developed, studied and is now taught by Zenergy Global. Now in 2020, I managed Zenergy Global in Australia and have been a Trainer, Facilitator and Coach for this technique for the last 7 years. This has been the longest that I have worked within an organisation. What made the difference?
The difference is choice.
I learnt over the last 9 years that if a choice is present in alignment, then alignment is the most powerful tool that I have ever experienced to unleash an unstoppable creative flow within a group or any relationship. I am talking here about the energy that starts flowing and supporting our goals. Some people call this energy ‘synergy’ or ‘flow’. It is a powerful state of being that I think has been studied in Eastern Philosophies for centuries and we are just starting to tap into it here in the west.
Synergy [Cambridge Dictionary]: ‘The combined power of a group of things when they are working together that is greater than the total power achieved by each working separately’
Flow [Cambridge Dictionary]: ‘The movement of something in one direction.’
Secondly, Quantum Physics measures and suggests now that the world is full of possibilities (waves) which become matter (particles) when we give them attention. It says that when we observe something it changes. Our attention is, therefore, creating our reality. You might have heard of the saying: ‘What you put your attention on persists’.
So how do we use this knowledge to help us work better together in groups? If what our attention is on creates our future then we need to check our attention. When it comes to working in a team, I have used this with organisations and teams on two levels:
- Macro Level: We check each team member’s intention who is part of the team. This is one of the essentials that I have experienced in real collaboration. Every team member can contribute towards the team purpose by sharing their intentions. The common ground between the individual intentions is the expression of the group intention, the team purpose.
When we help an organisation to find their organisational purpose, we start on the top and help the senior leaders to identify their intentions for the organisations and then coach the group into finding their collective intention for the organisation. The identified purpose will then become part of the organisation’s brand.
- Micro Level: At each meeting, we need to know what each individual’s attention is on in regards to the meeting’s purpose. This is done through a check-in and check-out process.
Nevertheless, here are some conditions that need to be present when you establish alignment to achieve the state of synergy or flow.
‘A purpose (alignment) may take time to establish, and sometimes it may be elusive at first. Rather than rush the setting of the purpose it can be allowed to emerge as relationships in the group deepen and energies come into alignment. In this case, the purpose (alignment) can be something to look out for and recognise when it comes to the group attention, probably in the form of an ‘aha’ moment.’
From ‘The Art of Facilitation – the essentials for leading great meetings and creating group synergy’ by Dale Hunter and colleagues.
7 tips on how to create alignment as a tool to create synergy or flow:
- Alignment can’t be assumed. It must be spoken. What are you aligning to?
- Facilitate Choice – People must have a choice to align or not
- Alignment is discussed by those affected
- Each person’s contribution is equally valid
- Commitment to reach alignment needs to be present
- Alignment happens when your words, beliefs and actions are the same
- Value diversity – the best alignment is made when differences are seen as opportunities
‘I can do things you cannot. You can do things I cannot. Together we can do great things.’ Mother Theresa
Finally, here are some practical examples:
An organisation wants to create a high performing culture and wants to get its employees to align.
The problem is: ‘Employee engagement surveys show that 1 in 5 employees actively undermines the mission of the organisation.’ Source: State of the Global Workplace Gallup, 2017
The solution is: Bringing the right people along with your mission by creating a culture of alignment with a choice.
Here are some practical examples of how we have done that with our clients:
- Executive team align on a vision, purpose and way of working (charter) for the organisation and creates a brand for their culture
- The organisation gets alignment from all employees to their brand through facilitated workshops.
- The organisation develops a practice of aligning on a meeting purpose before each meeting, informal or formal. Employees have a choice to attend depending on the meeting purpose
- The organisation introduces a check-in and check out process at each meeting
A group of people want to run an event together:
- Have a conversation about what kind of event each of you wants to create and why. Find the common ground and align on a team purpose, vision and culture
- Write the above down and have it present at each meeting
- Check-in with it regularly at meetings. Are you still on track? What works well, what could you do differently?
- Use purposeful meetings practice as above.
- Use check-in and check-out process for your meetings.
About the Author:
Simone has been studying and practising Yoga for almost 30 years all over the world. She studied human potential techniques and mentored others for many years. Simone has a Master’s Degree in Adult Education and is a Master in Facilitation. Simone is leading Zenergy Australia since 2014, training and mentoring leaders in facilitation skills and collaborative ways of working. Simone is an associate with The Zone Global Partnership helping organisations to create high-performance cultures through improved organisational alignment. Simone founded Collective Insight which helps leaders to lead collectively for the greater good of all. It promotes a decision-making process that uses collective insights of the people that are affected to make more intelligent decisions.