There’s a subtle but important difference between consensus and alignment in organizations. Consensus feels safe, but it can take herculean efforts to reach outliers, sway resistors and convince skeptics on the way to agreement. Alignment is more about arrangement and positioning. Sometimes you don’t need people to agree, you need them to align…just enough to move forward. *
Tagged: Alignment, Change, Decisions, Stakeholders
Most activities have multiple stakeholders involved, each with varying motivations. Consider the parties and desires influencing a recent in-person banking transaction: Customer – complete a single transaction Branch representative – sell additional services to the customer Branch manager – grow the branch location’s business Bank call center representative #1 – end the branch phone call as quickly as possible Bank call center representative #2 – make the branch representative happy Bank call center supervisor – resolve escalated issues With so many of these at odds and multiple steps away from a final result, it’s no wonder processes appear to be broken. No relationship context. Limited local authority to resolve an issue. Limited personal incentive. Front-office versus back-office. Establishing and maintaining stakeholder alignment is difficult. The greater quantity and variety…
Tagged: Alignment, Stakeholders