Have you ever felt like your team members are working hard but not necessarily moving in the same direction?

In Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, there’s a scene where Alice asks the Cheshire Cat which way she should go.

The Cat replies, “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”

When Alice says she doesn’t much care, the Cat responds: “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Many organizations are like Alice – they don’t seem to understand where they’re going. It’s not an intentional lack of caring; it’s a lack of setting clear priorities.

The priority should always be on where you’re going, by setting your Azimuth – your cardinal direction, your true north.

Surprisingly, some companies don’t have a clearly stated mission. Or if they have one, few people inside or outside the organization know what it is.

Small wonder… team members don’t buy into the culture. Instead, they just go through the motions, collecting a paycheck.

Once you create a clear mission with the who, what, and why, understanding of that mission becomes essential to its credibility. Unlike those old rotisserie infomercials, you can’t just “Set it and Forget it.”

Your mission should be repeated every day and understood by even the most junior members of your team. Then you’ll begin to create alignment and the buy-in critical to living in a healthy culture.

What’s your experience with organizational alignment? I’d love to hear your thoughts.Drop me a line or contact me directly by clicking here.

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