5 Powerful Questions for Team Alignment

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Leaders, through their hands-on experience, understand that team alignment is a complex process that goes beyond just setting goals. It’s a continuous journey that requires each team member’s active involvement and commitment. To guide leaders in this process, I’ve found it beneficial to focus on the following powerful questions designed to provoke thoughtful consideration and facilitate effective goal alignment.

1. What will make us say that we achieved that goal?

One of the most common mistakes leaders make is not effectively communicating their vision and goals to their team. Although the best practice suggests assigning SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bonded) goals, leaders struggle with doing it correctly because they sometimes miss critical information or operate in a continuously changing environment.

So, in addition to declaring their goal, whether it is a performance goal (e.g., increase yearly revenue of x%), a behavioral goal (e.g., reduce time spent on non-essential tasks), or a project-specific goal (e.g., finalize the design of the new software by the end of the quarter), the team must collaboratively work on defining what needs to happen that will make them demonstrate to themselves first and to any stakeholders involved that they fully own it and have achieved it. And most of the time, it is more than just meeting a numeric threshold.

2. What is in it for me?

Several leaders underestimate the importance of aligning team goals with individual goals until they deal with some team members’ lack of motivation and commitment. Convincing each individual to go the extra mile and be 100% committed to doing their part takes more than assigning a goal and highlighting its importance for the group and the entire organization.

Each team member must have a personal reason to commit to and benefit from the team’s goal. Whether it is a promotion, a salary increase, or fulfilling individual aspirations and needs, the role of a leader is to ensure each individual has an answer to this question and is satisfied with it.

3. How can we make this happen?

From day 1, when the goal is set, the team needs to work on achieving it. Answering this question must be a collaborative effort, rather than the leader or one or two team members deciding the strategy for the rest of the group.

Even when the path toward goal achievement is pretty straightforward, and there is no need to explore other courses of action, it is essential to go through the action plan with the entire team and have an open conversation about it.

This approach will not only help to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding the action plan but also reinforce the engagement and commitment of each team member, making them feel included and heard.

4. What role do I have to play in this game?

Accountability is critical in teamwork. Each individual must clearly understand their role in the overall game, the individual resources, like skills, time, and capabilities, they must put in place, and how they contribute to the team effort in the short and long term.

As in sports teams, the coach assigns a role to each player according to the game tactics. Similarly, the leader must assign each individual their tasks based on their skills and expertise, make them accountable, and ensure no overlapping or gray areas. To continue using the sports similarities, as the coach illustrates the game tactics before an important match, the leader must share roles, responsibilities, and task assignments with the overall team to ensure everyone plays their part and the team operates smoothly.

5. Where are we now?

As the team works toward achieving the goal, competing priorities, internal conflicts, or external issues might arise that affect their ability to keep their eyes on the ball and operate effectively.

Teams meet regularly to discuss their progress. However, these conversations don’t support the team’s effort and achievements as they focus on solving the issues instead of preventing them from happening or touch only the surface of the problems instead of dealing with the root causes.

We must admit the leader plays a critical role in it: their attitude to face problems instead of avoiding them and being a decision-maker in challenging situations affects how the team operates and how much they keep their focus along the way.

This article highlights some of the components of my team coaching methodology, which I developed through years of experience leading and working with small and large teams on business transformations and organizational development programs.
As good leaders can be, they are always part of the system and deeply involved in the team dynamics. Therefore, when the stakes are high, more and more leaders rely on an external professional coach to support them in aligning the team to the goals or solving critical team performance issues arising along the way.

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