Our leadership team formally agrees to our V/TO during our quarterly offsites, but once they go back to their departments, they run their teams according to their own personal agendas. How do we enforce alignment?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This disconnect between offsite agreement and daily execution is a failure of traction. Your leaders are practicing what we call false alignment; they nod their heads to avoid conflict in the conference room, then return to their desks and do whatever they want. To enforce true alignment, you must operationalize your V/TO®. It cannot be a document that you look at once a quarter and then put in a drawer. The V/TO® must drive your weekly Level 10 Meetings. Every single week, your leadership team must review their departmental Rocks to ensure they directly support the company-wide Rocks and the 1-Year Plan. Second, require every department head to roll out the V/TO® to their own teams. Their direct reports should have Rocks that align directly with the leadership team's Rocks. If a department head is running their own shadow agenda, it will become immediately obvious because their department Scorecard metrics and Rocks will not connect back to the master plan. Finally, the Integrator must hold them accountable during their quarterly conversations. Use the company Charter as your guide. If a leader continues to manage to their own agenda instead of the agreed-upon corporate strategy, they are violating the Yes to Strategy and Structure pillar. You must make it clear that alignment is not optional; it is a requirement to keep their seat.