Does this sound familiar? Your leaders feel a sense of ambiguity and frustration about who owns what, who’s accountable for what, and even how best to meet organizational objectives.
One of the most vital factors in achieving your desired goals is executive alignment. Whether your organization is undergoing a cultural refresh, kicking off a strategic initiative, or part of a merger or acquisition, having leadership aligned during times of change is critical to success.
If leaders are not aligned, there’s a trickle-down effect: teams are stressed and disrupted, departments and employees are at cross-purposes, and essentially there’s an internal stalemate. In short, it drains energy and ideas out of an organization.
The Times are A-Changing
At the risk of stating the obvious in any organization: the only constant is change. And, whatever that may be – corporate restructuring, rapid growth, new leadership, etc. –learning and development professionals are tasked with helping to prepare senior leaders with the skills and behaviours they need to navigate the choppy waters of change.
(On a side note, this means that L&D folks also need to be fully aligned with the CEO’s vision. Recently, Chief Learning Officer Magazine reported, “When CEOs and CHROs have alignment, 36 percent fewer leaders intend to quit within a year compared with those in companies where the CEO and CHRO do not align. To drive stronger alignment, the CEO and CHRO need to focus on co-creating strong leadership strategies, aligning to create clear expectations and competencies.”)
To stay relevant in the market, companies need to be agile. Today, behemoth organizations are being asked to act and maneuver like spunky start-ups. The key to agility, cross-functional collaboration and fast decision-making is leadership alignment and mutual trust. And, this is where L&D can really play a significant role in connecting the dots between organizational goals to specific behaviours and skills, and breaking down barriers between cross-functional leaders, so that everyone is pulling together toward a common goal.
The Proof is in the Program
Not all leadership development programs are equal. One of the reasons The Roundtable is at the forefront of group leadership development is that we know how collective learning can have such a profound effect on leaders as well as on their organization.
Take a look at our latest Pelmorex case study. In it, you’ll see how one organization was struggling with establishing a common approach to leadership across the organization. They were looking for a solution to accelerate new mindsets and behaviours around issues relevant to the organization and also engage leaders at various stages of their careers.
Our Catalyst program gave them the ability to create an efficient, repeatable and scalable way to cascade learning, behavioural change and a strategic approach to leadership development throughout its organization, at a more rapid pace than possible through 1-to-1 mentoring.
If you’re curious about how The Roundtable can help develop your leaders let’s start a conversation. And, be sure to download our 2022 L&D Trends Report for more insights into the issues affecting L&D professionals in the year ahead.
