Strategic Alignment Techniques

"We need to get some comms out about the org change. Can you draft something up?" This was a request I got in a former job when I was Head of Internal Comms. A major organisational change was coming but there was a problem. 🫠 I had no idea what the change actually was. Every leader I spoke to described it differently. One said it was about restructuring. Another called it a strategic pivot. A third focused on cost-cutting. But there was mounting pressure to "get something out there" and "do some quick comms on this", as if I could magically create clarity from something that didn't seem to be agreed on yet. Instead of just saying "no", I decided to try something different in the next leadership meeting. "Humour me," I said. "Let's do a quick exercise. We'll go around the table and I want each of you to tell me what this change is about in one sentence." Now I won't lie. They laughed at me at first, because it sounded ridiculously simple and like a waste of time. But the laughter quickly stopped once people started giving their answers. Leader 1: "It's about making us more agile and responsive to market changes." Leader 2: "We're restructuring to reduce costs and improve efficiency." Leader 3: "It's a strategic shift to focus on our core business areas." Leader 4: "We're streamlining operations to be more competitive." Four completely different interpretations of the same "change." And I remember the absolute SILENCE in the room as the penny dropped. How can you communicate about a change when the leaders aren't even aligned on what the change IS? I remember the moment I realised that doing that simple exercise completely changed the conversation. It went from "let's send some comms" to "we need to get aligned on what this change really is as a leadership team." Because one thing I've learned over the last decade is this: No amount of clever messaging can fix a lack of clarity at the top. As you get more senior in your comms career, your job is less about writing words and more about pausing to ask the awkward questions that no one else is asking. There is such power in slowing down and asking good questions. Get alignment and agreement first and this will save you months of dealing with confused employees and contradictory messages. Your curiosity is a superpower. Use it! –––– 🚫 Don’t let an algorithm decide what you read; join 7,677 readers who get my weekly internal comms tips straight to their inbox. ⬆️ Click "Try my free newsletter" on my page to sign up.

Lou Gerstner walked into IBM in 1993 expecting a strategy problem. What he found was worse. Here's what leaders need to learn: Every division had a strategy. Every executive had a vision. Every team was chasing a different goal. Engineering was building for one future. Sales was selling into another. Marketing had its own roadmap entirely. At his first exec meeting, each leader presented different success metrics: Revenue. Market share. Innovation. NPS. Same company, completely different definitions of winning. Gerstner didn’t write a new strategy. He did something more powerful: He mandated one framework for priorities. Same metrics. Same language. Same scorecard. Within 6 months, misalignment became visible. Within a year, IBM started moving as one. I saw the same pattern play out in a Fortune 500 basement. The quarterly review was nearly over when the Head of Ops paused: “I need to be honest. I don’t even know what our top 3 priorities are right now.” Silence. Then heads nodded. The CMO had been focused on brand. Sales thought revenue was the priority. The CTO was deep in infrastructure rebuild. The CFO was chasing cost control. 9 executives. 27 different priorities. 3 overlaps. That’s not a team. That’s a collection of soloists. Strategy isn’t the problem. Alignment is. Everyone knows the strategy. But what are they actually optimizing for this week? I’ve seen it again and again: • Monday: “Retention is everything” • Friday: Sales signs three bad-fit clients to hit quota • Product starts chasing new features • Success never gets the memo 5 days. Alignment gone. So how do you fix it? 1. Make priorities visible weekly Every Monday: top 3 org-wide priorities, posted publicly. No guessing. No side quests. 2. Create explicit handoffs Marketing, sales, product, and success - define the exact criteria for every handoff. Spotify did this. Discovered 40% of handoffs had misaligned expectations. 3. Run weekly alignment checks One question: What are you optimizing for this week? If it doesn’t match the org’s top 3, you catch drift instantly. 4. One source of truth No more 50 dashboards. Microsoft did this with their Customer Success Score. Every division had to contribute to the same North Star. Alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It deteriorates by default. Great companies don’t assume alignment. They build it systematically. That Fortune 500 team? 6 months later, they went from 27 priorities to 3. Revenue grew 18%. Engagement jumped 43% → 71%. All because they stopped guessing. Want more research-backed frameworks like this? Join 11,000+ execs who get our newsletter every week: 👉 https://lnkd.in/en9vxeNk

Dear freelancers, This year, I need you to run your strictest programme yet. No more “let’s just see how it goes” energy. We’re moving like strict businesses. okurrr. Start here: 1/ Have contracts in place. Every time. 2/ Set communication hours. You’re not a 24/7 helpline. 3/ Stick to your T&Cs. Boundaries are part of the service. 4/ Take deposits. Your calendar is not a free holding space. 5/ If a potential client is giving you the runaround, run away. 6/ Get clear on the scope before you start. “Can you just…” will finish you. 7/ Don’t undercharge yourself just to “secure the bag.” Cheap clients are rarely low stress. BUT. By doing all this, you also need to make sure your service is matching the standards you’re setting. Professionalism isn’t one-sided. So also: ✨ Deliver on time. Or communicate early. ✨ Make the process smooth, not stressful. ✨ Overcommunicate progress so clients feel secure. ✨ Take pride in the details; quality is your reputation. ✨ Leave clients feeling like they made the right investment. This isn’t just about helping yourself. It helps the whole freelance community. When you undercharge, overdeliver for free, ignore contracts, or move messy, it lowers the standard for everyone else trying to run a serious business. We can be kind. We can be flexible. But we cannot be unserious. Yours sincerely, A seasoned freelancer

“Strategy is only as strong as the people who bring it to life.” So true, and so often ignored or forgotten. We tend to think of strategy as the masterplan that guides everything else. A document to align, a roadmap to follow, a blueprint for success. But strategy only becomes real through human interpretation. Once it leaves the boardroom, it stops being a plan and starts becoming a pattern of behavior. Each conversation, decision, and trade-off either reinforces or weakens it. I have seen brilliant strategies fail simply because the people tasked with executing them did not understand, believe in, or feel equipped to act on them. At the same time, I have seen less brilliant strategies succeed because people filled the gaps with creativity, trust, and shared purpose. That is the real test of strategy: whether it turns into coordinated human action. For that to happen, three conditions matter most. ↳ First, clarity. People need to know not only what the strategy says, but what it means for their own choices and priorities. ↳ Second, capability. Strategic thinking and alignment are not traits that appear by accident; they must be developed, practiced, and supported. ↳ Third, commitment. Without belief and ownership, execution becomes compliance rather than contribution. A strategy written in PowerPoint can look impressive, but until it shapes behavior, it is just potential energy. Organizations that understand this invest as much (or more!) in building strategic capability as they do in writing strategic plans. That is why the most successful leaders treat strategy as a shared human skill, not a top-down exercise. They help people connect ideas to action, vision to capability, and plans to lived reality. In the end, the strength of any strategy mirrors the strength of the people who carry it forward. Do your people have the strategic capabilities they need? #strategy #leadership #culture #big5ofstrategy

Decisions aren’t made in the meeting. They’re confirmed there. In Japan, this principle has a word: Nemawashi (根回し). Literally translated as “going around the roots,” it refers to the careful pre-alignment that happens before any official decision. Instead of debating and risking conflict in the room, leaders consult stakeholders one by one in advance—quietly gathering perspectives, addressing concerns, and building alignment step by step. I have encountered Nemawashi while working on a business in Japan. I initially assumed the meeting room would be the place for persuasion and debate, but I quickly discovered that someone had already done the groundwork beforehand. The most meaningful conversations took place in hallways, over coffee, or in quiet, one-on-one discussions. By the time everyone entered the meeting, stakeholders had already reached a consensus. What appeared to be a quick agreement in the room was, in reality, the result of weeks of careful listening, adjusting, and aligning that took place outside of it. This approach may feel unfamiliar to those accustomed to Western business practices, where decisions are often made after open discussion and debate in a meeting. However, Nemawashi highlights a universal truth, which is that influence usually occurs before visibility. The most successful outcomes are rarely the result of a single brilliant presentation or a dramatic last-minute pitch. Instead, they are the product of thoughtful groundwork. Understanding who matters, anticipating questions, adapting your message, and ensuring people feel heard long before the spotlight moment. For global leaders, this cultural lesson has a practical takeaway: before your next product launch, investment pitch, or strategic decision, spend as much time aligning stakeholders beforehand as you do preparing your slides. When people feel included early, they are more likely to support the outcome later. So, the next time you’re preparing for a big decision, remember Nemawashi. Do the quiet work in advance, and you’ll find the meeting itself becomes smoother, shorter, and more powerful. 👉How do you prepare stakeholders before a big decision? #Leadership #CrossCultural #DecisionMaking #JapanBusiness #StakeholderManagement

Aligning executive stakeholders with conflicting priorities is a puzzle many product people face. How do you solve it? When stakeholders pull in different directions, the secret isn't in aligning immediately around a product vision. Instead, elevate the conversation: align first on company goals. What outcomes do we aspire to achieve as a company? This unified understanding of company priorities becomes your north star. Here's how you can approach this: 1️⃣ Level Up the Discussion: Before diving into a product vision, ask stakeholders to agree on broader company goals. What did your CEO emphasize as priorities for your business? This context is crucial. It sets the stage for aligning individual goals to the bigger picture. 2️⃣ Connect Back to Product Vision: Once unified on company objectives, demonstrate how the product vision helps achieve these goals. "Here's our shared goal. Based on customer insights and priorities, this vision drives us towards it.” This shows your vision isn't just arbitrary—it's informed and intentional. 3️⃣ Seek Constructive Feedback: Encourage dialogue. Why might a stakeholder disagree with the vision? Is it truly about priorities, or personal impacts and unmet goals? This feedback refines your approach but remember, the product vision isn't a committee decision. It's guided by data and customer needs. 4️⃣ Give Credit and Build Back: Stakeholders feel valued when their input shapes outcomes. Make sure to recognize their contributions. This fosters trust and buy-in. Being stuck in the build trap often arises from chasing outputs over outcomes. Aligning on higher-level goals ensures your product strategy isn't just a list of features but a pathway to delivering real value. 🎯 So, next time conflicting priorities emerge, remember: align at the top, then articulate a product vision that navigates towards those shared company goals. How have you managed stakeholder alignment in your organization? Share your experiences!

The fastest way to break trust between sales and marketing is to let each team bring its own scoreboard . Marketing can point to MQLs. Sales can point to missed revenue. Everyone can be technically right, and the business still loses. No wonder Denise Persson and Chris Degnan have little patience for functional victory laps. At Snowflake, the question was never, “Did marketing look good?” It was, “Are reps productive, is new business moving, and are we working from the same plan?” In this episode, I sit down with Denise and Chris, co-authors of Make It Snow, whose sales-marketing partnership shaped much of Snowflake’s climb from startup to billions in revenue. They get past the usual alignment talk and into the operating discipline behind it. For the pair, trust showed up in honest feedback, fast action, rep-level visibility, and a shared refusal to declare victory unless the go-to-market motion was actually working. In this episode: 👂 Denise shares how she earned sales trust by listening to SDRs, AEs, and managers, then building marketing around what each territory needed 🤝 Chris explains why sales leaders need marketing partners who roll up their sleeves, take feedback fast, and care more about the shared number than looking right ⚓ Together, they show how a CMO-CRO partnership can hold through CEO changes, board pressure, hiring misses, and the politics of a winning company Plus: ➕ How to push sales-marketing alignment beyond the C-suite ➕ Why “no rep left behind” became a practical GTM rallying cry ➕ What it took to move Snowflake from “data warehouse for the cloud” to “the data cloud” ➕ Where AI fits into Snowflake’s marketing team today, from change-makers to workflow automation Listen in as Denise and Chris share what their Snowflake run taught them about CMO-CRO alignment, sales-marketing trust, and building one revenue-focused go-to-market team. Listen via the link in the comments.

Contrary to popular belief, having a GTM team offsite will not fix your go-to-market problem. Neither will a pipeline meeting on Wednesdays. Neither will a CMO-CRO bi-weekly coffee meeting. Neither will firing your CMO and trying to hire a unicorn marketing leader. It’s a Band-Aid. It might make it easier for people to work together. It might patch up the problem for a while that will come back to you in 3 months when you’re missing your pipeline for Q4. It’s a Band-Aid. The real solution? Redesign your GTM (aka the Factory that produces your revenue) - Starting with Financial Planning, Modeling, and Budgeting, and then working across the rest of GTM team to Sales, Marketing, Sales Dev, Ops, Post-Sale, etc. 1. Build a Unified View of GTM with Financial Data & GTM Data that measures both performance (effectiveness) and unit economics (efficiency) 2. Align the entire GTM leadership team on a core KPI stack that has *nothing* to do with attribution by department or channel 3. Categorize and evaluate GTM investment portfolio allocation by customer lifecycle stage, NOT DEPARTMENT. 4. Methodically break down compound metrics to isolate the biggest issues / risks / opportunities by customer lifecycle stage 5. Build and align on cross-functional initiatives to solve the biggest issues in your Revenue Factory 6. Monitor and evaluate impact against the core KPI stack that has nothing to do with attribution by department or channel. #finance #gtm #b2b #sales #marketing p.s. Just to drive home the message - you should be able to *clearly* understand how your GTM is performing and isolate the biggest issues/opportunities without ever discussing or using attribution by channel or department 🙂

If strategy feels like it’s only for top management, here’s the truth: Strategic alignment needs everyone. ☑ Peter Drucker said it best: “The purpose of an organization is to get ordinary people to do extraordinary things.” But here’s the catch: those extraordinary efforts must support the organization’s strategic goals. A strategy stuck at the top isn’t a strategy—it’s a bottleneck. Strategy must flow to every level to succeed, and everyone must pull their weight. A perfect analogy? Think of a rowing team. ↳ If one rower misses the rhythm, the boat slows. ↳ Everyone must row in sync—there’s no room for passengers. ☑ Why most companies fall short. ↳ 2 out of 3 employees don’t understand their company’s strategy. ↳ Only 1 in 3 employees feel fully engaged. There’s a connection here. Without purpose that resonates, engagement drops. And it’s costly—companies with high engagement see: ✅ 10% higher customer ratings. ✅ 22% greater profitability. ☑ Strategy and leadership go hand in hand. ↳ Strategy isn’t just about setting priorities; it’s about mobilizing people. ↳ If leaders fail to align hearts and minds, strategy fails too. Want alignment? Start with clarity. Key questions employees need answered: What are we aiming to achieve, and why should I care? Where does my role fit in? How will success be measured, and what’s in it for me? Strategic leadership ensures these questions are answered honestly and clearly. ☑ The “Gearbox” lesson in action. In one of my seminars, a CEO explained his role using a flip chart: He drew a gearbox and said, “My job is to turn the large wheel on the right issues. That makes the smaller wheels—you and your teams—spin faster on what matters most.” Everyone has a wheel to turn. It’s your responsibility to align it with the company’s strategic priorities. Bottom line: Strategy is not a one-way message. People don’t commit to what they’re told to do—they commit to what they help build. As Friedrich Nietzsche said, “People will do almost anything if you give them a good why.” Want to drive success? Bridge the gap between compliance and commitment. Ps. If you like content like this, please follow me 🙏

I recently redesigned the marketing operating model for a $350 Millon B2B software company — and it reminded me just how context-specific org design really is. One of the most strategic (and overlooked) decisions a CMO makes is how to design the marketing organization. It’s tempting to replicate what worked in your last company. But in B2B software, there’s no one-size-fits-all. What worked for a $20M PLG business may not suit a $100M enterprise SaaS platform. 1. Design for business outcomes, not headcount. Start with goals: new segments, enterprise expansion, category leadership. Org design should mirror business intent — not legacy structures. 2. Build capabilities before filling roles. Ask: Do we have strong demand gen, lifecycle, product marketing, content, partner marketing, ops, and analytics? Capabilities come first — roles come second. 3. Structure around your go-to-market motion. If your growth lever is partners, embed partner marketing early. If it’s PLG, prioritize lifecycle and in-product activation. For enterprise, double down on ABM, field marketing, and enablement. 4. Where should Product Marketing sit? There’s no single right answer: In product-led orgs, it makes sense to sit within product to shape narrative from the roadmap. In sales-led orgs, it’s more effective aligned to revenue to sharpen messaging and enablement- drive pipeline velocity. What matters more is the evolution toward GTM solution marketing — cross-functional teams that bridge product, sales, and marketing to tell customer-centric value stories. 5. Build for agility, not bureaucracy. Your org should flex across geos, customer types, and growth motions — without needing to reorganize every time strategy shifts. 6. Invest early in Marketing Ops, Data & Analytics. This is your engine room. From attribution modeling and lead routing to campaign performance, experimentation, and forecasting — high-performing orgs are built on strong ops and data infrastructure. Ops is not a support function. It's a strategic growth capability. 7. Culture, collaboration, and clarity are non-negotiables. No structure works without trust across sales, product, and marketing. Shared KPIs, aligned planning, and a performance mindset are critical. Bottom line: Design for outcomes. Build capabilities. Leverage data. Stay context-aware. Your next marketing org shouldn't look like your last one — it should reflect the business you're building. #B2BMarketing #MarketingLeadership #CMOInsights #MarketingOps #MarketingAnalytics #ProductMarketing #GTMStrategy #MarketingOrgDesign #SaaSGrowth #B2BSoftware #GrowthLeadership #ModernMarketing