Leadership Video: Achieving High Action and High Alignment
Achieving large-scale results doesn’t just involve working hard. Leaders and teams must also be in aligned so that their collective contributions can add up to much more than the sum of their parts. While there may not always be agreement, there must be alignment in order for a team to jointly accomplish its goals.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation video, Leading for Results: High Action, High Alignment is part of a series focused on supporting results-based leadership. The series describes how a leader can use a simple grid to better assess effective leadership and better understand how well they or their fellow leaders are performing and collaborating.
When a leader does not seem to be taking action and isn’t engaging with others, it’s easier to define them as low action and low alignment. But the grid also helps to identify profiles of leaders whose impact on results may be less obvious.
For example: Perhaps a leader has strong relationships and appears to be very collaborative in working with partners for social change. This could mask the fact that their promises to get things done remain unfulfilled. That’s low action, high alignment.
Or, consider a leader who works very hard and acts decisively but doesn’t stop to consider their ramifications on others or scrutinize how their contributions should align with a bigger goal. That’s high action, but low alignment.
The sweet spot for leaders to be in is high action and high alignment. This means they are taking the kinds of action that are highly impactful, and they are doing so in a way that complements and builds on the actions of others. This is the place where leaders will see their efforts accelerate progress toward results.
Once a leader confirms where they are on the grid, they can gain a shaper sense of the actions and alignment needed to pursue large-scale results. The grid also helps leaders start conversations with each other to redefine responsibilities and relationships and make their work together even more effective.
Learn more about the Foundation’s approach to results-based leadership
