Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with one of my teams and an outside party to bring forward a proposal for approval. At one point in the process, there was some difference of opinion between the internal team and the external group. In that moment, I heard these words come out of my mouth: “alignment is more important than accuracy.”

I was simply trying to be helpful, not profound, but after reflecting on the statement, I think there is some deeper meaning that’s worth exploring. There’s a lesson here that you’ll find applicable to your leadership practice.

Archery

I’ll use an archery range to illustrate my point. Various archers line up at the range. They all have different skill levels and different brands and types of bows. Some hit bullseyes while others merely hit the target. None of this is a problem.

Imagine if someone arrived at the archery range with a rifle or a cannon. Imagine if one of the archers was aiming cross-range instead of down-range? The results would be disastrous.

Bullseyes are nice, but what I really want is everyone bringing the right equipment, making the same assumptions, and facing the right direction.

Accuracy

I like accuracy. I like it when our execution closely matches our planning. I like it when my actuals line up with my forecast. I like it when we ship on time. However, I’ve also come to expect that we will learn things along the way. Our future selves will be smarter than our current selves. Also, we are smart enough to expect the unexpected and allow for some contingency to deal with it.

In other words, accuracy is important, but it’s not the most important thing. None of us have perfect insight, perfect data, or perfect analysis. We all make assumptions. No one has a crystal ball. So, if accuracy isn’t the most important thing, what is?

Alignment

As I’ve written previously on this blog, I am an alignment freak. It’s more important that we have “our” answer, than the “right” answer. It’s more important that we agree on the assumptions than that we agree on the predicted outcomes.

Alignment check

If alignment is so important, how do you check for it? If I suspect my car is out of alignment because my tires are wearing out, I can bring it to a shop and get it fixed. If I suspect my team is out of alignment the process is a little more involved.

Here’s what I do:

1. I make sure the right people are meeting and we have participation from all of the key stakeholders. Everyone likes small working teams, for productivity’s sake, but alignment is more important than productivity. Misalignment now causes greater productivity loss down the road.
2. Having the right perspectives assembled is a good start, but it’s not enough. In group settings, group-think can happen, resulting in the inadvertent silencing of key voices. No one intends to do this. It just happens. So, you need to adjust for it. I like to have one-on-one discussions with individuals in between group sessions to make sure I hear the uninfluenced perspectives.
3. Iterate. Alignment is rarely a one-and-done activity. One of my LinkedIn followers, Rob Orvis, once told me, “Always Be Aligning.” It’s true. This is a practice, not an event. Like most leadership activities, this takes a lot of time and intentional work.

That’s my leadership thought for this week. Short and sweet. Alignment is more important than accuracy. Do you agree, or do you think about it differently? Let me know in the comments.

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