Three Keys for Unlocking Your Team’s Alignment

If you want a strong and productive organization, you need alignment! When your team is aligned, it leads to more productivity, higher morale, and a healthier workplace. On the flip side, a misaligned team can contribute to issues like high turnover or an inability to attract or keep great new team members.

What can leaders do to enhance teamwork and bring more functionality to their organization? Mark Kenny covers this topic in his book The Hippo Solution: Eliminate the Territorial Thinking and Unleash the Power of Teams, and recently appeared on the Mindfulness Manufacturing podcast to share his insights on how leaders can unlock their team’s potential, find more alignment, and bring more cohesion and functionality to their culture.

Finding Alignment, Step One: Functionality from the Top Down

To bring more collaboration and cohesion to your organization, everyone—from your top leadership to workers on the floor—needs to be rowing in the same direction. As a leader, you need to set the tone. To do this, prioritize teamwork and foster collaboration. Implement positive and efficient practices into your organization, and the energy will trickle down to boost your team.

Finding Alignment, Step Two: Curiosity Leads to Connection

As a leader, you also need to stay curious. To foster a culture of alignment, take the take to learn about your team member’s. Have open and honest conversation about their role, challenges, and stories. This will allow you to build deeper connections with your team members, which creates a culture of trust and respect—and with improved connections, you’ll find more alignment.

Finding Alignment, Step Three: Inflexibility is a Recipe for Failure

In your organization, everyone has different needs and goals. To create a culture of alignment, stay flexible and be willing to adapt. Don’t get stuck in a rigid and technical mindset about how the work should get done, and be willing to hear new solutions and perspectives. Learn about your team member’s unique talents through resources like Patrick Lencioni’s great book The Six Types of Working Genius, and seek out dynamic ways to help your team harnesses their strengths and gifts.

Learn More on the Podcast

You can learn more about alignment about in this recent episode of Mindfulness Manufacturing with guest Mark Kenny! Mark is a speaker, consultant, and expert in team building and leadership. He’s also the author of The Hippo Solution: Eliminate the Territorial Thinking and Unleash the Power of Teams, which focuses on how leaders can transform their teams and create healthier, more productive cultures.

To tune in to Mark’s episode of alignment, click here.

Mindfulness Manufacturing

Our show is about providing listeners with real stories that come from a place of experience, transparency, and authenticity. Most importantly it’s about what we learn from these stories and applying Mindfulness in our everyday work and personal lives.
Our intention is to create an environment where people can learn through open honest discussions on how we apply Mindfulness. Although our experiences and stories come from time in a manufacturing environment hence the title “Mindfulness Manufacturing”, we still see our discussions and topics relatable to any organization or profession.

In manufacturing, we often emphasize complex processes and new technologies, like artificial intelligence. But to bring true change and productivity to your organization, don’t forget about your people!

In this episode, learn all about the balance of technical skills and human connection with guest Emily Nichols! As a professional engineer with decades of experiences in manufacturing and innovation, Emily has worked with organizations like PepsiCo, Janssen, and Henkel. She now works with organizations who want to strengthen the human skills they need to thrive in an increasingly technical world. In this episode, she shares more about the important role of human skills, and offers lessons and insights for forming stronger connections, breaking down systemic barriers, and how to improve your “people score.”

2:01 – Even in fields like manufacturing, human skills play a very important role

5:43 – Current and emerging trends, like AI, make human connection even more important in retention and recruitment

8:29 – To form connections, increase your presence on the shop floor

12:36 – Visual uniformity can foster better connections and help you break down perceived barriers

19:39 – If you want more connections, you need to listen to and respect the expertise of everyone on your team

20:37 – To support women in your organization, you need to address systemic issues

23:39 – Even small changes, like using more inclusive language, can have a big impact on your culture

25:06 – We are people first, not machines

Connect with Emily Nichols

Visit her website

Connect on social media: @connectbettertoday