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Episode 114

May 26, 2021

114: How to facilitate alignment with Lindsay Uittenbogaard

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    Intro

    Alignment would be one of the first words added to the facilitation dictionary, but the concept can sometimes suffer with a reputation as a ‘washy’ or ‘soft’ topic.

    Lindsay Uittenbogaard is leading the mission to change that perception completely,with a data-focused, scientific interpretation of what it means for teams to be aligned… and misaligned.

    Join us in this episode as we explore what it means when a team is misaligned, how we can measure and improve alignment, and why – in the end – absolute alignment should never be the goal.

    Sharpen your skill set by spending an hour with Lindsay – you won’t regret it!

    Find out about

    • How data can assess, measure, and predict convergence and divergence
    • Why conversation is not always the best way to discuss alignment
    • Why data is essential to understand alignment, but is not enough on its own
    • How frameworks and systems offer us an entry point for improving alignment
    • The difference between agreement and alignment
    • The idiosyncrasies of misalignment in a remote working world
    • Tips for listeners who are interested in working on team alignment

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    Thanks to our sponsor “Dancing with Markers”. Click here to get the workshops work discount for Lauren’s upcoming visual facilitation course.

    Questions and Answers

    01:09When did you start calling yourself a facilitator? If you don’t, what do you call yourself? 02:15Is alignment measured in quantitative or qualitative data? 07:22 How do you measure the ‘severity’ of misalignment? 10:15What makes starting to work on our misalignments so complicated? 13:07 Is there a Catch 22 when it comes to addressing misalignment? 18:46Can you convince someone to align, even if you can’t convince them to agree?23:03What’s an example of a situation in which misalignment is normal and fine to leave as it is? 30:12Can you ‘overalign’ by going too granular and focused in the work? 33:33Have pandemic-enforced remote work amplified the issue of misalignment? 36:10How can we demystify alignment and give people a clearer definition of it? 42:39What three questions would you advise a team leader ask their team to get an alignment ‘temperature check’? 43:09What are the risks in trying to align a team when you don’t know how to do so? 44:40What leads to increased frustration in teams, related to misalignment? 48:05Do you have a favourite exercise? 49:21What is the threshold for ‘acceptable’ misalignment and problematic misalignment? 52:48What is the one thing you would like listeners to take away from this episode?

    Links

    MirrorMirror Alignment

    Connect to Lindsay

    LinkedIn