We all know of romantic relationships that fall apart because of misalignments. Maybe one partner wants children and the other doesn’t. Or one partner is a homebody and the other loves to go out and travel.
Misalignments are common in business relationships, too.
Misalignments reveal themselves in a number of ways: as friction, eroded trust, misunderstandings and unnecessary headaches. And a lot of times we have no idea how misaligned we truly are until it is too late.
A 2023 study of strategic alignment among organizations found that participants were “largely optimistic” and thought agreement within their companies was 82% on average.
The twist? Actual internal alignment was only 23%.
By the time we find ourselves out of alignment, whether with a personal or business relationship, it can feel as though we are stuck in a downward spiral and incapable of turning things around. You feel yourself on edge whenever you encounter the other party, digging in for an adversarial exchange or walking on eggshells trying to avoid another fight.
Or maybe you have past experience with vibrant relationships and want to see the current relationship follow suit. The relationship isn’t what you want it to be, but it’s not easy to uncover how to fix it.
Getting aligned again takes work. It requires you and your partner to take stock in what truly matters, address concerns, and find common ground instead of brushing issues under the rug.