How to align leadership when the business is moving at speed
- smart/tasking
- Jul 15
- 3 min read

Internal misalignment kills growth. Here’s how to prevent it.
When businesses move fast, through growth, transformation, or disruption, the cracks can show quickly. Strategies can get muddled, priorities can shift mid-project, and teams can start pulling in different directions. And what do we generally see at the heart of it all? A leadership team that isn’t fully aligned.
Internal misalignment doesn’t just slow progress. It confuses teams, kills momentum, and ultimately costs growth. So how do you keep leadership aligned when everything else is moving at such a great pace?
Start with shared clarity
It might sound really obvious, but you’d be surprised how often senior leaders leave a strategy session with different interpretations of what’s just been agreed upon. One sees cost-cutting, another sees investment, one hears restructuring, another hears realignment.
Tip: Don’t assume agreement. Test it. Ask leaders to summarise key decisions in their own words. Our leadership sessions often start here, getting beneath buzzwords and the assumptions to ensure true shared understanding.
“Clarity comes from asking awkward questions until there’s no room for misunderstandings.”
Niall Anderson
Align around the ‘why’, not just the ‘what’
Leadership teams often agree on what needs to happen but disagree (silently) on why. When that happens, every downstream decision starts to diverge.
Tip: Reconnect to the business’ core purpose. In our leadership development programmes, we use purpose-driven reframing tools to ensure every leader links back to decisions to shared goals - not just departmental pressures.
“The best performing teams I’ve worked with don’t just know the goal; they really care about it. That only happens when the ‘why’ is nailed.”
Gary Gamp
Make space for challenge
Fast-moving businesses often reward pace over pause. But when leaders are too busy to raise flags or question assumptions, misalignment grows in the shadows.
Tip: Build in space for challenges. At smart/tasking, we encourage 'constructive friction' - creating safe forums where leaders can productively debate direction, and surface hidden concerns early.
“Most of the messes we’ve been called in to fix were caused by things people spotted, and didn’t say out loud.”
Niall Anderson
Don’t just cascade, but co-create
If alignment is only top-down, it won't stick. Middle managers and emerging leaders need to see themselves in the direction of travel, not just reacting to it.
Tip: Use co-creation techniques. Our leadership workshops include practical frameworks for engaging teams in shaping the how, giving leaders clarity and buy-in from the people who’ll deliver.
“We’ve sat in too many rooms where a ‘vision’ is announced and nobody in the room knows what it means for their day job.”
Niall Anderson
Reset regularly
When businesses evolve quickly, alignment doesn’t last forever. Assumptions age fast; markets shift, and new hires change dynamics.
Tip: Schedule regular leadership resets. Our clients often use quarterly sessions with us to realign, reflect, and course-correct before misalignment becomes dysfunction.
“You don’t wait for the wheels to fall off before checking the steering. Same goes for leadership alignment.”
Gary Gamp
Stay aligned to move faster! Leadership misalignment doesn’t show up on a balance sheet - but it’s often behind the numbers. When leaders are clear, connected, and heading in the same direction, it unlocks faster decisions, smoother delivery, and stronger growth.
Our leadership development team can help you align direction, unblock friction, and accelerate impact - without losing that precious momentum.
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