By: Adam Luecking

July 26th, 2022

Spending more time and energy on achieving alignment is one of the most important things any organization can do to increase efficiency and impact. Alignment ensures that everything you do, individually and as a group, serves your organizational purpose and destiny.

More specifically, alignment involves assigning appropriate roles and responsibilities to individuals within your organization or partnership, keeping in mind the strengths, skills, and resources they bring to your mission. It’s also about keeping watch over partners to ensure follow-through and to provide a helping hand when needed. 

There are Five Conditions of Alignment:

Alignment = You and all your partners:

1. Understand what your Common Purpose is
2. Understand what each individual’s role is in achieving Results
3. Ensure to design every action you take around the Common Purpose
4. Measure individual progress through program Performance Measures and consistently compare it to collective progress on community Indicators of wellbeing
5. Consistently communicate with each other to evaluate progress, identify common challenges, take corrective actions, and maintain momentum towards your destiny.

How do you Achieve the Five Conditions of Alignment?

Below, I will outline five steps to help you on your journey to alignment. My recent book, Social Sector Hero, goes into greater detail when you’re ready to implement these steps.

So, how do you put alignment into practice?

Step One – Design your Common Purpose

A Common Purpose is the backbone of all your work with your partners and grantees. It is your “reason why” and the goal that your entire partnership should be working towards. To create an actionable Common Purpose, you must utilize some form of measurement that explains what the achievement of your goals looks like. You can do this by designing your Results-Based Accountability Results and Indicators. This model ensures that you maintain constant awareness of how close or far away you are from your goals to adapt your strategies and action plans accordingly.

Result = The ultimate outcome(s) of community wellbeing you hope to achieve through your measurable investments, shared among partners, and actively utilized to guide strategy development.

Indicator = A metric that helps you determine whether your results are being achieved.

Since a Common Purpose is bigger than any single organization, agency, or individual, the design process should include key partners and community leaders. No single entity should ever be held responsible for achieving Results or improving Indicators.

Step Two – Each Partner Selects Performance Measures That Speak to Their Role.

To ensure alignment, individuals in your organization (and your grantees, if applicable) need a way to measure their contribution to the Common Purpose. Just as Indicators measure the achievement of Results, Performance Measures measure the effectiveness of programs and services. 

A Performance Measure is a measure that answers any of the following three questions about a program or activity (first described in the Results-Based Accountability Framework):

1. How much did we do? 
2. How well did we do it? 
3. Is anyone or anything better off?

The most important type of Performance Measure speaks to whether people are better off as a result of a program or service.

Step Three – Implement a Unified Data Management System

Unified Data Management System = the same cloud-based software system utilized by all partners that standardizes, centralizes, and unifies data across funding streams to help you make better investment decisions. 

Why does everyone need a unified data system like this? First, you’ll always know what the latest version of your data is if it’s kept in one place. Second, a common method of data reporting will help build capacity across your partners.

There are lots of data management systems out there. Some will be better suited for your needs than others. For one example, consider checking out Clear Impact’s data management systems at ClearImpact.com/software. Unification and alignment through data is our bread and butter. Plus, we’re the only software designed to support Results-Based Accountability.

Step Four – Host 1,1,1,1 Meetings

One useful tool for remembering how to keep yourself on track is the “1,1,1,1,” or “1×4” meeting.

A 1×4 meeting means that funders should sit down once a year for one hour to discuss progress on one metric with one grantee at a time. Following this method should help focus your schedule and help you avoid wasting time. 

Each hour-long conversation should consist of two parts:

1. The first part should center around reviewing the Result and the Indicator that the grantee is contributing towards.
2. The second part of the conversation should involve a review of at least one of the grantee’s Performance Measures.

Step Five – Make Your Investment Decisions (Don’t Fear Sacrifice)

How do you decide where to make your investments and whether sacrifices must be made? Your 1,1,1,1  meetings with grantees should provide you with the data you need to make the best investment decisions possible. 

Use all the information at your disposal to invest in the partners and programs that have the greatest possible chance of maximizing your social impact and helping you achieve your purpose in the community. And never deny a grantee the opportunity to tell the story behind the data. Poor program performance in one year does not mean a program will never be successful. Just think about how the COVID-19 pandemic may have temporarily impacted the performance of the grantees who were working with you at that time. 

How Do You Sustain Alignment Long-Term?

Make continuous improvement, measurement, and accountability an integral part of the organizational culture and systems you’ve designed. You need to ensure that everyone in your organization and partnership is constantly reminded of your Common Purpose.

Additionally, I advise you to integrate celebration into your organizational culture.

Here are a few things you can do to maintain alignment through celebration:

1. Hold annual partner convenings and report key achievements.
2. Send out a monthly update to staff, funded partners, donors, and funders highlighting any key areas of progress.
3. Celebrate a “Social Sector Hero of the Month” — an exemplary individual demonstrating a commitment to your Results.
   

Finally, alignment is something that is never “finished.” Instead, you should always be searching for ways to improve your alignment and remain aligned. That’s why so much of my writing on the subject encourages systems and habits that lead to continual improvement. For more in-depth coverage on how to increase alignment and improve your social impact, check out my book, Social Sector Hero.