Do you wish you had the ability to inspire people into action–creating more successful and rewarding results? Would you like to know how to get people working towards the same goal in a way that everyone enjoys? Whether you already have good communication skills under your belt, you’ve taken business communication courses and are in the process of practicing what you’ve learned, or if you’re just beginning to look into new business communication methods, this article will help you take your business communication to the next level by teaching you to create alignment with other people. What is alignment, and how can you create it? Read on to find out!

What is Alignment?

Just as the stars seem to align for a perfect circumstance, so can your business– and this time you can be in control of the stars. How fast would your business move if you got the results you wanted? When you create alignment in your business, you ensure that each person involved is working toward a common goal. Because you have created shared desires with each other, each party feels as if everything is working in their favor and you set yourself up for better results. Creating alignment is more than just learning new listening techniques or overcoming objections. Every successful business interaction, or any instance where people are working together to create the most favorable result, needs to start with alignment. You can understand this concept more fully if you think about life in general terms. Each day you drive down the highway to work, the store, or pick up the kids - going in your own direction. Although you are going your own way to achieve your desired outcome (getting where they want to go), there are others on the road trying to reach their own destinations. Although each person may reach different destinations, the transportation laws communicate to everyone to drive in the same way, this creates alignment. At the end of the commute, everyone achieves the result they set out to accomplish.Alignment in business works the same way. It involves communicating with those around you to reach a common goal creating enhanced results.

First Things First - Build Internal Alignment

It is critical to create alignment with yourself before you can begin to create it with others. Once you have identified your desired outcome, and the underlying values associated with it, you will be ready to express it to others. Be sure to dig deep and find those underlying values that support your wants. For instance, perhaps your desired outcome is to have everybody in the group read a memo before a meeting. The underlying value might be effectiveness because you want people to be informed so you don’t lose any time getting people up to speed once the meeting is underway. It is important to understand that behind every desired outcome, there are values that make you want that outcome in the first place.

Interacting with Others: The Alignment Conversation

After determining your own values and desired outcome you’re ready to explore those of your colleagues. The people with whom you will be working are also motivated by values, which are not necessarily the same as yours. By asking if they share the same values you will gain insight into what motivates them. Once you know what motivates them, you can each get on board with a shared vision. This is the alignment process. When you are set with a shared vision in place, you can begin to lay out strategies that will make that vision come to fruition.

Things to Avoid in the Alignment Conversation:

As you start the alignment conversation, it’s important to remember to keep it as strategy-free as possible. During this beginning stage, we suggest that you make an agreement with the other person not to try and figure out how to get the specifics of what you want. Once you’ve agreed upon your shared vision, there will be plenty of time to move on to the specifics of how to reach your goals. It’s also wise if you and the other person, or group, agree to avoid spending time talking about the failures of the past. (Bringing up the past can be useful, but only if it is done to understand values that may have been missing back then, not to assign fault or to justify your skepticism.)

Things to Do in the Alignment Conversation:

A willingness to negotiate strategies that are mutually agreeable. A commitment to let go of judgments and/or criticisms. An agreement to celebrate all wins that come from this conversation

When you have set an understanding of values and created a shared vision, you have already been successful in working together for a mutually beneficial outcome. It will now come more naturally to create situations where everyone gets what they want. You will begin to see just how enjoyable it can be to work toward a common goal, when everyone is agreeable. You will find yourself in a collaborative and supportive work environment that lends itself to enhanced productivity and wins for all.

Creating alignment is one of the many methods we teach to develop vibrant relationships and efficiency in your business communication. You’ll discover even more when you sign up for our complimentary riveting and results-driven Weekly Action Tips eMail series at: http://www.FocusedAttention.com/cmd.php?ad=317928. Each tip offers practical advice for creating the relationships that you really want. Or visit us at: http://www.FocusedAttention.com

- Beth Banning and Neill Gibson