Agreement vs Alignment: Why Getting This Wrong Could Hurt Your Team’s Success

I stepped into the steering committee meeting five minutes early and could almost feel the tension crackling in the air. A long-running project with over 50 staff is not delivering: it has to either change or go. Decision time – this was going to be a battle. I’m pretty sure I know which camp everyone is in, and which people I think will fight harder than others. Reputations were on the line, egos were in play.??

Some whispered pleasantries. The noise of a glass of water being poured, seats being taken. Then Alyson, Chair of the Steering Committee, dropped a curveball that took everyone by surprise…

“We’re going to come out of this discussion with full agreement on the way forward for this project but I don’t expect everyone to agree on a point of view.”?

I thought to myself: Huh? That’s bold. It’s not as if we’ll get to agree with each other in an hour anyway though, so....?

She added, “And this might not take the hour, or it might take another meeting. What’s important is that we get behind the best decision we can make. That’s what we’re here for.”

No arguing with that. But now I’m curious. How’s this going to work?

Research by Russell Reynolds Associates in 2023 found that leaders rated Commitment and Alignment in the top 5 when it comes to performance:

• Commitment and Alignment: 25%
• Capability and Skill: 23%
• Culture and Behaviour: 22%
• Composition and Structure: 18%
• Continuity and Succession: 12%

My ears pricked up - ah - finally, credible consultancies like RRA are starting to speak the language of alignment. But are they?

The two indicators used in this study to represent ‘commitment and alignment’ are:

1. ?demonstrating accountability and ownership in organizational performance
2. showing high commitment to organizational purpose.?

Where’s the rest? What about translating strategy into meaningful action at the team level, or how people align with each other to collaborate and deliver together?

Years of research tell us that alignment goes far beyond strategy to cover a more holistic scope. It’s not just about having a shared purpose and direction, but translating that into coordinated actions, effective collaboration, and reciprocal stakeholder relationships.???

Collaboration, from this more holistic perspective, is about commitment, as much as it’s about confidence, interdependence, and of course, psychological safety.

I shouldn’t complain.? They’re banging the right drum, even if they’re not in time with the music.? These numbers are more than just statistics; they highlight a growing disconnect between leadership intentions and results.? So, what’s going wrong?? Despite all the efforts leaders make in an attempt to align - in conversations and workshops, with documents and dashboards - many teams still struggle.?

And misconceptions about what alignment is and how it works is a major roadblock.

The question we hear all the time is, “What's the difference between agreement and alignment?”?

The answer may seem simple, but it's one of those important distinctions that teams often get wrong – at a cost. And the confusion doesn't end there. Even the definition of alignment itself is misunderstood. But I'll get to that in a moment... Here’s the quick answer:

To be aligned, teams need agreement on their strategic context and actions. They don’t need to agree on perspectives and opinions.

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Alyson asked us to turn to the person to our left and take turns to set out our views to the other by completing these sentences:

• I think the best future for the project is to …
• My rationale behind that is…?

There was to be no conversation. The person sharing was to be as clear and concise as possible. The person listening could only ask questions to the point they felt they understood where the other person was coming from.?

I turned to face Toby, who’s nice and easy to talk to, while quickly trying to think through how I’d summarize my position. Frankly, I was torn. I guess I’d just have to say that.? Thankfully, Toby went first.

“I think we should close it,” he said, flat out. “It’s just like we’re going round in circles.? We don’t have the coordination between the sub-teams - it’s too chaotic.”?

Wow.? “What makes you say that?” I asked, playing along.

“Take product development. They’d over-run on deadlines - just happens, right? But no-one wants to take that news up the chain. So if the leaders don’t know a dependency will be missed, they can’t synchronize the planning.? A delay in development throws out the stats guys, which it throws out engineering.? This isn’t going to change..”

“Why don’t they want to take the news up the chain?”? I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Because they’ll get shot.? Well, not literally of course - but the messenger gets the blame around here…”

After working with leadership teams across various industries, one thing is clear: alignment is the difference between organizations that are thriving or surviving. The problem is that the mainstream view of what alignment is and how it works is outdated.??

Typically, people see that alignment is about connecting goals from the individual and team level through to the organizational strategy and purpose. This is not wrong, it’s just incomplete.? Research from neuroscience to social sciences points to a more holistic view of alignment. In addition to the strategic alignment piece, people in teams need to align on how their goals interrelate, how they interact with their stakeholders, and how they collaborate to get things done.

You can have a team of the? top talent, equipped with world-class experience and strategy, but if they aren’t aligned on the why, what, and how of their work together, much of that potential goes to waste.

At the outset, the scope of holistic alignment can look overwhelming.? We’re talking about strategy, stakeholders, culture and implementation.? Where do you start?

Research shows that poor learning behaviours are a breeding ground for misalignment. If team members don’t feel safe to speak out, or can’t rely on each other, trust breaks down. The opposite is true too:? positive learning behaviours help close alignment gaps and build a stronger foundation for collaboration. Steve Hearsum, CEO of Edge + Stretch and author of No Silver Bullet:

“It is all too easy for ‘alignment’ to become just another buzzword and part of the everyday rhetoric of leadership and organizations. What we are talking about is greater alignment in a human sense: the ability to work with difference, to do conflict well, to form a shared reality while recognizing the everchanging complexity in organizational life. Proper human alignment is not rhetoric – it is the essential starting point for effective delivery in difficult, uncertain times.”

When we see alignment as a capability – one that strengthens with practice – it becomes more tangible.? And when it is posed as a cyclical dialogue process, rather than a one-off exercise, it becomes a way of working.? Where this comes together is in a culture where people feel safe to raise concerns, address misalignment openly, and work through disagreements constructively.?

Surface-level agreement, where teams look unified in meetings but harbor unspoken disagreement, is a common issue. Building a culture that supports alignment means acknowledging and working through these differences, not smoothing over them. It’s about fostering an environment where underlying tensions can be discussed and resolved rather than ignored.?

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As the meeting progressed and we switched pairs a few times a common theme quickly emerged.? Even though we each saw things differently based on our own experiences, the root issue was clear – bad news wasn’t being shared. Or rather, leaders weren’t open to receiving it.?

My personal view was that the project should stay, not least because the work still needed to be done: if we closed it down we’d have to set up another, or outsource, both of which would take too long to set up and cost too much.

It was interesting to hear from others because although it didn’t change the way I saw things, I ended up seeing the problem from different angles.??

The hour was nearly up.? We talked about the problem and asked ourselves: what would it take to change this dynamic?? That would have to wait until the next meeting.?

Maybe we wouldn’t have found the common ground that we did within the hour. But Alyson was right: we didn’t need to.? Agreement on opinions is overrated – what matters is that we agree on the way forward.

As businesses become more complex and fast-paced, the pressure on leadership teams is greater than ever.? The same Russell Reynolds research project saw 64% of leaders selecting uncertain economic growth in the top 5 of organizational health issues; and 63% selecting availability of key skills and talent.?

Alignment is about navigating through these challenges - or whatever challenges the team and organization is facing at that time. It’s not enough to simply recognize that there are alignment gaps; those gaps must be identified, measured, and managed. This is where structure and process come into play. When used effectively, they can convert the risks of misalignment into competitive advantage.

Regular check-ins, transparent communication, and shared accountability aren’t just “nice to haves” they’re what keep alignment from slipping through the cracks. Leadership teams that take a structured approach to adopt these practices aren’t just staying aligned, they’re building resilience that allows them to thrive as business challenges evolve.

Alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It’s an ongoing, deliberate process that requires the right conversations, tools and shared commitment. As the study from Russell Reynolds highlights, commitment and alignment within the C-suite have the greatest perceived impact on organizational performance. When leadership teams are truly aligned, their collective strength becomes a force multiplier. Goals get hit, decisions are made faster, and performance doesn’t just improve, it soars.?

We’ve seen firsthand how alignment, when done right, can transform not only leadership teams but entire organizations. Whether through fostering stronger relationships, improving communication, clarifying goals, or connecting with the shared purpose, alignment lays a crucial foundation to impact teams and organizations.

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At Mirror Mirror?, we know that every team is a complex landscape of unique experiences, viewpoints, and mental models. These differences can lead to misalignment, but when harnessed effectively, they spark creativity, foster collaboration, and drive growth. That’s why we use our research-based diagnostic tools to reveal where teams are out of sync, and guide them to turn these gaps into opportunities.