Re-Release: How Teams Can Fly in the Same Direction

1 - > SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, it's Nathan Freeberg, and we are 2 - > bringing you a rebroadcast of the Leadership Vision podcast 3 - > because I had this idea. 4 - > See, uh last week my 13-year-old son got braces. 5 - > His his teeth were, let's just say that we've got some work to 6 - > do there. 7 - > Now we're only like not even a week in and he's in that 8 - > miserable stage.

9 - > If you ever had braces, or maybe one of your kids had braces, you 10 - > know what that's like. 11 - > He can't really eat solid foods yet, at least he doesn't want 12 - > to, because his mouth hurts. 13 - > Cleaning them is a hassle. 14 - > And this morning he looked at me and said, Dad, I sure hope this 15 - > is worth it because this really sucks.

16 - > I get it. 17 - > That short-term immediate discomfort is real. 18 - > And so it reminded me of this conversation that Dr. 19 - > Linda and Brian Schubring and I had almost two years ago now, 20 - > about alignment.

21 - > I know, maybe a cheesy connection. 22 - > But whether you're leading a team, whether you're building a 23 - > culture, or even whether you're helping to straighten a smile, 24 - > whatever that looks like, moving towards something better, it can 25 - > feel harder before it gets better. 26 - > Progress is usually asking us to kind of embrace some sort of 27 - > discomfort in service of a larger something, whatever that 28 - > is. 29 - > So, with that in mind, as we kind of approach our 4th of July 30 - > holiday here, I just wanted to share this rebroadcast with you 31 - > about alignment and a new metaphor that we had.

32 - > Again, this is a couple years ago, but we're still using it 33 - > about flamingos. 34 - > It's not about conformity. 35 - > There are emotional and relational aspects to alignment. 36 - > And they talk about a couple of steps to achieving team 37 - > alignment.

38 - > And so here's this rebroadcast. 39 - > I would love to hear your thoughts. 40 - > You can drop us an email at connect at leadershipvision 41 - > consulting.com, share it on the socials, comment on the socials, 42 - > whatever it is.

43 - > We hope that you find this helpful as you are moving 44 - > towards your own alignment in whatever area that might be. 45 - > Enjoy. 46 - > You know, Brian and Linda, I have noticed the geese flying 47 - > south, at least that's we're assume they're going. 48 - > Uh, at Chloe's soccer game on Saturday, there was like 49 - > literally a million geese that were flying.

50 - > And I was thinking about uh this book that I had recently read 51 - > with the kids about, you know, geese flying in this formation, 52 - > and I thought that's such a cool metaphor for leadership because 53 - > they're all in this tight, organized formation with the 54 - > leader at the front, and then I assume different rankings of 55 - > geese all the way to the back where the grunts are. 56 - > And I was like, it's a fun metaphor for leadership because 57 - > I also know they draft off of each other and there's some 58 - > cooperation.

59 - > Is that how you would describe leadership as this perfect V 60 - > formation going the sky? 61 - > No, okay. 62 - > SPEAKER_00: Well, I think it's a great, I think it's a great 63 - > analogy. 64 - > It's some it's a great metaphor that people have aspired to, I'm 65 - > sure.

66 - > SPEAKER_02: We've seen the posters in the break room that 67 - > have that. 68 - > SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there's and there's nothing wrong with 69 - > it, and it's good reminders of like, okay, we're gonna go there 70 - > together. 71 - > SPEAKER_01: You are listening to the Leadership Vision Podcast, 72 - > our show helping you build positive team culture. 73 - > Our consulting firm has been doing this work for the past 25 74 - > years so that leaders are mentally engaged and emotionally 75 - > healthy.

76 - > For more information about what we do and to get some resources, 77 - > you can visit us on the web at Leadership Vision 78 - > Consulting.com. 79 - > Hello everyone, my name is Nathan Freeberg, and today on 80 - > the Leadership Vision Podcast, we are talking about alignment, 81 - > how to know if you're aligned, how to get your team aligned, 82 - > and how to know when you're all going in the same direction 83 - > together. 84 - > Let's just jump right back in with the new metaphor for how we 85 - > see alignment.

86 - > So, then what is a better metaphor? 87 - > SPEAKER_02: How often do you really approach this? 88 - > Yeah, I guess my point is how often do we experience a 89 - > leadership team that actually has that kind of 90 - > synchronization, commonality of thought, conformity of practice. 91 - > You just don't find that.

92 - > It's much I think my experience is the the leadership teams that 93 - > we that we work with, the effective ones, it's still messy 94 - > and somewhat chaotic. 95 - > Yeah, kind of like that sometimes. 96 - > But what's key to what is to what a team is doing is that 97 - > they're more aligned on the direction they're going. 98 - > Um, and that alignment doesn't necessarily look like that 99 - > perfect V formation that that geese are flying, and so I think 100 - > that that's where where where we fall.

101 - > We had an invitation to work with an executive team, and the 102 - > topic was alignment, and so we thought about this very 103 - > illustration, Nathan, that you're referring to, and that's 104 - > not at all what what we were thinking is practical. 105 - > So, what we ended up um choosing was we found this really unique, 106 - > dynamic, and colorful image of a bunch of flamingos flying in the 107 - > same direction. 108 - > So, again, not Canadian geese at your daughter's soccer game, but 109 - > several flamingos.

110 - > The only thing the flamingos have in common is that they're 111 - > all flying in the same direction. 112 - > So when you look at those Canadian geese pictures, like 113 - > there's oftentimes the same wing positions and the perfect, like 114 - > you know, spacing between the birds with this flamingo, not at 115 - > all. 116 - > Uh, they're different colors, they're spaced out differently. 117 - > Some are really far away, some are super close, some are 118 - > compacted, some aren't.

119 - > There doesn't seem to be a very distinct order to this, except 120 - > they're flying in the same direction. 121 - > And when we presented this picture to the executive team, 122 - > it was an immediate connection to that's it. 123 - > You know, that's what it is to live on this team. 124 - > We're we're flying in the same direction, that's what it means, 125 - > at different paces, we all look differently.

126 - > SPEAKER_00: And sometimes people would say, like, now I'm in the 127 - > front, or I'm the one like definitely going slower. 128 - > I might not even be in this image. 129 - > Um, but we find that uh presenting an image that 130 - > surprises people, so not maybe a predictable, like I've heard 131 - > this before about the geese, uh, it it opened up uh their 132 - > imagination to begin to dream of are we really aligned? 133 - > Are we even going in the right direction?

134 - > Uh I had a mentor that he would always say, if I'm going to 135 - > Chicago from Minneapolis, I'm gonna get on 94 and go east. 136 - > Am I on 94 and going east? 137 - > And so it was this directional um lesson I think that I learned 138 - > from Mike, where yep, we're gonna we're gonna head this way. 139 - > And I think sometimes alignment begins with at least going in 140 - > the same direction.

141 - > SPEAKER_02: I think that the the big idea for today is that we 142 - > want to invite individuals and leaders to think about how it is 143 - > that their teams that they're on, their leadership teams, how 144 - > it is that they're aligned. 145 - > Do they have a commitment to going in the same direction? 146 - > And is there any type of consistency on how you're 147 - > checking in with each other and realizing that what we're not 148 - > saying is that alignment equals conformity?

149 - > Not at all. 150 - > The purpose of our conversation today is for us to just begin to 151 - > ask ourselves the question what does it look like for me to be 152 - > in alignment with those around me? 153 - > And what does it mean for my team to be in an alignment going 154 - > in the same direction, aligned on what it is that we believe in 155 - > and what we're trying to accomplish? 156 - > SPEAKER_01: So then it's the it's about the commitment, not 157 - > the conformity.

158 - > Yes. 159 - > And I'm wondering where we start with that then. 160 - > Like you have so many leaders that like this is just the team 161 - > that they have. 162 - > Uh it's one thing if you can pick your hand, pick your team 163 - > for a specific job or a task or whatever.

164 - > That's probably maybe a little bit easier to get alignment and 165 - > commitment to. 166 - > But how would you know any leader that's listening to us 167 - > today, is there a what's the process? 168 - > What's the one, two, three, fifteen-step process to get 169 - > people to all go all go east? 170 - > SPEAKER_02: Well, one of the places that we love to start is 171 - > where we have commonality on just the idea.

172 - > And so I think the first thing we would ask people is what does 173 - > alignment mean to you? 174 - > And just let that conversation evolve because we don't know 175 - > what alignment means to any team that we're working with. 176 - > Let them define it because I think it's really important to 177 - > have an understanding that there may be many people that have 178 - > different opinions on what alignment means. 179 - > Second, can we agree on what alignment might mean for us?

180 - > And then third, where and when have we been aligned before? 181 - > Because we think it's really important to capture when a team 182 - > is practicing something that they say to themselves, we're 183 - > not doing this, we're really struggling. 184 - > And we would say, You probably have been aligned before, you 185 - > probably have been in that level of synchronicity before. 186 - > So, what does it mean to you as individuals?

187 - > What does alignment mean to you as individuals? 188 - > What does it mean? 189 - > What does a the topic of alignment mean for us as a team? 190 - > And and Linda loves to ask these questions, when have you been 191 - > aligned before to remember what that experience looked like, 192 - > what it felt like, what it sounded like?

193 - > SPEAKER_00: Because when people start to first define it, then 194 - > you start to realize that maybe people are maybe people have 195 - > really differing definitions. 196 - > And so their operational definition of what alignment is 197 - > maybe puts a value on that we're all in this together, or it puts 198 - > a um a value on the speed of how we're gonna, you know, go at 199 - > this, or uh who all needs to needs to be involved. 200 - > And so that definitional start, then what we find as leaders 201 - > will kind of look around like, is that how you define it?

202 - > Oh, that's not how I thought about it, or that's not what the 203 - > dictionary definition definition is. 204 - > Um, but when people are starting to wrestle with it, um, that's 205 - > really important. 206 - > And when people have that experience where they can name 207 - > some time in their life where they were on a team or in a 208 - > group or among a variety of birds um headed to Chicago, as 209 - > I'm mixing all the metaphors. 210 - > I like it.

211 - > Being able to remember, put themselves back in that space, 212 - > and then speak from the wisdom of what they've learned in that 213 - > space. 214 - > Yeah. 215 - > SPEAKER_02: So when we meet with the team, we had that broad 216 - > discussion, like we already covered. 217 - > That's really our our first step.

218 - > The second place we go to is what Linda just said is when 219 - > have you experienced alignment, being on a team that was 220 - > aligned. 221 - > Because that's really gonna make the conversation personal for 222 - > individuals. 223 - > They'll feel like they're contributing to the overall 224 - > discussion by remembering when they were in that place of 225 - > alignment. 226 - > I think that the other important thing then is to be able to 227 - > listen to team members share those stories uh from early in 228 - > in their careers or from a decade ago when they felt that 229 - > they were providing some kind of momentum or innovation to how 230 - > teams were aligning onto something that was in their 231 - > future.

232 - > Because you'll see people's eyes light up, you'll see their body 233 - > posture change. 234 - > And that's oftentimes something that that's maybe even more 235 - > critical than the topic we're talking about is watching people 236 - > come to life when they begin to remember when they were a 237 - > critical contributing member to a positive team culture. 238 - > SPEAKER_00: There's often one or two people that will say things 239 - > like, Well, can I can I share an example of when we weren't 240 - > aligned?

241 - > unknown: No. 242 - > SPEAKER_00: And we usually say, I mean, although that's 243 - > important to learn from as well, and I think we do learn a lot of 244 - > lessons about what not to do, or if you know, we can watch a 245 - > leader and be like, we never want to be like that, you know. 246 - > So I'd never want to have this kind of you know, lack of 247 - > alignment going forward. 248 - > Um, we find that that that conversation begins to spiral a 249 - > little bit.

250 - > And what we want to help leaders tap into are those positive 251 - > memories, are those opportunities to remember when 252 - > they were aligned, to remember who was next to them, to 253 - > remember if they were leading, if someone else was um carrying 254 - > most of the weight. 255 - > And as Brian mentioned, yes, like the people light up. 256 - > And I think that's where some of the breakthrough of creativity, 257 - > some of the breakthrough of other ways to look at um an 258 - > issue or progress uh when it comes to alignment.

259 - > SPEAKER_02: And when we're having this conversation, the 260 - > third thing that we provide is just some a little bit of 261 - > framework of what we're trying to reiterate with this 262 - > conversation with alignment. 263 - > And like any frame or any four-sided frame, we have four 264 - > words. 265 - > And and the first thing is alignment is about clarity. 266 - > That's kind of the place that we want to start is can we have a 267 - > commitment to any type of clarity on what it means for us 268 - > to align?

269 - > And the the second thing is to um just give another side of the 270 - > frame that um alignment cascades. 271 - > Oftentimes one or two people will get it, and then that that 272 - > will cause others to come into alignment too. 273 - > So just giving people permission that we're not maybe all gonna 274 - > feel aligned right away, but alignment cascades. 275 - > And the third side of the frame is that with alignment, we need 276 - > to cultivate it.

277 - > Um, we need to kind of like keep that momentum going, remind 278 - > ourselves of the direction that we're heading and why that's 279 - > important. 280 - > And then fourth, to remember that for alignment to really be 281 - > resilient and carry through over time, it that topic and needs to 282 - > be part of our culture. 283 - > It's a culture that aligns, not just a team, but that we expect 284 - > individuals to be aligned and other teams to be aligned in 285 - > their appropriate ways as well.

286 - > That's kind of how we finish off this first part of the 287 - > conversation. 288 - > I like it. 289 - > SPEAKER_01: Brian Linda, I am I'm gonna read a paragraph from 290 - > this document here. 291 - > It says alignment is not about conformity, it's a shared 292 - > commitment to moving in the same direction, leveraging each 293 - > leader's strengths and insights, understanding that individual 294 - > uniqueness and adaptive leadership styles are crucial 295 - > for building a dynamic and resilient leadership team.

296 - > Talk about that. 297 - > Expand on that a little bit. 298 - > I want to hear more. 299 - > SPEAKER_02: One of the things that we want to emphasize in 300 - > this conversation is that we are not at all asking people to 301 - > refrain from contributing in an authentic and individualized 302 - > manner.

303 - > Because what we are trying to do in our work from the very 304 - > beginning is how is it that we can shine a light on what is 305 - > beautiful and brilliant about people? 306 - > And we want to then invite people to share that uniqueness 307 - > of who they are as individuals, even when we're working in 308 - > alignment, because we know that when individual voice is shared, 309 - > when diversity is promoted, when innovation is encouraged, it 310 - > provides a different type of life and energy to a team that 311 - > provides a momentum that I think is uncharacteristic in a lot of 312 - > organizations.

313 - > SPEAKER_00: So if I think of some of the examples from 314 - > leaders who have demonstrated some of their, I don't know, 315 - > adaptive capacities. 316 - > A lot of times people are saying out loud, hey, I'm with you, I'm 317 - > just listening. 318 - > Hey, I'm with you, I'm just introverted. 319 - > And we know that the introverts among us do not give us as many 320 - > data points as the extroverts.

321 - > So they can, you know, we don't know if they're aligned or if 322 - > they're in the in the formation going in the right direction. 323 - > Uh so sometimes just probing and asking some of those questions, 324 - > we want to unearth some of the adaptive capacities. 325 - > We also want to push leaders to consider the ways that they have 326 - > been resilient in the past. 327 - > And sometimes that, you know, the resilience isn't just like, 328 - > okay, fine, and you give up and you just, you know, give over to 329 - > wherever everyone else is going.

330 - > Um, but there's a bit of a give and take, and there is a bit of 331 - > a uh maybe curious posture, open posture, like I want to learn 332 - > from something, and able and then be able to help us move 333 - > faster together. 334 - > SPEAKER_02: Here's an another example. 335 - > We recently were working with a group on this topic of 336 - > alignment, and I saw one of the more critical thinkers um 337 - > standing in front of this beautiful big screen, staring at 338 - > this picture.

339 - > So I walked up over to him and stood alongside of him and kind 340 - > of just gazed onto this big picture of these flying 341 - > flamingos with him, and he didn't say a word. 342 - > I was that was kind of awkward, like he stood there with me. 343 - > Um, and I said, Well, what do you see? 344 - > And so he kind of gave some descriptions of what he is 345 - > seeing in the picture.

346 - > And then I asked him, I said, Which one of these flamingos is 347 - > you? 348 - > And I was certain that he was going to be describing uh one of 349 - > the flamingos that was closer to the front of the pack. 350 - > And he took his finger and he pointed onto the screen to the 351 - > furthest flamingo outside of the formation that's flying the 352 - > lowest on the horizon. 353 - > He goes, That's me.

354 - > What caught my attention was the certainty with which he said it 355 - > and the pride that he said, like, this is me. 356 - > And I said, Well, why is that? 357 - > And why would you choose that one way out there? 358 - > And he said, Because when I feel that I'm most aligned, I'm not 359 - > flying with the group, I'm flying alongside and at a 360 - > distance, watching, listening, and learning, because then I'll 361 - > know exactly when my opinion is needed, and then I'll fly closer 362 - > to the group and then fly back out where I feel that my 363 - > perspective is more keenly dialed in.

364 - > And that idea or that example of this man emphasized a couple of 365 - > things. 366 - > He understood that it was okay to fly wherever you wanted to, 367 - > but he also understood what role he played, and that was really 368 - > part of the of the point of this whole conversation is what role 369 - > do you play? 370 - > And wherever you think you are, it's okay. 371 - > We're just asking for us all to be flying in the same direction.

372 - > SPEAKER_00: And sometimes we just want to push up against the 373 - > the adage that you know, to f that you have to fall in line to 374 - > get in the right direction, to head in the right direction. 375 - > And I think there's um falling in line and alignment are two 376 - > very different things. 377 - > And I think people feel uh more open or expansive or like, oh, I 378 - > I could try this, instead of how do I conform? 379 - > And I think that's why um we ask people it's not about comfort uh 380 - > being conforming, it's about committing to head in the same 381 - > direction as everyone else.

382 - > SPEAKER_01: So how do you know? 383 - > You mentioned that there's that leader who felt aligned when he 384 - > was kind of off to the side, but as the leader of the group, how 385 - > do you know when your team is aligned? 386 - > Because I'm also hearing there's the team alignment that, but 387 - > then there's individual alignment. 388 - > So however you want to answer that, just how do you know when 389 - > there's some alignment?

390 - > How does that how does that become something that you can 391 - > you can measure or mark and say yes or no? 392 - > SPEAKER_00: Well, learning and living with people who compare 393 - > everything. 394 - > Um this one might be a great idea. 395 - > I feel that this may be a great opportunity to name when teams 396 - > or a group is not aligned.

397 - > Where uh because that's usually when we get a phone call. 398 - > It's like the purpose isn't clear. 399 - > Um, sometimes we say like we want to invest in leaders to 400 - > help teams align on purpose. 401 - > So if the purpose is not clear or the purpose is not 402 - > understood, that's where it's like, oh, there are some people 403 - > doing their own thing, there are splinter cells going off and 404 - > doing this, and other people going rogue.

405 - > What in the world is happening? 406 - > And it's not just, hey, everybody get in the V, but 407 - > let's diagnose what's happening because for some reason we are 408 - > not, we actually aren't aligned. 409 - > And so in some of our research that we have done extensively 410 - > over the last 10 years with teams, we have we've learned a 411 - > lot about organizational alignment. 412 - > So maybe let's move into then what it is.

413 - > SPEAKER_02: Because when we ask when teams are working with us 414 - > on getting aligned, we're we're trying to break this topic down 415 - > as simply as possible because we're not asking for this like 416 - > blanket alignment. 417 - > We're asking specific questions. 418 - > What do you want to be aligned on? 419 - > Because we really want to provide an opportunity for an 420 - > environment and for a team to experience a success, and that's 421 - > critical for us.

422 - > So a very common uh question is how do we align on strategy? 423 - > Now, strategy is important. 424 - > A lot of leaders need to know the direction that they're going 425 - > and how they're going to get there and how their role plays 426 - > into the strategy. 427 - > So that's that's a more maybe common question, but then I want 428 - > to follow that up with a unique question of us is how can we be 429 - > more aligned creatively?

430 - > Like, how can our teens promote creativity where it's not random 431 - > creativity, but it's creativity that is aligned on a topic that 432 - > needs innovation, if that makes sense. 433 - > And so the question is, how do we be creative in an aligned way 434 - > that may provide some innovative solutions on a specific topic? 435 - > That can also be something that directly impacts how a group is 436 - > aligned. 437 - > SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's detecting how people are living 438 - > their values.

439 - > And so the values alignment is really important here. 440 - > Uh because we we will see like sometimes it's just there's a 441 - > values fit that's just it's a maybe a misfit. 442 - > Um, or okay, we are aligned on values, but there are some other 443 - > things that we need to discuss discuss, because maybe it goes 444 - > back to strategy or we're just thinking in. 445 - > Of a box and not outside of a box, like Brian was mentioning 446 - > with creativity.

447 - > So looking at values is really important here. 448 - > SPEAKER_02: Here's another one. 449 - > Uh, when I when we're answering the question of what does this 450 - > alignment look like? 451 - > We're working with another organization.

452 - > It's an emotionally charged organization, but what makes 453 - > this organization unique is that they're they're really wrestling 454 - > with what does it mean to be emotionally engaged and how does 455 - > that align? 456 - > Like what types of emotions do we really want to promote here 457 - > that serves the mission of the organization? 458 - > Can we be emotionally aligned there? 459 - > And by doing that kind of conversation or by having that 460 - > kind of conversation, they're also revealing the types of 461 - > emotions that create this lack of alignment.

462 - > Like what's really distracting is can get us to fly off course. 463 - > And again, surprised by the question, but good. 464 - > SPEAKER_00: Another component is the that um when you look at 465 - > alignment, are you providing places for or um dialogue that's 466 - > intellectually challenging? 467 - > Uh that that's a that's a big ponent of alignment uh when 468 - > people are free to just wonder, to poke holes in, to not be 469 - > intellectually offended if someone asks a question that uh 470 - > some of the some of the teams that we've worked with, you 471 - > know, they'll they'll bat a variety of ideas around and then 472 - > at the end of the day they decide on one.

473 - > And um that intellectual challenge actually led them to 474 - > advancing the strategy, moving in the right direction together. 475 - > SPEAKER_01: What I was gonna say to that before Brian's final 476 - > thought is that before you can know if you're aligned, it seems 477 - > like you have to agree on a bunch of stuff ahead of time. 478 - > Yeah. 479 - > And so yeah, I'm not where am I going with that?

480 - > SPEAKER_00: Like Well, I I think even just naming it and 481 - > discussing it, it isn't um full knowledge. 482 - > It's like, hey, what do you think about this? 483 - > What do you think about that? 484 - > Agitating the thinking, agitating some of the feeling to 485 - > surface rather quickly.

486 - > Yes. 487 - > Uh what are the components? 488 - > SPEAKER_01: Right. 489 - > I just bring that up because it's you know, like nearly 490 - > everything in leadership, it's not a oh, well, if this 491 - > happened, it's A, then B.

492 - > And so there's there's a lot of finesse, and I'm perhaps you 493 - > never have a hundred percent alignment. 494 - > That's just sort of the you know the deal. 495 - > It's like if you got fifty-one percent, that's a good day. 496 - > But um Brian, how might you wrap this up?

497 - > What like do you have a final thought to kind of um land this 498 - > proverbial ship? 499 - > Um maybe on a ship in Chicago, maybe if we're east with the 500 - > birds. 501 - > If we're birds, how do we land uh these flamingos down into 502 - > migrating? 503 - > Um they have to land eventually into a leg.

504 - > They stand on one leg and they're pink because they eat 505 - > shrimp or whatever. 506 - > No, they drink pink lemonade. 507 - > How do you think we all know that? 508 - > Right, right.

509 - > And they swim in pools. 510 - > Duh. 511 - > Um, so how much of like Brian, what's your um I can tell all 512 - > three of us are aligned here on wrapping up this podcast. 513 - > Uh final thought, Brian.

514 - > SPEAKER_02: Here's my final thought, and my final thought, 515 - > um, I learned from an executive leader uh as she was gazing on 516 - > this picture. 517 - > Same situation. 518 - > Um during one of the breaks, we had uh this picture on a large 519 - > screen and um I noticed one of the executives just looking at 520 - > at the picture, and I do what I do, I walked up alongside of her 521 - > and I said, What do you see? 522 - > And she began to talk about the colors and that kind of thing.

523 - > And again, I asked her, which one of these flamingos best 524 - > represents you on this team? 525 - > And she looked right into the middle and chose a flamingo that 526 - > was alongside someone else. 527 - > And the reason why this example is so important for me is 528 - > because what she identified was the importance of being in 529 - > relationship with someone that was close to you, flying in the 530 - > same direction, so you could help each other out on staying 531 - > aligned.

532 - > That lesson really resonated with me and what we're trying to 533 - > communicate is alignment sometimes feels very isolated, 534 - > like you're the only one that's flying in the right direction. 535 - > You may feel that way for a variety of reasons. 536 - > And her comment made me really think of who is it that helps us 537 - > maintain our alignment? 538 - > That person that we are with in the organization that 539 - > understands who we are, that can contribute to some critical 540 - > thinking, but that person that can provide relational and 541 - > emotional support if we feel like we're off center or if 542 - > we're struggling in any area.

543 - > So the reminder that alignment is an emotional and relational 544 - > game, too. 545 - > It's a process of being in relationship with each other, 546 - > relying on our individual uniquenesses as contributing 547 - > factors, but still holding each other accountable in ways that 548 - > keeps us aligned and in relationship. 549 - > SPEAKER_01: I love that. 550 - > Brian and Linda, thank you so much.

551 - > I appreciate the alignment conversation and the new way to 552 - > think about this. 553 - > I'll no longer look at geese the same way. 554 - > I don't really have opportunity to look at flamingos, but uh in 555 - > the case. 556 - > You could I do, I could.

557 - > Or anytime I see some disorganized mess going in, 558 - > generally, generally. 559 - > SPEAKER_02: Speaking of disorganized mess, there's like 560 - > a whole herd of turkeys in our neighborhood, like 21 turkeys. 561 - > Well, they're like they don't have any alignment. 562 - > They just randomly walk across the streets or whatever.

563 - > That's flock of seeds. 564 - > SPEAKER_01: That's what we're called a rafter. 565 - > SPEAKER_02: Rafter? 566 - > SPEAKER_01: A rafter.

567 - > SPEAKER_00: Well, there is a rafter of turkey. 568 - > SPEAKER_01: There's lots of rafters of turkeys around here. 569 - > An adult milk. 570 - > A group of turkeys is called a rafter or a flock.

571 - > SPEAKER_02: So well, I would not. 572 - > I mean, I wouldn't consider when I'm watching our neighborhood 573 - > anything about alignment. 574 - > SPEAKER_01: Well, with turkeys. 575 - > That's good.

576 - > But now we have some good now. 577 - > We have some good uh imagery to think about. 578 - > So thank you for that. 579 - > And thank you, listeners, for listening to the Leadership 580 - > Vision Podcast, our show helping you build positive team culture.

581 - > Our consulting firm has spent the past 25 years helping 582 - > individuals feel mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. 583 - > If you found value from this episode or any of your other 584 - > material, we would love it if you could share it with someone 585 - > else that you think might benefit from it. 586 - > You can visit us on the web at Leadership Vision 587 - > Consulting.com.

588 - > Please subscribe to our email newsletter, subscribe and review 589 - > us on iTunes and Spotify and YouTube and all the social 590 - > channels and blah, blah, blah. 591 - > That stuff's all really helpful for us to get the message out. 592 - > But again, thank you for listening. 593 - > My name is Nathan Freeberg.

594 - > SPEAKER_00: I'm Linda Schubring. 595 - > And I'm Brian Schubring. 596 - > SPEAKER_01: And on behalf of our entire team, thank you for 597 - > listening. 598 - > Should we do um a turkey sound to get to like play us out?

599 - > Or should we gobble gobble? 600 - > I think it's Halloween. 601 - > I don't really have a gobble sound. 602 - > But it won't be Halloween when this comes out.

603 - > Okay. 604 - > That'll all just be faded out. 605 - > SPEAKER_02: I'm dressed in orange.