Developing a Framework for Team and Company Alignment

I was asked in an interview recently how do you build culture in an organization. My thoughts. 1. Align Culture with Organizational Strategy • Define the Desired Culture: Start by identifying the behaviors, mindsets, and attitudes that will support your organization’s strategic objectives. • Communicate the “Why”: Ensure employees understand how cultural values connect to the company’s purpose and success. Clear messaging from leadership about how behaviors tie to business outcomes is crucial. 2. Embed Values into Everyday Practices • Recruitment and Onboarding: Hire people whose values align with the organization’s. Reinforce cultural expectations from day one. • Performance Management: Build values into goal-setting, feedback, and evaluation processes. Recognize and reward employees who exemplify the desired culture. • Leadership Modeling: Leaders must embody the culture in their actions, decisions, and communication. Culture flows from the top down. 3. Build Systems that Reinforce Culture • Recognition Programs: Celebrate employees who demonstrate behaviors aligned with company values — not just top performers but also those who uphold integrity, innovation, or teamwork. • Training and Development: Provide learning opportunities that reinforce cultural values. For example, if adaptability is key, offer change management workshops. • Policies and Processes: Ensure HR practices (e.g., promotion, performance reviews, and rewards) reinforce the desired culture. 4. Empower Employees to Drive Culture • Culture Champions: Identify and empower employees across levels to model and promote cultural behaviors. • Employee-Led Initiatives: Create space for employees to suggest ideas that align with the organization’s values 5. Reinforce Culture Through Communication • Storytelling: Share real examples of employees living the culture in newsletters, meetings, or company-wide platforms. • Rituals and Routines: Develop meaningful traditions that reinforce values. 6. Measure and Evolve the Culture • Employee Feedback: Regularly gather input through engagement surveys, focus groups, or one-on-ones to assess cultural alignment. • Track Cultural Metrics: Use data like retention rates, (eNPS), and performance outcomes to measure cultural success. • Adapt as Needed: Culture isn’t static. Reassess as business strategies evolve to ensure alignment. Key Takeaway: An amazing culture is built when values are embedded into how the organization operates — from hiring to leadership behavior, performance management, and recognition. When culture directly supports strategy, it becomes a driving force for employee engagement, retention, and business success.

A leadership team I worked with had just wrapped a major strategy retreat. Values were refreshed. Vision was clear. Energy was high. But six weeks later? Alignment had faded. Mid-level managers were overextended. Stress was spiking. Not because the strategy was wrong, but because the team hadn’t committed to the rhythms that would sustain the change. You can’t lead on clarity and operate on chaos. Culture doesn’t stick without rhythm. When we stepped back in, we settled into the Design & Walk phase. The team didn’t need more content. They needed structure. We established new rhythms: -Biweekly leadership huddles focused on decision-making and alignment instead of updates (moving eyes forward). Reshaped 1:1s built around both results and relational feedback (focused on connection and alignment) -Quarterly reset sessions tying strategy to lived experience across teams What changed? (checking for alignment in strategy and culture) Impact? -Decision speed increased -Team energy stabilized -Managers felt more supported -Turnover dropped in key departments They didn’t just need vision. They needed clear support structures to live it out—together. Real results happen when strategic alignment and human connection move in rhythm. 📌 Where does your team need a rhythm that actually reflects what you say matters? #groundedandgrowing #leadershipdevelopment #organizationalhealth #culturebuilding #executivealignment #designandwalk #rhythms #teamstrategy #managerdevelopment

➡️ 90% of companies fail at culture, and wonder why their best talent leaves. Yet most leaders treat it like a "nice-to-have" instead of a business imperative. Here's what separates thriving workplaces from the rest: They understand culture isn't about ping-pong tables or free snacks. It's the invisible force that determines: → Whether your top performers stay or leave → How fast you innovate vs. your competition → If teams collaborate or work in silos → Your ability to adapt to market changes The 3-step framework I use with clients to build magnetic cultures: 1. DEFINE Your Cultural DNA → Audit your current culture (not what you think it is) → Identify gaps between reality and aspirations → Create crystal-clear values tied to behaviors → Align culture with business strategy 2. DEVELOP Systems That Scale → Design hiring processes that filter for culture fit → Build feedback loops that reinforce desired behaviors → Create rituals that make culture tangible daily → Empower leaders as culture champions 3. SUSTAIN Through Evolution → Measure culture metrics quarterly (not annually) → Evolve practices as your company grows → Invest in continuous leadership development → Make culture everyone's responsibility The result? Companies that master this see: ↳ 3x higher retention rates ↳ 2x faster time-to-market ↳ 40% increase in employee engagement ↳ Teams that actually want to come to work Culture isn't built by accident. It's built by leaders who understand that people don't just want a paycheck. They want to belong to something meaningful. What's the #1 culture challenge you're facing right now? Drop it below - I read every comment. ⬇️ — 👉 DM me “GROWTH” to book a free 30-minute strategy call. And get actionable leadership tips right in your inbox every Wednesday. (Newsletter link in my bio)

Speed doesn’t kill startups. Lack of structure does. At Super.com, we scaled to $150M+ in revenue and 200+ team members without losing our edge. How? We built what we call Mission-Aligned Teams (MATs): a system inspired by Amazon’s single-threaded owners (STOs). STOs looked great for Amazon's scale but felt impossible for growing companies like ours. These 2 critical barriers made it impractical for most businesses and scale-ups: 1. Engineering Squad Requirements: True STO demands complete engineering teams (including managers) reporting to a single owner. At our size, we couldn't justify full engineering squads for each business unit. To make it work, we would have to quadruple our engineering headcount. 2. P&L Owner Complexity: STO leaders need unicorn-level skills: deep business acumen and P&L management experience. Not only are these leaders rare and expensive, but requiring all these skills in one person would have limited our talent pool and slowed our ability to launch new initiatives. What we needed was a model that captured STO's focus and accountability but worked for our size and growth needs. That's when we created Mission-Aligned Teams (MATs), a hybrid model that changed our execution (for good) Key principles: • Each team owns a specific mission (e.g., improving customer service, optimizing payment flow) • Teams are cross-functional and self-sufficient • Leaders can be anyone (engineer, PM, marketer) who's good at execution • People still report functionally for career development • Leaders focus on execution, not people management The results exceeded our highest expectations: New MAT leads launched new products, each generating $5-10M in revenue within a year with under 10 person teams. Planning became streamlined. Ownership became clear. Today, I’m giving away our Mission Aligned Teams Guide and Template and offering select high-impact 1:1 advisory calls on Intro, alongside the founders of Zillow, Reddit, Inc., and veteran VCs and experts like Andrew Chen If your team can’t answer “What matters most this week?” in under 5 seconds, it’s not a team. It’s a traffic jam. If you're scaling and structure is slowing you down, I can help. ✔️ Team design for execution ✔️ Scaling from founder-led to systems-led ✔️ Growth loops and organizational clarity ✔️ OKRs that actually drive results ------------------- 🚨 Want the exact Mission Aligned Teams Guide and Template we used to go from $0 to $150M+ revenue/year for FREE? • Like and share this post • Comment "MATs" I'll send you our entire MATs Guide — including the real team structures, internal templates, and step by step implementation guide that fueled our growth and built Super.com These are the same docs behind a Harvard case study and our $85M raise. No fluff — just what actually worked. This won’t be public for long, and due to time constraints, I'll be giving priority access for folks who shared this post. (photo credits to Manu Cornet)

ALIGN & EMPOWER: A Leadership Framework for Transformational Change Organizations don’t transform. People do. In every transformation journey, there's one consistent truth: systems and strategies only go as far as the people driving them. That’s why change that lasts doesn’t begin with a new org chart or policy –it begins with leaders who can align hearts and minds and empower action at every level. Enter the ALIGN & EMPOWER Leadership Framework – a simple yet powerful approach designed to foster real ownership, engagement, and agility in fast-evolving environments. ALIGN: Clarity Before Movement Alignment is more than cascading goals – it's about creating shared meaning. When people see how their work connects to a larger purpose, they move with intention, not obligation. Great leaders: Anchor teams in purpose and values, not just targets. Communicate with transparency and context. Build bridges across silos to foster collective focus. Alignment is the invisible force behind high-performing cultures. EMPOWER: Trust Before Control Once direction is clear, the real unlock is empowerment. It’s not about letting go completely – it’s about equipping people with the clarity, confidence, and capacity to make decisions and act boldly. Empowered teams: Show higher ownership and accountability Experiment, adapt, and learn faster Feel psychologically safe and supported Empowerment isn’t a perk – it’s a leadership imperative in the age of autonomy. Why ALIGN & EMPOWER works: Builds emotional and strategic buy-in Creates resilient, self-led teams Shifts culture from reactive to proactive Enables scale without losing the human core When you align people to a purpose and empower them to act, change is no longer something to be managed – it becomes something people lead. Transformational leadership starts here. Not with command and control – but with clarity and courage. Not just with systems – but with shared intent and empowered action. Let’s build organizations where every person becomes a catalyst for change. #LeadershipFramework #ChangeLeadership #ALIGNandEMPOWER #PeopleFirst #FutureOfWork