The fastest way to waste a morning is to have everyone paddling hard without agreeing on the destination. One person steers toward the shallow fishing grounds, another aims for the deeper waters, while a third follows the flock of birds overhead. The result? The canoe spins endlessly in place. Everyone is sweating, but we’re still in the same spot.
A few years ago, I saw the same thing in a financial services company during a turbulent market shift. The CEO complained of slow progress despite “everyone working hard.”
On paper, the energy was impressive, marketing was running aggressive campaigns, operations was investing in new systems, sales was pushing for quick wins, and finance was cutting costs. But none of these efforts pointed in the same direction. It was corporate canoe paddling, full of effort, empty of movement.
This is the silent killer of execution: misaligned priorities dressed up as productivity. Leaders convince themselves that if every department is busy and hitting its targets, the company will move forward.
In reality, without a single, non-negotiable organisational objective that every function aligns to, those targets become competing agendas. Marketing’s growth push clashes with Finance’s budget cuts.
Operations’ system upgrades delay Sales’ speed-to-market. And the organisation keeps spinning, impressively, but pointlessly.
This is not a problem of laziness; it’s a problem of leadership alignment. Strategy execution collapses when department heads define success in isolation. Sales wants more clients even if they’re unprofitable.
Operations wants efficiency even if it slows growth. Finance wants savings even if it kills innovation. The CEO wonders why morale is dropping and targets are missed.
Alignment starts with clarity on three things:
a) The single most important organisational objective for this season.
b) How every department contributes to it in measurable terms.
c) What must stop so that focus is not diluted? Without this, you’re rewarding activity, not results.
If you observe fishermen on Lake Victoria, you will notice that when they paddle, one man sets the pace, the others match it, and the canoe glides forward in perfect rhythm.
But if one steers toward the shallow fishing grounds, another aims for the deeper waters, and a third follows the flock of birds overhead, the canoe spins endlessly in place. Everyone is sweating, yet they remain in the same spot.
You can improve your strategic alignment with a simple exercise.
This month, review your top priorities and remove anything that doesn’t directly advance your number-one organisational objective.
Then meet with your leadership team and make sure every departmental goal is visibly linked to that objective. If it’s not, it’s rowing in the wrong direction. Download the alignment grid here
Visit www.summitcl.com to see how we fix strategic misalignment so your people row in unison, and your organisation moves forward with speed. Need strategy execution support, contact Mr Strategy.
