What if the reason your assignment is stuck is that there is a lack of alignment on the issue?
I speak regularly with professionals who are under constant pressure to move at pace, demonstrate progress and deliver tangible and visible solutions. Yet in that rush to act, teams can easily jump into solutions before they have properly aligned on the problem they are trying to solve.
In this podcast episode, I explore why better answers start with better questions, and why problem alignment is often skipped in the move to create momentum. I look at what happens when key decision-makers appear to be discussing the same mission, but are actually working from very different assumptions about its purpose and measure of success.
And this is not just a delivery issue because when stakeholders are not aligned on the problem, time is wasted, frustration builds and the team can feel as if they are looping backwards to initial phases which they thought they had completed.
This becomes even more complex in global and diverse teams, where different behavioural preferences, communication styles and cultural norms can influence how people define problems in the first place, express disagreement, manage risk, and their bias for action.
What you will learn in this episode:
- Why teams often jump into solutions before agreeing on the real problem
- The individual and team impact of misalignment
- The aligning challenge – defining the problem
- The culturally driven behavioural preferences that influence how people approach projects
- Which cultural factors can create the greatest resistance, friction and misalignment
- How uncertainty avoidance can shape how people respond to risk
- The clarity questions you can use before moving into implementation
Where might you be jumping into solutions before agreeing on the problem?
How could cultural intelligence help you notice the hidden misalignment before it becomes an issue?
Resources:
- The topics from today’s podcast feature in Pillar 2 Clarity and Pillar 4 Cultural Intelligence from Victoria’s book, Become a Global Leader. Explore deeper, get your copy: https://culturecuppa.com/book/
- Follow Victoria on LinkedIn for more global leadership, strategic communication and Cultural Intelligence insights: https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-rennoldson
- Talk to Victoria about your team’s communication and cultural challenges : https://culturecuppa.com/contact/
Read this Episode’s Blog post here:
- Are you solving the wrong problem? https://culturecuppa.com/are-you-solving-the-wrong-problem/
