Leadership Series 101: The Action of Leadership
The action of leadership is:
Direction
Alignment
Commitment
Every time I present this concept to a client, they immediately lean in and write this down:
Direction, Alignment, Commitment (D.A.C.)
The value of this framework is in its application. How do we use D.A.C.?
Using Direction, Alignment, and Commitment
You can look through each lens of the D.A.C. framework to see how your team is functioning and identify where to put your attention.
Does your team have clear direction?
Is there alignment across the team?
Is everyone committed?
Then you provide the missing component.
How to Provide Direction
Co-create direction with the team. Leaders need information from many sources to make the best choices. Team members need to feel heard and able to contribute.
Workshop with your team.
Understand the industry dynamics.
Ask others for input on what they see.
Come together and co-create the direction in which the team needs to go.
How to Create Alignment
Recognize that your leadership position provides you with a broad viewpoint. You can see more within the organization. You likely hear more complaints and more problems than others.
Team members and direct reports have different and equally important view points.
Your job as leader is to gather all of these viewpoints and synthesize them.
This is the key to creating alignment: being able to hold the broader view (vision) while helping others navigate the immediate problems.
Uniting the team with the broader vision is essential.
Once the entire team can see the vision, the leader can address the short-term challenges, while reinforcing the team goal.
This action creates alignment and leads to commitment.
How to Create Commitment
Committing to the vision is a situational challenge. With clear direction and alignment, the team will often commit automatically.
At more challenging times, leaders will need to directly ask team members to commit to the vision.
Implementing the Full Process of Direction, Alignment, and Commitment
Here’s an example of the full process:
A leader facilitates information-sharing sessions.
They brainstorm solutions to the known challenges together.
The leader gathers these pieces together and provides clear direction.
At this point, direction has been co-created by the team and is established.
The next step is to:
Assess each team member’s buy-in with the plan.
Meet individually with members who still have concerns.
Alignment is being built.
The final next step is to:
Reiterate the direction and highlight the group alignment.
Ask the group, “can we all commit to the goal?”
When responses include the words, “but” or “if only,” then we have to go back to alignment and troubleshooting. It may be that we need commitment for the larger goal with understanding that we will address short-term problems as we move forward.
Then ask again, “can you commit the vision now?”
Working with the Devil’s Advocates
If you have a lot of vocal “devil’s advocates” in your team meetings, it may be useful to have a private one-on-one to explain how important direction, alignment, and commitment is for the team to move forward.
Many lower-level employees have not yet experienced the reality or consequences of a team missing their goals.
They may need a little more of the viewpoint that you have in order to fully commit. Perhaps they may also need more time to process the plans.
It’s up to you, as the leader, to provide the level of individual attention that your team members need. The results of having a fully committed and aligned team are worth the extra effort.
Adapted from the Center for Creative Leadership's research on "how leadership happens," Nov 2020.