During an annual planning retreat, a mid-sized professional services firm reviewed their past year of marketing activity.
The charts were detailed.
The campaigns were numerous.
The metrics looked busy.
But something became obvious as the discussion unfolded. The partners were not aligned on what “growth” actually meant.
One partner defined growth as market awareness.
Another saw it as lead quality.
Another focused on new service development.
Another prioritised strengthening existing client relationships.
Another wanted to expand into new regions.
All reasonable ambitions. All valid interpretations.
Yet each partner assumed their definition was shared by everyone else.
As the meeting progressed, it became clear that the marketing team had spent the entire year trying to deliver five different strategies at once.
They were not underperforming. They were responding to conflicting directions.
Your marketing is not underperforming. It is underaligned.
Growth slows not because teams lack expertise, but because leaders lack alignment.
When leadership is not aligned, marketing becomes:
- inconsistent
- reactive
- hard to prioritise
- full of competing agendas
- defined by mixed messages
- difficult to measure
- exhausting to deliver
Every department begins operating with its own interpretation of what matters most. Each holds a different view of value, audience, priorities and direction.
The marketing team receives ideas from every angle, often shaped by personal preferences rather than collective strategy.
This creates internal friction. Not intentional conflict, but quiet misalignment.
And misalignment is expensive. It drains time, focus and energy.
The deeper issue is that most organisations believe alignment exists simply because the leadership team meets regularly.
In reality, alignment only exists when everyone shares the same answers to a small number of critical strategic questions.
Without shared clarity, growth becomes fragmented.
Real alignment is not about agreement on every detail. It is about shared clarity on the decisions that matter most.
Leadership teams need to collectively define:
- the purpose of growth
- the audiences that matter most
- the value the organisation wants to own
- the narrative the organisation will lead with
- the priorities for the next 12 months
- the measures of success that will guide decisions
- the work that will not be done
This is where true alignment lives. When these decisions are shared, everything becomes easier.
Marketing becomes consistent.
Priorities become clear.
Resources become focused.
Messages become unified.
Decision-making accelerates.
Teams feel supported rather than pulled in multiple directions.
Clarity creates momentum.
Alignment turns strategy into movement. It turns ideas into action. It turns growth from a hope into a system.
In a world full of noise, organisations with aligned leadership teams move faster, think clearer and grow with greater confidence.
Growth is rarely a tactical problem. It is almost always an alignment problem.
