Stop Chasing Alignment, Homogeneous Cultures Are a Myth

“Culture is everything people do.” — Unknown

Is organizational alignment something real? Or is it just a mirage?

“Culture is everything people do.” — Unknown

There are over 36,800,000 results when you Google “Cultural Alignment”. I will save you the reading time and share the common thread: “organizational alignment” is the poster child.

If your organization is not aligned, they want to make you feel bad.

I hate to disagree with that approach. Culture alignment is more of a myth than something real.

Getting the entire organization to rally behind something -all the time- is like a mirage. We can all see it. We all pursue it as the perfect oasis in the middle of the desert.

But the illusion of alignment rapidly vanishes once we look at it from a closer distance.

Is Alignment Possible At All?

“We hire professionals for their expertise but then they end bringing their personalities to work.” — Anonymous

If there’s something I’ve learned managing various organizations is that, every time I thought that everyone in an organization was aligned…