This article is intended as a guide for team members who have been asked to complete an Align. If you need help setting up an Align, check out this article.
What is Align?
Align is a tool used to quickly diagnose what is holding your team back. You give anonymous input on what is important and what are we doing well as a team.
The focus of your answers should be your team, not your organization as a whole.
We then highlight the key priorities and help the team resolve them.
What happens when I click the link in the email/access via the app?
You'll be invited to Align via email with a link to do an exercise. Clicking on the link will bring up a page on which you drag sticky notes on to a two-by-two grid.
On the grid are the important/not important and we do well/don't do well axes. You should drag each statement from the left and drop it on the quadrant where where you feel it belongs. The whole process usually takes less than 5 minutes.
Any tips for completing?
When thinking about where to place your statements, you're responding to how you feel about that team, not your organization as a whole. Also, make sure you're placing the statements according to their relative importance - even if everything is important, think of what is most important. You can move the statements around after placing them and before submitting.
Your sticky notes can overlap - So do not worry about maintaining a boundary!
If you have any questions, you can talk to us by clicking the blue chat button in the bottom right hand corner.
I thought this was anonymous... why are you asking for my email?
The results are anonymous (we take this very seriously because answering honestly is the only way the results will be meaningful). We only ask for your email so that we can send you your personal results when the Align is finished. We will never share your individual answers with anyone else in your organization.
Okay, I finished and submitted. Now what?
When everyone has completed the activity, the administrator will close the exercise, triggering everyone's individual results to be sent. You can then see how your answers compared to the rest of your team members (though you won't know whose answers are whose), as well as your team's aggregate responses.
Your team will then have a discussion to review the results together. You'll prioritize the key issues, identify root causes and generate improvement ideas.
Finally, enjoy how your new insights and action items will help your team perform better and be better equipped to tackle the next challenge!
