Alignment (#222)

“Alignment doesn’t happen by accident—it’s built through clarity.” – Jill Nowacki

Welcome to episode 222 of The CUInsight Experience podcast with your hosts, Randy Smith, co-founder of CUInsight.com, and Jill Nowacki, President and CEO of Humanidei.

This episode is sponsored by The Sheeter Group - a leading executive benefits firm that meets your retention and succession needs. This includes non-qualified benefit plans, short and long-term incentive plans, compensation studies, scorecard design, performance evaluation, and more. Learn more at sheetergroup.com.

In this season, Jill and I will have conversations centered around leadership, credit unions, and living our best lives. We will have some of the most respected leaders from around credit unions who we are grateful to call friends join us in the discussion from time to time too.

In this episode, we are talking all about the importance of alignment, the connection between what an organization claims that it values and what it actually does. We discuss how alignment shows up most clearly in leadership and how, when leaders' words and actions are misaligned, it can create confusion, distrust, and a lack of energy on a team.

Jill notes that true alignment is when "what we say and what we do match up” and gives examples of how misalignment can manifest in an organization. We examine what can cause leaders and organizations to fall out of alignment in the first place, identifying as a key factor. When leaders get excited about new opportunities, they can move too quickly without bringing the team along. Leaders under distress might also make hasty decisions aimed at pleasing rather than staying true to their values.

We also discuss how restoring alignment requires self-reflection—to understand how the misalignment occurred to begin with. Jill highlights the importance of being transparent and admitting mistakes—and recommitting to the organization's core purpose and values. We also stress the importance of defining and reinforcing the "why" behind your organization's goals. We advise leaders to trust their gut when something feels off and to dig deeper to uncover the root cause.

Ultimately, our discussion emphasizes the fact that alignment is not something that happens by accident—but is something that requires ongoing effort, self-awareness, and a persistent focus on ensuring that words and actions are in sync at both the individual and organizational level. Enjoy our conversation on alignment!

Find the full show notes on cuinsight.com.
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