Trailhead Thoughts
“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.”
- Henry Ford
Trail Map - Learn. Think. Act. ™
Alignment Across Teams - Even Remote Ones
📚Learn
Alignment isn’t magic. It’s intentional. Whether your teams are remote, cross-functional, or barely meet in person - alignment comes down to 3 simple pillars:
Definitions- Shared language. Clear terms. No guessing (start with a top 10 glossary.)
Principles - A teams’s “rules of the road” for decision-making and behavior.
Standards - Clear expectations for communication, reporting, and meetings.
Without these you get confusion, duplicated effort, and decisions made in the dark.
🤔Think
Ask yourself:
What are the 10 most-used words or metrics in our team? Are they defined?
Do we have principles that guide daily decisions? Or are we just hoping everyone “gets it?”
What are our communication and reporting standards?
Are these written somewhere everyone can see?
💪 Act
Start here:
Create a 1-pager with top 10 key terms for your org or team. Make it index-card simple.
Write down 3 to 5 guiding principles that help your team choose “how” to act. (Example: “Don’t make assumptions.”
Set meeting standards: what’s the purpose, plan, and proper medium (email, Slack, meeting?) use the PPM framework in the video (planning, purpose, medium.)
Bonus: Review how your KPIs connect across teams. Misaligned metrics = misaligned work.
Beyond the Trailhead
Building Alignment That Sticks
Alignment doesn’t happen by accident. It’s something you build. Slowly, intentionally, and through conversations that bring the team back to the same page.
When teams are moving fast, it’s easy for assumptions to creep in. People start speaking the same words but meaning totally different things. “Qualified lead.” “Priority project.” “Done.” You think everyone’s aligned until you realize they are all standing at different trailheads.
How do you build alignment that lasts longer than the next team meeting? Start small.
Definitions - Make your “Top 10 Terms” list. These are the words that matter the most in your work. Define them together. You’ll be surprised by how much clarity this brings.
Principles: Write down 3 to 5 guiding principles. To be clear, these aren’t slogans, they’re anchors. Things like “Assume positive intent.” or “set expectations and execute flawlessly.”
Standards - Set clear expectations for how your team communicates and reports. What deserves a meeting, what stays in Slack, and what’s a “one-click” update in your project tracker?
Now let’s talk about a real-world challenge we know many leaders face…
When you’re not in the same room, alignment can slip faster than you think. Remote and hybrid teams don’t have the luxury of hallway clarifications or quick gut checks.
A few things help:
Say the quiet part out loud. Don’t assume- confirm. What does “done” mean for us?
Default to visible documentation. If it’s not written, it will drift and be forgotten about.
Use real-time tools for clarity. Loom, shared docs, anything that helps you remove ambiguity.
Create alignment checkpoints. Five minutes at the end of a meeting: “What did we decide? Who’s doing what and by when?”
Alignment isn’t harder with remote teams, but it does need to be even more intentional.
As we head toward year-end, alignment can be the difference between finishing strong and fizzling out. Take time to ask:
Where have definitions drifted?
Which principles need a refresh?
What standards have quietly disappeared?
You don’t need to conduct a massive reset, you just need a moment of clarity before you begin to plan what’s next.
Alignment isn’t a one-time event. It’s a rhythm. When you keep it steady, your team moves smoother, faster, and with far less friction.
Voices from the Trail
Meet Cyndi – founder of Guide to Greatness
Learning, Culture, Alignment & Process
Cyndi is the founder of Guide to Greatness and the author of Catch! and Rudolph Factor. This is a throwback to an episode we recorded in 2019.
As a follow-up to the information she shared during the TLDC 19 keynote.
Hitting the Trail
Planning your 2026 SKO, offsite, or leadership retreat? Bring in a speaker who doesn’t just inspire, he equips and sparks action. Mike helps teams turn ideas into execution through clarity, communication, and actionable frameworks that stick.
Whether your goal is to reset strategy or to build momentum for the year ahead, Mike’s sessions are designed to spark alignment and drive results.
Click here for more information.
Announcements
Something exciting is coming to The Leader Lab.
We’ve been quietly rebuilding, refining, and reimagining what a leadership community should feel like and we’ve been listeing .to what you’ve been asking for along the way.
A clearer path. A stronger sense of community. Tools and conversations that actually help you lead with intention.
We’re almost ready to open the doors again.
If you’ve been craving a place to grow, reflect, lead with intention, and connect with other leaders who get it…stay close. Big news ahead.
That’s it for this week.
Keep putting one intentional step in front of the other - the view gets better and better as you climb.
If you know a leader whose team is feeling a little “out of sync” right now, forward this their way. A small dose of clarity can create some major momentum and sometimes all it takes is seeing it from a new angle.
The Find My Catalyst Team