The past week has been a bit of everything.
Busy. Slow. Hectic. Sad. Celebratory.
I was in London at the start of the week with one of the big tech firms. Engaged, open, working through a few tech challenges that, in the end, weren’t really about tech at all. Just decent people connecting, figuring things out together.
During one of the breaks, towards the end of the day, I read a message.
Sad news. Heartbreaking.
And yet strangely distant. Almost dreamlike.
I had 90 minutes left to facilitate. A room full of people. So I took a breath, parked it, and came back to the present. Carried on.
Back in Dublin for a couple of days of emerging leadership sessions. Good conversations. Honest ones.
And then down to The Deerstone with a senior leadership team to facilitate their offsite.
Still carrying that news. Processing it slowly. Still not quite real. Or at least, the reality was kinda patchy and the patches were kinda hazy.
Working with the team made things simpler for me. I could add some value.
I noticed something I’ve seen before.
If an offsite focuses on strategy alone, teams miss a huge opportunity.
Of course strategy matters. Direction matters.
But let’s be honest about the world we’re operating in.
Strategies don’t hold still. Markets shift. Technology moves. Partnerships change overnight. Look at what’s happening between Salesforce and Google. A significant move, and one that will reshape how parts of that ecosystem operate.
Three-year plans look neat on paper. Reality rarely cooperates.
So the question becomes less about the plan, and more about the people executing it.
- How do we improve the quality of alignment within the team? This team understood this.
- How well they think together.
- How openly they challenge each other.
- How clearly they own decisions.
- How quickly they adapt.
That’s the work. And it’s often the work that gets left too late. Or avoided altogether.
There was a line in something I read this week that stayed with me:
Strategy is not the issue. Most organisations already have it. Alignment is where things break.
Between intent and action. Between leadership and reality.
- Strong strategy. Weak execution.
- Clear goals. Unclear ownership.
- Capable leaders. Misaligned teams.
And the cost of that gap is real. Not just commercially. Personally too.
Because misalignment drains energy and performance. It adds noise and interference at exactly the moment clarity is needed most.
Last week and this week were bridged by saying goodbye to an old friend. The same news I had received in London, finally fully landing.
Watching other friends grieve was the hardest part.
Everything can change in an instant. In life and in business. What’s in front of you today matters. The people around you matter.
Do it together, and keep it as simple as you can in a world that keeps getting more complicated.