In this episode, Christopher Mael discusses how he has made alignment meetings the most enjoyable part of the month. Christopher explains how he created a unified, goal-oriented environment by bringing diverse perspectives together and facilitating honest conversations to address gaps and align perceptions. He emphasizes the importance of understanding leadership’s priorities and building consensus, even when different metrics and priorities exist across functions.
Christopher Mael has been the Director of Sales and Operations Planning for Precor subsidiary Peloton and the fitness space for the last five years. Previously he worked for Loud Technologies, a global leader in performance professional audio equipment for over 12 years.
“The biggest misconception about alignment is that it exists most of the time. You get into a meeting and people think they’re all on the same page, and they might even be grumpy, like, why are we even having this meeting?” -Christopher Mael
Chris was inspired to make alignment meetings the most enjoyable part of the month when he realized that the executive team meetings were previously “Thunder Dome” and “Mad Max”, with everyone focused on their metrics and KPIs. He was tasked with facilitating these meetings and finding consensus among the diverse perspectives.
Christopher explains that he was able to achieve this by creating an environment where people could speak freely and respectfully, while still hashing through difficult topics. He found that this alignment enabled the company to turn around and achieve double-digit EBIT growth. He cites a moment where one of the executives came into the meeting excited, saying it was his favorite meeting of the month, as a key turning point in making these alignment meetings successful and enjoyable.
So in summary, companies should consider rebranding when their current brand no longer reflects who they are as a maturing organization, when going through major changes like M&A, when facing trademark challenges, or when they need to stand out in a commoditized market.
According to Christopher, the key to better collaboration between sales and marketing teams on forecasting is to create a forum for open dialogue and engagement, rather than just relying on data and charts. He notes that traditional forecasting methods can be overly quantitative and inaccessible to leaders, leading to a lack of buy-in and ownership.
To improve this, Christopher suggests starting the forecasting process by aligning on the company’s top-level goals and priorities for growth, whether that’s revenue, earnings, or something else. From there, teams can work together to set measurable milestones and action plans to track progress toward those shared objectives. The key is creating a space for tough conversations and ensuring everyone has a voice, rather than just presenting data. This helps build consensus and commitment to the forecasting process, even in uncertain times.
Christopher shares some practical tips for getting different functions like sales, marketing, and supply chain on the same page around shared goals and expectations include:
The key is creating an environment of trust and open dialogue, rather than just relying on data and metrics, to ensure true alignment across the organization.
According to Christopher, the key to building consensus when there are different priorities and metrics for success is to:
The goal is to move away from individual department metrics and KPIs that can be adversarial, and instead create a unified set of objectives that everyone is committed to achieving. This requires open dialogue, tough questions, and a willingness to address any gaps or misalignment in perceptions.
Christopher highlights some common misconceptions about the alignment that can prevent teams from being on the same page including:
To address these misconceptions, Christopher recommends:
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