Find Team Alignment Using The ALIGHT Cycle

The ALIGHT Cycle was designed to help leaders do just that.

It’s a practical, evidence-based approach that helps teams build shared focus, strong connections, and sustainable motivation. Each pillar - Align, Listen, Inspire, Grow, Honour, and Thrive - contributes to a rhythm of leadership that keeps teams moving together.

ALIGHT isn’t a set of steps you complete once.
 

It’s a cycle of practices that leaders return to as the work evolves and people continue to change.

Alignment drifts. Listening needs renewing. Energy needs protecting. The ALIGHT Cycle supports leaders to respond with intention rather than reaction.

Let’s explore how each part of ALIGHT helps leaders create teams that are clear, connected, motivated, and capable of sustaining their best work.

Align: Creating Shared Purpose and Direction

Alignment is the ongoing practice of helping people understand what matters most, why it matters, and how their work connects to the bigger picture.

Too often, alignment is assumed. Leaders share the outcomes or objectives and hope everyone remembers them. But without regular revisiting, alignment drifts - especially when work gets busy, or priorities change.

Practising alignment means:

• Checking and clarifying agreed team priorities regularly

• Inviting shared understanding of the team’s purpose or ‘why’

• Making sure effort is directed where it matters most (for that chosen period of time)

This isn’t a one-off task; it’s a rhythm that keeps people working with a clear sense of direction and focus, instead of a scatter-gun approach.

Reflect:

• What’s most important right now?

• Is everyone clear on why it matters?

• Where might misunderstandings be hiding?

Listen: Building a Culture of Safety and Trust

Listening is not merely hearing words. It’s the practice of making space for different perspectives, pausing before reacting, and responding with curiosity rather than defence.

When teams feel truly heard, psychological safety grows. People speak without fear of repercussions. They offer insights, raise concerns, and share ideas because they trust the environment is safe and receptive. For a deeper look at how to build psychological safety and accountability within your team, explore my blog How to Avoid a Blame Culture.

Great leaders make listening a habit, not an afterthought. They pause to understand before they act, seek perspectives beyond their own, and welcome challenge as a sign of trust.

Practising good listening skills builds deeper understanding and connection - essential conditions for alignment to stick.

Reflect:

• Do people feel comfortable speaking up?

• When did you last sit with silence in a conversation? Was that to offer others the opportunity to speak, or were they fearful of speaking?

• What might people want to share but hold back?

Listening transforms alignment from instruction into inclusion. It’s what turns a group of capable individuals into a genuinely connected team.

Inspire: Leading with Energy and Example

Inspiration isn’t flashy talk or charismatic speeches. It’s the practice of leading in a way that gives people energy, meaning, and reason to contribute their best.

Leaders inspire when:

• Their actions match their words

• They show confidence in the team’s ability

• They connect daily work to shared purpose

• They lead by example

Being a leader who inspires helps team members connect to their leader.

Reflect:

• How visible is your own belief in your team’s potential?

• Where can you model the behaviours you want to see?

• When pressure builds, do I stay anchored in genuine optimism and calm?

• How visibly do I demonstrate the values I ask others to live by?

Grow: Encourage Development and Progress

The LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that development opportunities are now the number one reason people stay in their roles.

Growth isn’t only about formal training or professional development. It’s the practice of creating conditions where people learn as they work - through feedback, stretch opportunities, and reflective conversations.

Teams thrive when:

• People are challenged appropriately

• Safe spaces are created for learning and experimentation (including mistake – making)

• Feedback is given with both support and direction

Practising growth means creating a culture where development is part of the rhythm of work, not an extra task.

Reflect:

• How often do you create opportunities for people to stretch and grow?

• When did someone feel supported to try something new?

• Do you celebrate effort and improvement as much as results?

• Do you encourage your team to see mistakes as opportunities to learn?

• What strengths are being nurtured?

• Are you modelling curiosity yourself?

Honour: Recognising What Matters

Honouring our people is the practice of recognising, noticing and acknowledging their efforts and contributions — not just the results they achieve (or not).

Bersin & Associates found that organisations with strong recognition cultures see 31% lower turnover and higher engagement. But it’s not just about celebrating big wins - it’s about honouring the everyday actions that uphold your shared purpose.

A simple thank you, a quiet acknowledgement, or a moment of appreciation can shift energy more than a dozen metrics ever could.

It means:

• Recognising effort, not only outcomes

• Respecting people as humans  with lives outside of the workplace, not just as your employees

• Upholding dignity in communication and decision-making

Small gestures of recognition build trust and belonging over time. Honouring tells people they matter, which deepens commitment and connection.

Try this:

• Name one small act of alignment you’ve noticed this week.

• Recognise it publicly; not for performance, but for meaning.

• Ask your team to do the same for each other.

• Honouring effort brings humanity back into leadership. It connects recognition to values and keeps motivation rooted in something real.

Reflect:

• Whose effort deserves acknowledgment this week?

• How do you show respect for boundaries and wellbeing?

• What values are reflected in how the team honours contribution?

Thrive: Sustain Alignment Over Time

Thriving reminds leaders that how work is done matters as much as what is delivered.

Thriving teams and leaders aren’t about constant hustle. They are about pacing, rhythm, and sustainability — protecting energy so alignment can be maintained over time. It’s about developing resilience.

Gallup’s research into well-being and performance shows that resilient teams are significantly more productive, not because they push harder, but because they build space for pause, reflection, and reset. Thriving isn’t a destination; it’s the practice of tending to conditions that allow people to contribute over the long haul.

Practising thriving means:

• Paying attention to workload and rest

• Balancing performance with pace

• Building rhythms that support clarity, dialogue, and well-being

Reflect:

• What simple rituals keep us grounded and connected to help us thrive?

• Are we creating conditions where people can sustain their best work to thrive as a team?

• How are you balancing performance with pace?

• What would help you sustain alignment rather than constantly re-creating it?

Bringing ALIGHT to Life

You won’t finish with the ALIGHT Cycle; it’s not a series of steps to complete. It’s a rhythm to return to — a way of tending leadership and team connection over time.

Teams change. Priorities shift. People grow.

Alignment, energy, and connection don’t happen once - they happen when leaders practise alignment, listening, inspiration, growth, honour, and thriving as part of how they lead.

When these practices are revisited consistently, leaders work with intention, teams stay connected, and alignment becomes something alive and integral to how your team functions.

If you’d like some support in finding your way through this framework, then please do reach out for a free discovery call.