Most alignment efforts begin with enthusiasm.
The strategy deck gets approved.
The teams are briefed.
The kickoff call feels like momentum.
And then, within a quarter or two, it fades.
Not because the idea was wrong.
Not because the teams weren’t committed.
But because the business wasn’t designed to sustain alignment once the spotlight moved on.
The root problem: treating alignment like a project
Campaigns are built to drive urgency. They create focus. They align stakeholders around a fixed timeline.
But alignment doesn’t work that way.
It can’t be scoped, launched, and wrapped like a traditional initiative. It doesn’t have a finish line.
And if your organization has to “relaunch” alignment every few quarters, what you’re doing isn’t alignment. It’s crisis management in disguise.
When alignment is temporary, it becomes fragile. As soon as priorities shift or budgets tighten, it gets deprioritized because it was never built into the foundation.
Here’s how to know if you’ve actually built for alignment
Ask yourself these three questions:
1. Do shared metrics show up in recurring leadership reviews, not just one-time dashboards?
If alignment data isn’t part of how the business evaluates performance, it’s not operationalized.
2. Is there a clear mechanism to surface and resolve cross-functional friction in real time?
Friction between teams is inevitable. The problem is when your system isn’t designed to expose it early and resolve it fast.
3. Are sales and marketing using the same definitions of success, grounded in buyer outcomes?
If each team is optimizing for different KPIs or funnel stages, misalignment is embedded by default.
If the answer to any of these is “no,” your alignment strategy likely isn’t sustainable. It’s vulnerable to drift the moment attention shifts.
You don’t need a reorg. You need infrastructure.
Sustainable alignment isn’t driven by enthusiasm.
It’s enforced by how the business is structured to operate.
That doesn’t require a reorg. But it does require building alignment into the rhythms that already exist.
Here’s where to start:
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Make shared KPIs part of your leadership operating cadence, not just quarterly strategy updates
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Redefine ownership by buyer behavior, not just internal job titles
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Design overlapping incentives so collaboration isn’t just encouraged, it’s rewarded
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Use clear escalation signals that bring friction to the surface while it’s still fixable
These are infrastructure decisions. They aren’t flashy. But they’re what create consistency, scale, and trust between teams.
What aligned companies do differently
The most aligned revenue teams don’t need to restart alignment every year.
They don’t need a branded campaign or a quarterly initiative.
They operate in systems that keep them aligned by default.
In these companies:
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Teams use the same language to define success
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Handoffs are designed into the process, not patched after the fact
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Accountability is shared and visible at every stage of the funnel
These organizations don’t rely on motivation. They rely on structure.
Final thought
If alignment requires constant resets, it’s not a leadership problem.
It’s a system failure.
If this resonated, you’re not alone.
Join a growing community of revenue leaders rethinking how sales and marketing work together to drive sustainable growth.
Until next week,
Jeff
RevEngine™ | Built for Revenue Leaders Driving Alignment and Growth Together
