Strategic Alignment

At Level 1, strategic alignment means understanding how your work fits into the bigger picture. You're not expected to steer the ship—but you are learning to ask where it's going and why. You connect the dots between your tasks and the team's stated goals, and you begin to notice how data—metrics, feedback, usage trends—can provide context for why those goals matter, even if the organizational strategy still feels abstract. You show curiosity, ask good questions, and try to align your work with the direction your team is heading.

At Level 2, you start actively connecting your work to strategic priorities. You make choices about your time and focus based on stated goals, use available data to inform those choices, ask how tradeoffs impact outcomes, and suggest adjustments when work seems misaligned. You're not just responding to direction—you're beginning to navigate with it in mind.

At Level 3, you start shaping direction, not just following it. You help ensure that project plans, technical decisions, and team efforts align with evolving business priorities. You regularly translate between strategic goals and execution realities—bringing clarity to both through a mix of data, context, and communication. You are a key link between intention and implementation.

At Level 4, you influence how strategy is formed, communicated, and operationalized. You connect insights across functions, challenge gaps between talk and action, and help senior leaders ensure that direction, priorities, and resourcing match reality—often using data to surface what's working and what needs focus. You guide teams toward long-term goals while managing the tradeoffs of today.

At Level 5, strategic alignment is not just something you support—it's something you steward. You influence the systems, habits, and leadership patterns that keep the organization strategically coherent over time, embedding data-informed learning and decision-making into how strategy is communicated and evolved. You help senior leaders and teams continually calibrate direction with reality, values, and evolving needs. Your work shapes how strategy becomes shared understanding and consistent action at every level.