The Big Arrow Alignment Method
Align every contributor behind one annual outcome and its required behaviors
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 98%
The Big Arrow is the single most important thing an organization must achieve over the next 12 months, paired with the behaviors required to pursue it. It is not the only work the company does, but it is the outcome everyone recognizes as primary. A number may be a target, yet the arrow must also identify the strategic approach; otherwise teams can chase the same number through incompatible routes. Once the arrow is clear, every employee defines a key contribution to it. Leaders then identify the contributors most critical to the initiatives, give them resources or coaching, and collect data about obstacles in their way. This links individual development to organizational movement. Other goals can still be measured and rewarded, but the common arrow resolves conflicts when people need one another's help and local incentives point in different directions.
Origin
Extracted from Young and Profiting. Bregman described the method from his executive coaching and from correcting a financial-services client's incoherent pursuit of a two-billion-dollar asset target.
Core principles
- 01One organization needs one most-important outcome even when other work remains important
- 02A financial target alone does not specify a coherent route
- 03Every person should know their key contribution to the shared outcome
- 04Development resources create more leverage when assigned to critical contributors
- 05Organizational improvement matters when it advances the chosen outcome
How to run it
- 1
Name one annual outcome
Describe the organization's most important achievement for the next 12 months in one sentence. Other work can remain important, but one outcome must be primary.
Pro tip Treat the statement as a mission for the year.
Watch out Calling 23 items priorities defies the function of a priority and leaves conflicts unresolved.
- 2
Add the strategic route
Explain how the organization intends to reach any numeric target. The route should narrow the market, approach or operating choice enough to coordinate activity.
Pro tip Use the form: achieve this target by pursuing this approach.
Watch out A revenue or asset target by itself encourages incompatible tactics rather than coherence.
- 3
Define Big Arrow behaviors
Choose the small number of behaviors people should demonstrate while pursuing the outcome. These specify how the organization needs to show up together.
Pro tip Select behaviors that are observable in everyday collaboration.
Watch out An outcome without behavior expectations can reward destructive execution.
- 4
Map every key contribution
Ask each person to identify the contribution they must make for the Big Arrow to happen. This connects local work to the shared result regardless of hierarchy.
Pro tip Make dependencies between contributions explicit.
Watch out If people cannot state their contribution, alignment has not reached operating level.
- 5
Amplify critical contributors
Identify the people who will drive the key initiatives and give them coaching and resources. Focus on leverage rather than assigning development only to visible weaknesses.
Pro tip A small performance gain in a pivotal role can move the entire organization.
Watch out Generic development disconnected from the arrow may improve a person without advancing the organization.
- 6
Remove execution barriers
Collect data on what is getting in critical contributors' way, then address those obstacles. Keep the organizational context attached to individual improvement.
Pro tip Review barriers as the arrow and market evolve.
Watch out Do not assume a skill gap is the obstacle before gathering evidence.
In the wild
A financial-services company named two billion dollars in new assets as its goal. Some employees pursued large banks while others targeted small investment shops, so research and conversations could not be leveraged across the organization. The team refined the arrow by specifying the size of investment houses it would approach and how it would support them.
→ The strategic route created coherence and the company began gaining traction.
Common mistakes
Naming many top priorities
When several goals are equally primary, people optimize local incentives and deny help to colleagues pursuing another goal. One shared arrow is needed to resolve those collisions.
Using money as the whole arrow
A numeric target tells people where to finish but not how to coordinate. Add the strategic approach that makes shared learning and action possible.
Coaching only visible weaknesses
Resources have more organizational leverage when they amplify people who are pivotal to the arrow, whether or not those people appear deficient.
Is it for you?
Best for
Organizations that need many roles or departments to coordinate around one consequential annual result.
Not ideal for
Independent portfolios whose units genuinely have no shared outcome, resources or dependencies.
From the transcript
“what is the most important thing to achieve over the next 12 months and along with that what are the most important couple of behaviors…”
“everybody organizationally should be saying what is my key contribution to making this most important thing happen”
“the big arrow is not the only thing you need to do but be clear about what the most important thing is you need to…”
From the episode
Peter Bregman: The Leadership Gap
Peter Bregman