Get started in Priority Alignment Tool:
- Go to the Alignments tab and click the Go button under Prioritize & Evaluate.
- Enter all the responsibilities you currently have, then complete the remaining fields for each responsibility.
- Discuss with your manager to become aligned regarding your priorities, performance, and goals.
Full details on using the tool are below.
1. Understanding the Power of Priority Alignment Tool
The What, Why, and How (video)
The What, Why, and How
What’s In It For You
What’s In It For You (the reason for doing it)
As a Team Member/Contributor
Have you ever felt like you…
- are not getting the kind of feedback you want about the work you are doing?
- don’t really know how your manager feels about your performance?
- are unsure if the things you are working on are the most important?
- wonder if the activities you do are meaningful and make a difference?
- and the work you do are not being fully recognized or appreciated?
- are low on motivation to do your tasks and not very engaged?
Priority Alignment Tool is designed to make all of that a thing of the past.
As a crucial contributor who does valuable work, you will experience:
- A more enjoyable and fulfilling work experience
- Clear standards by which to measure the work you do
- Valuable feedback that lets you know exactly where you stand
- Greater acknowledgement and appreciation for the work you do
- A clearer picture of how your efforts and activities contribute to a meaningful mission and purpose
As a Manager/Leader
Do you struggle with…
- high employee turnover?
- unmotivated and unengaged team members?
- giving feedback to your team?
- teams not producing fast enough or at quality standard?
- ensuring your team is supporting the mission and vision of your organization
As a leader, you will experience:
- stimulate high levels of motivation, excitement, and engagement in your team
- see higher performance and productivity
- higher retention and lower turnover
- increased influence as a leader, developing habits possessed by great leaders
- your team capture your vision and behave in alignment with that vision
How It Works
How It Works
Here’s a look at the overall process you go through when aligning tasks & priorities between a manager and team member.
- The process begins when a manager identifies the tasks that each team member should be working on, prioritizes the tasks, then evaluate each team member on their tasks.
- The team member independently does the same prioritization and evaluation of their own performance for those tasks. Team members can even add tasks they are doing that their manager isn’t aware of.
- Manager and team member come together to review and compare their answers to see where there is alignment and where there is misunderstanding of priorities and expectations. This is where valuable discussion can occur wherein recognition and praise are given, plans are made for improved performance and skill building, and misalignment can be sorted out.
- Both Manager and Team Member come away with clear understanding of expectations, priorities, tasks, and development plans.
Priority Alignment Tool™ guides you through this process, automates most of it, and captures this valuable information.
Easy to Use
Priority Alignment Tool™ lets you see all members on your team and how they are advancing through the process.
Manager adds tasks for each employee:
Manager sets priority for each task and scores the team member on their ability to do the task:
Why It’s So Effective
Why It’s So Effective (Research-based Principles)
Priority Alignment Tool is based on performance research and scientific studies.
Science tells us that human and organization performance increase when:
- Worker engagement factors are met
- Leaders teach & train, define objectives, motivate & inspire, give feedback, and hold accountable
- Conduct 1-on-1 discussions with those on their team
- The 5 domains of organizational success are optimized (SAVI)
So if you want better performance out of yourself, your teams, and your organization, then you need to make those things happen.
Priority Alignment Tool makes those things happen by automating much of the effort, removing obstacles, and making it easy to put those essential elements in place.
See the sections below if you want to learn more about each of the research-based performance principles mentioned above.
Engagement Factors Boost Performance
Gallup Research developed the Employee Engagement Hierarchy, which is comprised of 12 factors (or conditions) that workers need to experience in their jobs in order to be fully engaged. It is known (intuitively and by research) that when we are fully engaged in our work, we are vastly more productive, happy, and successful.
In this diagram, you can see just a few of those engagement factors.
The more engagement factors are met, the more engaged we become in our work, resulting in greater success and job satisfaction.
As you can see, the Priority Alignment Tool directly produces the conditions in the Engagement Hierarchy. In fact, out of the 12 engagement factors (not all shown), the Priority Alignment Tool causes, promotes, or provides opportunities for 11 of the 12–all but one.
Leadership Behaviors Boost Performance
Just a few key behaviors from leaders and managers result in tremendous growth and performance by their teams.
One-on-one Interviews Boost Performance
Organizations and teams that conduct regular meetings between Leader and Team Member have higher performance outcomes.
For instance, we recently completed a case study with a New York medical facility. The leaders at this medical facility expressed concern over their too-high turnover rate, which was costing them way too much. After implementing the practice of conducting 1-on-1 interviews each quarter, they saw a reduction in turnover by 17%.
Optimized Success Domains (SAVI) Boost Performance
2. Using Priority Alignment Tool
How to Complete Your First Alignment
How to Complete Your First Alignment
- On the Alignments tab, click the Go button.
2. Make sure all your responsibilities have been added. You may already see some that were added by your manager. If you need to add more, click Add Responsibility. Include the role it belongs belongs to. You should have no more than 9 responsibilities total, ideally 3-7.
3. For each responsibility, complete all the ratings of priority, time spent, and performance. You can even add a note.
4. Once you have completed all ratings for all responsibilities, click Submit. This means you are ready to meet with your manager. You cannot make changes after you submit.
5. Meet with your manager 1-on-1 to compare your ratings with theirs. Discuss and come to agreement on your actual performance and the desired (target) performance. Set at least one goal to work on until your next Alignment meeting.
How to Add a Team Member
How to Add a Team Member
- On the main screen, click the Add Team Member button.
2. Enter the following info for the team member. All fields are required.
- Name (first and last name)
- Job Position / Role
- Password
