Why alignment is your real competitive advantage
In a crowded market, the answer is rarely more. More ads. More automation. More channels. Real growth often begins with alignment.
We see this every day. Teams work hard but in different directions. Product focuses on innovation, sales on targets, marketing on awareness, customer success on retention. Each group is moving fast, but not always together. Progress feels slower not because people aren’t doing enough, but because the work isn’t connected.
Success comes from clarity of purpose and the ability to bring people together around it. Alignment is what makes good strategies real.
Alignment is what makes good strategies real.
Alignment is what makes good strategies real.
Starting with real collaboration
When we start working with clients, one of the first things we look for is how teams plan. Not their strategy deck, but who is in the room.
The best growth meetings aren’t about presentations. They’re about questions.
What do our customers actually need right now?
Which accounts fit our ideal profile?
Where can we create the most value, together?
It doesn’t take a big transformation. Sometimes it starts with a single shared conversation.
The companies that plan together often find clarity faster. They uncover insights that sit between teams, where no single function could have seen the full picture.
A recent McKinsey study found that companies with strong cross-functional collaboration improve product development speed by 25 per cent and profitability by 35 per cent. When teams connect early, results follow.
Atlassian’s own data showed that 94 per cent of employees rate collaboration as critical to their company’s success, but only 19 per cent believe they do it well. (Atlassian: The State of Teams)
Growing sales through confidence, not collateral
Cold calling is difficult. So is prospecting into accounts that seem impossible to reach.
The difference between frustration and momentum is often information.
When sales have meaningful context from marketing, product and customer success, they can speak with conviction. They understand not only what to say, but why it matters.
According to LinkedIn’s State of Sales report, 87 per cent of sales and marketing leaders agree that alignment between their teams is essential to business growth — yet only 20 per cent describe their current alignment as good.
Confidence grows when information flows freely. That’s how trust is built between teams and with customers.
Harvard Business Review calls this “connected intelligence” — the transfer of data and insight that transforms how teams make decisions. (Harvard Business Review: The Value of Connected Intelligence)
How alignment creates focus
Once the right accounts and audiences are mapped, share them widely.
Let every part of the business understand who you are speaking to and why.
From executives to content writers, from product managers to partners.
Growth becomes more predictable when everyone is working from the same understanding. It’s not just about revenue. It’s about rhythm, a shared way of thinking and deciding.
Forrester’s research shows that companies with strong sales and marketing alignment achieve 24 per cent faster revenue growth and 27 per cent faster profit growth over three years.
This shows that alignment isn’t just operational, it’s financial.
What makes it work
The companies we see thrive in tough markets are the ones that share credit and visibility. They make success collective. They bring learning back into the next cycle. They celebrate collaboration as the real driver of progress.
Ginni Rometty said, “The only way you survive is by continuously transforming into something else.” Alignment is how transformation takes shape. It’s what turns activity into momentum.
Growth is not about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things, together.