Growth can slow for many reasons, but one of the most common is also the easiest to overlook – misalignment. Even high-performing people can struggle when their roles don’t match their strengths. Over time, those gaps affect how teams communicate, collaborate, and deliver results.
Advisory-led assessments help leaders step back and see the full picture, uncovering where misalignment is slowing progress and how to bring teams back into sync.
Spotting the Signs of Misalignment
Organizations evolve faster than most structures do. A new product launch, acquisition, or leadership change can shift responsibilities overnight. Teams may adapt, but soon, the extra effort it takes to keep up starts to show.
Common signs include:
- The same issues keep resurfacing in leadership meetings.
- Performance looks fine on paper, but the effort feels harder than it should.
- Roles or responsibilities have changed faster than people can adjust.
- Collaboration feels strained or inconsistent.
- You’re unsure how recent hires or acquisitions fit into the overall strategy.
If this sounds familiar, it may be time to reevaluate how your people and structure connect. Gaining that perspective often requires stepping outside the day-to-day view of the business, and that’s where an advisory-led assessment can help pinpoint where alignment is slipping and how to get back on track.
What an Advisory-Led Assessment Looks Like
The advisory process starts with a clear look at how your people, structure, and strategy work together. Advisors take time to understand your goals and growth stage, then look closely at how decisions are made and how work actually gets done.
They meet with leaders and teams to observe collaboration in action. And they review supporting materials like org charts, compensation plans, hiring profiles, and enablement content to understand how structure and performance connect.
Behavioral assessments round out the evaluation, revealing how people lead, communicate, and respond under pressure. These insights help explain the “why” behind performance and the patterns that numbers alone can’t show.
Creating a Practical Realignment Plan
After the assessment, advisors deliver an insights report that outlines specific recommendations for improvement – typically focused on five key areas.
1) Role Fit
Assessments highlight who’s best positioned for success right now. By comparing individuals and teams against high-performer benchmarks, advisors identify natural strengths, responsibility gaps, and opportunities to realign talent.
That might mean promoting overlooked contributors, shifting skilled sellers back to the field, or reassigning managers to roles where their leadership style adds greater value. When hiring is needed, benchmark data helps define ideal candidate profiles and evaluate cultural fit.
2) Structure
Recommendations often include adjustments to the organization’s design – updating territories, redefining responsibilities, or aligning teams around new customer segments. For businesses grown through acquisition, this step helps bring multiple groups together under one consistent structure.
3) Incentives
Compensation and targets shape behavior. Advisors analyze how existing plans support desired outcomes and identify where they may be encouraging the wrong ones. The goal is to create balance between effort and reward so teams stay focused on the right priorities.
4) Enablement
Enablement recommendations define what “good” looks like for each role. Advisors may suggest new playbooks, refreshed onboarding, or clearer guidance around sales cadences and deal strategy. These resources give teams a shared framework for success.
5) Coaching and Skill Development
Assessments often uncover skill gaps that can be addressed through focused development. Advisors outline targeted coaching opportunities for individuals or teams, with topics tailored to specific needs, from leadership presence to negotiation to running an effective first call.
Together, these findings highlight patterns and opportunities where small shifts can have a meaningful impact.
Turning Insight Into Action
An effective assessment shouldn’t end with an insights report. The right advisory partner stays involved, working alongside your team to put the plan into motion and ensure progress continues. What begins as an assessment becomes a collaborative effort to match roles with strengths and align structure with strategy.
When that happens, performance accelerates naturally. Leaders gain visibility and confidence. Onboarding moves faster because the playbook reflects reality, and coaching becomes more meaningful because feedback is grounded in data, not guesswork.
Most importantly, employees feel re-energized. They understand expectations, see how their work fuels growth, and have the tools to succeed. That’s when alignment turns into advantage – and when performance starts to feel seamless again.
