The Practice
02 — Alignment Audit
Misalignment, named.
You can feel it before you can say it. The meeting that never quite resolves. The standard that lands differently across entities. The strategy everyone agreed on that somehow isn't happening. The Alignment Audit names what you're sensing — specifically, operationally, and in the right order.
What it is
A diagnostic engagement — not consulting, not coaching.
Most leadership teams have already tried the things that should have worked — the offsite, the strategy session, the new hire. The misalignment persists because it has not been named. Precisely. Specifically. In language the whole team can see.
The output is not a recommendation deck. It is a written diagnostic — specific, operational, and sequenced— that names the fault lines, estimates what they are costing, and identifies the two or three decisions the team needs to make first.
Some organizations arrive knowing the Workshop is next. Others need the Audit to find out. If you're in the second group, this is where you start.
How it runs
Online or on-site, 3–4 weeks. The shape below is typical, not fixed.
- 01
Intake & scoping
Week 1
If the team has completed a Team Assessment, Alex reviews the Alignment Report. If not, a lighter intake process maps the team’s composition, the organization’s strategic context, and the specific questions the sponsor wants the Audit to answer. Format (online or on-site) is confirmed.
- 02
Observation
Weeks 1–2
On-site: Alex spends two to three days inside the operation — not in a conference room. Observing service delivery, sitting in on team meetings (with consent), walking the property or site, reviewing how brand standards are interpreted on the ground. Online: structured observation via recorded sessions, document review, and virtual shadowing of key meetings. Both formats are structured around the eight patterns of misalignment.
- 03
Stakeholder interviews
Weeks 2–3
One-on-one interviews with each member of the leadership team. Confidential, 45–60 minutes each. The same core questions, asked of everyone: where do you think this organization sits? What does it refuse to compromise? What should it stop doing? The answers surface the divergence that team meetings are designed — often unconsciously — to avoid.
- 04
Audit Report & recommendations
Week 3–4
A written diagnostic delivered to the engagement sponsor. Includes organizational health mapping, a custom Spectrum build, and preliminary recommendations. The report names the fault lines, maps them to the eight patterns, estimates operational cost, and sequences the decisions. The report does not hedge. It sequences: here is what to decide first, and here is why.
What you leave with
Three artifacts. One clear diretion.
Audit Report
A 15–25-page written diagnostic. Names each fault line, maps it to the eight patterns, describes how it manifests in the operation, and estimates its cost. Sequenced — the report tells the team what to decide first.
Observation Log
A structured record of what Alex observed on-site — the specific moments where misalignment surfaced in service delivery, decision-making, or team dynamics. Evidence, not opinion.
Recommended Path
A one-page brief: does the team need the Workshop, Stewardship, or something structural (a leadership change, a mandate rewrite, a portfolio decision) before either is productive? Includes the spectrums the next engagement should be built around.
Who it’s for
The Audit is for teams that can feel the misalignment but cannot yet name it.
- ✓Leadership teams of 4–12, where the senior decision-makers are accessible for interviews.
- ✓Any team where the leadership offsite produced alignment in the room — and within three months, nothing had changed.
- ✓Any organizations where the people is the product.
- ✓Organizations where misalignment is suspected but the fault lines are unclear — the team knows something is off, but cannot agree on what.
- ✓Multi-site operators where standards are interpreted inconsistently across properties.
- ✓Post-merger or post-acquisition teams integrating two cultures that have never been explicitly reconciled.
If the fault lines are already clear and the team is ready to decide, the Workshop may be the better entry point. A Fit Conversation will help determine which.
Pricing & terms
Custom pricing. Online or on-site, 3–4 weeks.
- Includes
- Stakeholder interviews, organizational health mapping, custom Spectrum build, preliminary recommendations.
- Format
- Online or on-site — scoped to your situation.
- Pricing depends on
- Engagement format (online vs. on-site); team size & complexity; scope of audit.
- Travel
- On-site engagements include travel from Provence at cost. European engagements are typically one travel day either side; North American engagements add a day.
- Pre-work
- The Team Assessment is recommended but not required. If completed within six months, the Assessment fee is credited.
- Turnaround
- Audit Report delivered within 10 business days of the engagement close.
Let’s discuss your situation.
Questions
Before you book the conversation.
Do we need the Team Assessment before the Audit?
It helps but is not required. If you have the Assessment data, the Audit starts from a stronger base — Alex arrives knowing where the divergence is and can focus observation time on testing it operationally. Without it, the Audit includes a lighter intake that serves a similar purpose.
What access does Alex need on-site?
Leadership interviews (45–60 min each), access to observe service delivery and team meetings, and a brief document review — brand guidelines, operating standards, recent strategic plans. Nothing proprietary leaves the site.
Is the Audit confidential?
The Audit Report goes to the engagement sponsor. Individual interview content is never attributed. Alex discusses the terms of confidentiality with the sponsor before beginning.
What if the Audit shows we don’t need the Workshop?
That outcome is not a failure — it is the Audit doing its job. Roughly one in five engagements concludes that something structural needs to happen first. Knowing that before you commit to a Workshop is worth the price of the Audit on its own.
Around the Audit
Each engagement leads to the next.
Next Step
If something is misaligned, naming it is the work.
Our first conversation is 30 minutes. By the end of it, you'll know whether the Audit is the right move — and if it isn't, which engagement is. Alex does not use the conversation to sell. It is a diagnostic in miniature.
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