Align · Verification
Can reality support the story we're about to tell?
Whether the blueprint was developed through BUILD or already exists, ALIGN verifies it before execution.
At the organizational level, the question is whether the relevant parts of the organization align sufficiently to support the story being told.
The story
The blueprint
What the organization says
The intended audience experience
The reality
What the evidence supports
What people actually experience
The test isn't perfection. It's sufficient coherence.
VERIFICATION IN PRACTICE
The story called for authenticity. Reality couldn't fully support it.
A major national retailer's multicultural campaign sought to reach Asian American customers. Real customers rather than professional actors were selected.
A Vietnamese mother and son were selected for a Cantonese-language story. During pre-production/execution, Mellissa discovered their Cantonese was not sufficiently fluent for the intended story.
She raised the concern to the agency. Production proceeded. On set, Mellissa coached the son phonetically in Cantonese so the production could continue.
The primary issue was authenticity. The secondary issue was campaign effectiveness. It also implicated credibility and respect for the audience.
The Align Process
Test the story through the five-layer Alignment Model.
Evidence can include leadership, employees, customer experience, testimonials, public information, observed behavior and comparison across the five layers.
When the story and reality conflict, there are three choices.
1. Accept the incongruence/risk and continue.
2. Change the internal reality first, then tell the story.
3. Change the story.
Misalignment travels downstream.
Execution inherits whatever has not been resolved upstream.
ALIGN verifies the blueprint before the work gets made.
Go to → EXECUTE