Alignment involves understanding that your organization is a system in which every decision influences – and is influenced by - every other decision, and then making choices that will guide your organization toward your strategic goals. In talent-driven organizations, like professional service firms, alignment is a consequence of two separate but independent phenomena - the choices a firm’s leadership make over time on a handful of critical dimensions, and the behaviors of the professionals who implement those choices day by day. Four aspects of a firm are central to creating alignment around a business strategy: Strategy Organization (which includes its people systems as well as its structure and governance Culture Leadership This section cites common problems professional service firms encounter within each of these categories and analyzes what steps they must take to align their organization.