Rowing in the Same Direction
If you watched Norway play in the World Cup, you probably saw the “Viking Row.”
Fans chanted and rowed an imaginary longboat, shoulder to shoulder, in near-perfect synchronization during games and players rejoiced with them before and after matches. It was a somewhat theatrical example of leadership but so simple and visible that it hit home with millions.
Think about what it takes for that moment to work: everyone facing the same direction, moving on the same beat, and celebrating a shared story.
It’s the type of alignment most leaders say they want but find difficult to achieve.
Norway eventually lost, but that unity between the team and their supporters sticks with me. There was an entire country rowing in the same direction!
What really stands out, however, is that it wasn’t by accident. Fans didn’t just start rowing together spontaneously; they had been shown how to do it. The man who dreamed it up planned how to present it to supporters and was instrumental in testing it out at practice games, eventually rolling out a how-to video on social media.
By the time the Viking Row showed up at the World Cup, fans knew how to do it.
The question for leaders is: how do you intentionally build that kind of alignment inside an organization, not just in a stadium?
Alignment Is Not “Agreement”
In practice, alignment is not everyone agreeing with every decision or liking every part of a plan or even using the same language.
Alignment is:
a clearly shared direction (where we’re going and why);
a clear strategy (how we’re going to get there);
a clear understanding of how each role plays a part (what it looks like in my job).
It’s the difference between a stadium full of people randomly making noise and a stadium full of people acting together to amplify the team’s momentum.
What True Alignment Looks Like
Recently, we worked with a client on strategic alignment across their organization. Like most real-world alignment projects, it wasn’t neat or linear. It was messy.
Different sites had different ways of doing things.
Senior leaders said the right words about vision, but middle managers were engulfed in day-to-day fires.
People were “busy” but not always productive on the same priorities.
At the beginning of the project, when we’d ask 10 leaders, “What are you really trying to accomplish this year?” we’d get 10 different answers. Some were close to the target, some weren’t. That’s misalignment.
As we worked through the process with them, things changed. Now, the company’s vision is clearer and sharper. People are making deliberate choices about where to focus to achieve outcomes that matter. This means fewer competing priorities and more time pulling in the same direction.
Leaders at every level can now answer, in their own words:
“Where are we going?”
“What does that mean for my team?”
“What should we focus on and what should we say ‘no’ to right now?”
And the boat is starting to move. Not because everyone is suddenly perfect, but because people are rowing in the same direction, at the same time, for the same reasons. That’s momentum.
Three Questions to Check Your Team’s Alignment
If you want a quick field check with your own team, ask them:
“If we’re wildly successful 12–18 months from now, what will be true that isn’t true today?”
Listen for clarity. Do people describe the same or different futures?“Given that picture, what are the 2–3 most important things we must get right this year?”
Listen for focus. If everything is important, nothing is.“In your role, what does ‘rowing in the same direction’ look like this week?”
Listen for translation. Do people understand how the strategy shows up in their calendars, decisions, and conversations?
If their answers are fuzzy, scattered, or wildly inconsistent, you might have an alignment problem.
A Challenge for This Week
Ask your team the three questions above. If you notice misalignment, try these practical moves:
Simplify the story. Boil your strategy down to a few clear statements everyone can remember and repeat.
Name the tradeoffs. Alignment usually requires saying “no” to something. Be explicit about what you will not do so people don’t fill the gaps with their own priorities.
Make the oars visible. Help each team member convert the strategy into weekly actions and 90-day objectives. If they can’t see their “oar,” they can’t row.
Model the behavior. Set your team’s stroke rate by consistently choosing the shared direction.
The Viking Row looks effortless. But those moments of visible unity and shared energy are earned long before anyone steps into a stadium or a boardroom.
They’re built through the quiet, often unglamorous work of clarifying the destination, simplifying the strategy, and helping each person see how their daily work contributes to the forward motion of the boat.
If you want your team to row in the same direction, don’t just start chanting. Show them exactly how to row.