Legitimize: Turning Insight Into Shared Direction

Part 2A of the ALIGN Series
Absorb | Legitimize | Integrate | Grow | Nurture

This post is part of the ALIGN Series, where I introduce each stage of the ALIGN Framework, a method designed to align leadership and engage staff so organizations can move forward with clarity and confidence.

When leadership is aligned, brilliant ideas take flight. When staff are engaged early to shape the details, those ideas take root. People feel valued and involved, and the organization moves forward with greater clarity and confidence.

In the ALIGN Framework , we move from deep listening and absorbing information to making sense of what we have heard. Legitimize is the phase where leadership acknowledges that any perspective, frustration, and hope expressed is legitimate for the person who shared it.

That does not mean every idea becomes a priority. Nor does it mean that leaders agree with everything they hear. In fact, when there are inaccuracies or misunderstandings, this is the time to provide clear, factual information to stakeholders. It does mean that leaders take the time to understand why something matters and to discern what truth it may hold about the organization’s current reality.

This stage requires courage. Some feedback is hard to hear. Some is contradictory. At times, it feels there is simply too much information to process it quickly. It takes time to take in information, to sit with it, and then to make meaning of it. When leadership stays open, resists defensiveness, and demonstrates that feedback is being taken seriously, trust begins to grow.

When listening to stakeholders, the goal is not to judge but to hear. Listening in this way can also reveal how information flows—or fails to flow—through the organization. Where are people confused, misinformed, or missing context? Where do assumptions or old stories still shape perceptions of the present? Taking time to understand these dynamics helps leaders address not only what people are saying, but why they see things as they do.

Leadership then needs to make sense of what has been learned. This means discussing what the feedback reveals, identifying patterns, and clarifying what deserves attention first. Through this process, leaders work to align on a small set of priorities that reflect both what they heard and what the organization most needs now.

This is a critical step. Many initiatives stall here, not because of lack of effort, but because leaders move forward before they themselves are fully committed.

We often hear that change starts at the top. That requires more of the leader than simply saying, “This is a priority.” In this phase, leaders must take a close look at their own relationship to the topic at hand. They need to reflect on how they think and feel about the issue, how their actions have contributed to the current reality—both positively and negatively—and what their role will be in bringing new priorities to life.

Too often, this self-examination is skipped, and it becomes easy to assume that someone else is taking care of it. In heavily siloed organizations, this gap can deepen when the impact on one team is not understood by another. Legitimize asks leaders to consider how they will “show up” to effect change and how their personal commitment will shape the path forward.

Once leadership is aligned on their priorities and their commitment, it is time to close the loop with the broader organization. Legitimizing input requires more than saying, “We hear you.” It means demonstrating that listening led somewhere. Sharing a clear summary of what will move forward, what will wait, and what is outside the current scope helps people see that decisions were made with care.

When people see their input reflected in the path ahead, even if not every idea becomes a priority, they feel included and respected. That shared understanding is what allows alignment to take root.

Legitimize is where insight becomes direction.

In practice: leadership alignment sessions, collective sense-making, priority setting, and roadmap development