Finding Attunement…

Jan 31, 2024

“Attunement requires presence but is a process of focused attention and clear perception.”

— Daniel J. Siegel

Context:

Sometimes I come across a word in my weekly reading and research that so resonates with me. I love the sound of it as well as it’s meaning. And when I find a great insights I can share around it, all the better.

This week that word is ‘Attunement.’ It’s simple definition is; to bring into harmony; to make aware or responsive. I love that it also carries a musical overtone to it, like tuning up as an orchestra.

Daniel Goleman in Primal Leadership says, “Leaders often talk about wanting to get their people “aligned” with their strategy. But that word suggests a mechanical image of getting all the pencils pointing in one direction. Strategic visions (and the plans that follow from them) are typically linear and limited, bypassing the elements of heart and passion essential for building commitment.”

Attunement is alignment with the kind of resonance that moves people emotionally as well as intellectually. Emotionally intelligent leaders know that this attunement requires something more than simply making people aware of the strategy itself.” The goal should be ATTUNEMENT NOT ALIGNMENT.

So how does this apply to a business context?

Attunement is especially important when the organization is undergoing significant change in how things are done – and is equally critical whenever a vision that built an organization’s initial success grows stale and needs freshening.

I’ve been in several situations where this is the case. There is a new leader, a transformation is going on, people are jazzed to innovate. But in the midst of all the activity, my colleagues are still looking for the down beat from the conductor.

Attunement can sound great on paper, but takes active listening and real collaboration to pull off in real-time. The process begins at the top. However, the leader must go one step further and put the people in the organization in charge of the change process itself.

Prophetic & Insightful Teachers:

There are not as many direct quotes that speak to this idea of attunement. Insightful teachers know there is a great deal of synergy, timing and nuance that go into finding the balance to nurture attunement. You need to understand how it is a different goal that the usual productivity-minded subset that dominate corporate cultures.

Charles Dickens made this macro-observation, “The ocean asks for nothing but those who stand by her shores gradually attune themselves to her rhythm.”
And Oprah Winfrey freely shares, “All of my best decisions in life have come because I was attuned to what really felt like the next right move for me.”

The Invisible Obvious:

I guess what I’m trying to say here is I agree with Goleman. Attunement, rather than mere alignment, offers the motivating enthusiasm for an organizational vision.

A vision that “tunes people in” - that creates resonance - builds organizational harmony and people’s capacity to act collectively.

Attunement, managing attention through the vision, is the leader's fundamental responsibility.

Can we pause for a moment?

We need to think about the idea of harmony not as some namby pamby ideal, but rather as a place from which to do our best work. If we really want to create more engagement at work, then making attunement the goal is getting the whole band in the right seats on the bus. It’s not singing Kumbaya together. It’s about the honest and inviting atmosphere that breeds excellence together.

With our workforce having more opportunities to choose where they want to work, we need leaders who are up to leading companies to attunement. We need leaders to really invest in how their people can really sing together.

We can keep pretending that were are tone deaf…

Or, or we can make the time to create a place that leads to greater awareness, attunement and accountability from a place of true collaboration and respect.

Invisible Obvious