Perhaps the most misguided assumption in business is that your team is aligned. Many leaders—and professionals in general—assume that alignment happens by osmosis, perhaps because you work together every day… or because you talked about a bunch of stuff a few weeks back. Or maybe you told someone to summarize and distribute the key points of the latest meeting, thinking that would be enough to create alignment.

Here’s the reality: true alignment doesn’t happen without concerted effort, and you just can’t shortcut that process.

To be clear, I’m talking about alignment on topics such as:

• Roles & Responsibilities
• Priorities
• Philosophy
• Strategy

True alignment is when other people answer key questions pretty much the same way you or others on the team would. It’s when everyone holds true to the things that really matter. It’s understanding what is non-negotiable. It’s when two or three levels deep into an organization, employees correctly understand key priorities.

Alignment is hard. It often requires spending more time on the basic steps of communication (e.g., talking then listening, taking time to have the other person repeat back their understanding) than feels comfortable. You may have to have a series of discussions and exercises across your organization that include mechanisms for validating the fact that key messages are being correctly communicated, received and understood.

Such patience does not come naturally to many people, especially leaders with aggressive goals. But there simply is no magical hack. You either make the significant investment early on, or you will waste time and resources all along your path.

Don’t think of it as slowing down. Think of it as going deeper. Set the right conditions for alignment to occur.

Years ago, I worked with a civil engineering firm. They explained how each building’s foundation was a function of the weight that was going to be on top of it, the quality of the earth that’s around it, and the materials being used. There’s no set rule of thumb regarding how all those variables play off each other, so each project was different.

Alignment works in a similar manner. Take stock of the scope of your vision and the complexity it involves, and then consider how much of a foundation of understanding you will need to navigate the challenges ahead.