5.4. Ensuring Alignment Quality at LeitaxFinally, we explore the process characteristics that improved Leitax’s level of alignment—that is, support to organizational goals across functions and synchronicity of actions across time. With respect to aligning support towards organizational goals, we argue that, while the collaborative nature of Leitax’s S&OP process sets the stage for alignment, it is the collaborative engagement that enables this alignment to be realized. Constructive engagement in validation required every function to focus on the product offering and promotions plan and stimulated increased alignment with it. Each function’s allocation of resources to validate the plan helped create operational momentum for the plan and made the allocation of resources to (possibly disruptive) alternative plans less likely. The involvement of the individual functions in the validation of the product offering and promotions plan also resulted in a greater shared understanding of constraints, which translated into organizational plans that were easier for each function to execute and to align with. Because engagement increased the imprint of each function on the strategic plan, there was more explicit and collective ownership of the plan, which in turn resulted in alignment across functional plans. Finally, engagement encouraged participants to trust that the other participants would adhere to the plans, which promoted alignment. With respect to synchronicity of actions, consensus meetings performed double duty as tactical planning meetings; participants not only reached a consensus forecast, but also discussed detailed aspects of events such as product introduction and end-of-life. Consensus meetings, beyond validation, ensured the coordination needed for execution, since they allowed for the timely dissemination of coordination signals to ensure the execution of plans for new or end-of-life products or for mid-product-life replenishment. The consensus meetings also gave participants constructive feedback on process performance by relating it to specific process changes or to deviations for which participants had been responsible. This reduced process deviations, either by promoting voluntary conformance or by demonstrating the need for additional constraining mechanisms. For example, feedback to the sales force revealed short-and long-term biases in its forecasting. If the sales force had accepted this feedback but been unable to mitigate its own bias, which was probably due to its short-term orientation, there would have been collective recognition that the process needed to be modified.