Leadership coaches, fractional executives, EOS implementers, and management consultants are often brought in when important people decisions are already on the table.
A CEO may be preparing for a reorganization, considering a promotion, responding to an unexpected resignation, or questioning whether a critical team is as stable as it appears.
Advisors bring experience, perspective, and judgment. What they do not automatically have is measured visibility into the alignment inside the team.
That is where OpenElevator adds a different layer of insight.
OpenElevator identifies lack-of-alignment findings that are highly correlated with retention risk. It measures two dimensions:
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Values Alignment: how well the work environment provides what matters most to the individual.
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Interpersonal Alignment: the fit between two specific people, including manager-employee and team relationships.
For advisors, this creates a more precise starting point for the client conversation.
Adding Measured Visibility to Advisory Work
Interviews, observation, and one-to-one conversations provide valuable context. But they reveal what people say and what an advisor can observe.
They do not reliably establish who may be at retention risk or why.
A high performer can continue delivering while significant alignment risk exists. Conversely, changes in participation, communication, tone, or visibility do not prove that someone intends to leave.
OpenElevator adds quantified, bias-free alignment data.
An advisor can see:
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where Values Alignment is low and disengagement risk is elevated,
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which manager-employee relationships require more deliberate management,
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which work relationships are naturally easier or more difficult,
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and where lack of alignment is creating greater retention risk.
hat allows advisors to begin conversations with measured findings rather than assumptions about behavior or reliance on a sixth sense.
What Advisors Gain From the Data
Values Alignment
Values Alignment shows how well the work environment provides what matters most to each person.
Those priorities differ by individual. They can include work/life balance, advancement opportunities, meaningful work, management recognition, job security, opportunity to use skills, benefits, education opportunities, social responsibility, or a good relationship with the boss.
This is distinct from agreement with corporate values, mission, or strategic priorities.
For an advisor, the value is specificity. A low Values Alignment score can be examined and addressed with what that individual actually values, rather than addressed with a generic retention initiative.
Interpersonal Alignment
Interpersonal Alignment measures the fit between two people.
That distinction is particularly important in manager-employee relationships.
The question is not whether someone is a “good manager” or a “good employee.” It is how naturally those two people work together.
The same manager can have strong alignment with one employee and substantially lower alignment with another.
This relationship-level view gives coaches and fractional executives something concrete to work with, without turning the discussion into manager blame.
Prioritized Retention-Risk Visibility
OpenElevator helps advisors distinguish where leadership attention is most warranted.
Low alignment does not mean an employee will definitely resign, and OpenElevator certainly does not predict an exact resignation date.
It identifies where lack of alignment is creating greater retention risk, giving an advisor and client an opportunity to address the underlying issue while the employee is still there.
For more detail, see the OpenElevator Retention Risk Framework.
Where Advisors Use OpenElevator
At the start of an engagement
A team assessment gives an advisor a faster, bias-free view of the current team.
Instead of spending the first phase of an engagement relying on time-consuming interviews and leadership perceptions, the advisor can identify where alignment risk is concentrated and use subsequent conversations more precisely.
Before a promotion
Promoting someone into management changes multiple working relationships.
OpenElevator answers a question that performance history alone cannot answer:
How well aligned is this person with the employees they are being considered to manage?
The data does not make the promotion decision. It gives the advisor and client visibility into the relationship risk created by the proposed structure.
Before a restructuring or reporting-line change
A reporting structure can make operational sense while creating new people-related risk.
Changing a manager changes the Interpersonal Alignment equation completely. Changing responsibilities or opportunities can also affect Values Alignment.
Advisors involved in restructuring use OpenElevator to assess these implications before the new structure is implemented.
After unexpected turnover
After an important resignation, leaders often want to know whether other employees are also at risk.
OpenElevator provides a more defensible answer than reading behavior or guessing who might be next.
The remaining team is frequently assessed to identify where alignment-related retention risk is concentrated and what is driving it.
Before a key hire
Capability, experience, references, and technical requirements remain part of the normal hiring process.
OpenElevator adds Values Alignment and Interpersonal Alignment with the proposed manager and team.
For advisors involved in senior hiring or organizational design, this adds another layer of insight to the decision before the candidate joins.
From Finding to Advisory Action
The value of the assessment is not simply identifying that risk exists. It is identifying what kind of alignment issue exists.
A Values Alignment issue around advancement requires a different response from one involving recognition, work/life balance, or meaningfulness of work.
Similarly, lower Interpersonal Alignment points to a specific relationship, not a generalized conclusion about either person.
This allows the advisor to move quickly from a broad concern such as “retention” or “team friction” to the particular issue that deserves attention.
One-to-one meetings, coaching conversations, and interviews then become follow-through tools. They help the client understand and address a measured issue rather than using conversation to guess whether someone is disengaging.
Example: Assessing a Promotion Before It Changes the Team
Consider a company preparing to promote a strong individual contributor into management.
The person has the technical capability and performance record to support the move.
OpenElevator identifies lower Interpersonal Alignment between the proposed manager and several future direct reports.
That does not automatically make the promotion wrong.
It gives the advisor and leader information they did not previously have.
They can evaluate whether the reporting structure remains appropriate, which relationships will require more deliberate management, and what expectations need to be established from the beginning.
The value lies in seeing the alignment risk before the organizational decision is embedded.
How OpenElevator Complements Existing Advisory Methods
| Approach | Primary value | What it does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Interviews | Context, history, priorities and stated concerns | Measured retention risk or relationship fit |
| Observation | How work and interaction appear in practice | Commitment or likelihood of resignation |
| Engagement surveys | Broad sentiment and organizational patterns | Specific individual risk |
| 360 feedback | Perceptions of an individual leader | Interpersonal Alignment between specific people |
| OpenElevator | Values Alignment, Interpersonal Alignment and alignment-related retention-risk visibility | Technical capability |
OpenElevator does not replace an advisor’s expertise.
It makes the advisory work more precise by showing where to focus and why.
A More Defensible Basis for Client Recommendations
Advisors regularly encounter broad problems such as retention, collaboration, management effectiveness, or team stability.
The challenge is identifying what is actually driving the issue.
Without specific data, recommendations can easily become equally broad:
Improve communication.
Create more development opportunities.
Recognize people more.
Strengthen trust.
Any of those may be appropriate for a particular employee or relationship. None is universally appropriate.
OpenElevator gives the advisor evidence about the specific Values Alignment or Interpersonal Alignment issue before the intervention is designed.
The result is not more activity.
It is more targeted advisory work.
How the Process Works
Each participant completes a simple five-minute survey sent to their inbox.
OpenElevator analyzes the data across the team and identifies where lack of alignment is creating elevated retention risk.
The findings are reviewed privately with the advisor and/or the leader in a structured debrief, along with prioritized recommendations.
Advisors then incorporate the findings into their existing work with the client, whether that involves leadership coaching, organizational design, succession planning, restructuring, hiring, or team effectiveness.
OpenElevator is a targeted evaluation, not passive employee monitoring.
FAQ
Can leadership coaches and fractional executives use OpenElevator with clients?
Yes. Leadership coaches, fractional executives, EOS implementers, consultants, and other advisors use OpenElevator to add alignment and retention-risk data to client engagements involving teams, promotions, restructuring, hiring, and retention.
Does OpenElevator replace coaching conversations or interviews?
No. OpenElevator provides measured alignment findings. Interviews and advisory conversations provide context and help determine what action is appropriate.
What does OpenElevator measure?
OpenElevator measures two dimensions:
Values Alignment: how well the work environment provides what matters most to the individual.
Interpersonal Alignment: the fit between two specific people.
Lack-of-alignment findings in these dimensions are highly correlated with retention risk.
Does a low alignment score mean someone will resign?
No. OpenElevator identifies elevated alignment-related retention risk. It does not predict an exact resignation date or claim that every person with a low score will leave.
Is Interpersonal Alignment an evaluation of the manager?
No. Interpersonal Alignment is relationship-specific. The same manager can have strong alignment with one employee and lower alignment with another.
When is OpenElevator most useful in an advisory engagement?
Common use cases include the start of an engagement, before a promotion or restructuring, after unexpected turnover, before a key hire, or whenever a client needs clearer visibility into team alignment and retention risk.
Start Your Stay Survey
Add measured alignment data to the client conversation.
The OpenElevator Stay Survey gives leaders and advisors visibility into Values Alignment, Interpersonal Alignment, and where lack of alignment may be creating retention risk.
