by Sondra Calhoun
Are you struggling with mastering organizational alignment - The process of creating unity between the company's ultimate vision of success and the way leaders and individual contributors drive business results? The larger the organization, the harder it seems to have everyone rowing in the same direction. Departments have different priorities that often come into conflict with other department priorities. If that is you and your organization, you can gain greater alignment by following these steps:
Step One
Maniacally communicate and continually remind everyone of the mission, vision, and values of the organization. That means speaking of them in your executive team meetings and in every organization-wide communication. These are the 3 most critical north stars that every initiative, rock, project, et al should stick to like spaghetti thrown against a wall.
Step Two
Vigorously question and debate every rock and initiative that the organization will focus on annually and quarterly to create buy-in. When you engage your executive team in transparent and passionate dialogue regarding the focus and allotment of resources for the organization, you build deep levels of trust, ownership, and commitment to the plan. These leaders in turn will spread the vision throughout their departments and not be afraid to engage their teams in passionate discussion resulting in strong execution.
Step Three
In every executive team meeting, have each department head share what their top priorities are for the week or month, and allow others to agree or challenge them. Every team member should clearly understand what the other executives are investing time and money in so they can refine alignment if needed.
Step Four
Frequently report out results to the entire organization and enquire from the frontline what is working and which roadblocks they need help with. Diligently ensure everyone understands the role they play in the execution and success of all company priorities.
Organizational Alignment is not the unattainable holy grail that it may seem at times. You can achieve it; HOWEVER, it requires deep commitment to keep all eyes focused on the most important work that will help the organization accomplish its mission. Amid many distractions, the Executive Team has to be diligent in messaging what is most important and the level of execution it will take to achieve the vision.