In my last article I discussed employee alignment and the importance of promptly identifying internal or external factors that can cause employee or market misalignment.
I would like to turn now to a planning process that will make it easier to achieve and maintain company alignment.
A Simple Strategy to Drive Alignment
To lay the groundwork for alignment, consider creating a one to two page strategic plan that addresses key issues. Keeping the plan short will help keep it focused. The process to get aligned seeks to:
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Get the management team and key personnel aligned with the core values and purpose.
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Establish a long term goal – Mission/Vision.
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Create the strategic focus – identify customer needs, sources of competitive advantage, geographic scope and a SWOT analysis (analysis of your company’s Strengths and Weaknesses and its main marketplace Opportunities and Threats.)
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Identify three to five key issues or initiatives.
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Identify key metrics; assign responsibility and accountability for them.
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Establish annual/quarterly plans.
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Create team accountability.
Considering how dynamic the current business environment is, you need to focus intensively on the short-term—tracking performance and key initiatives and metrics for each quarter and year. The rate of change of a key metric (positive or negative) will indicate where you need to modify your initiatives or create new ones. It is easier to do this in a timely manner with a very short strategic plan and an “agile” planning process.
An “agile” planning process is an iterative, incremental method of managing strategic planning and operational programs. It allows more flexibility to respond to internal or external forces. It is easier to update a one to two page strategic plan than to separate the wheat from the chaff within a 50 page tome that typically sits on the shelf until the next year’s planning cycle.
Summary
CEOs/Founders and their leadership teams must prioritize, deploy their resources effectively, track performance and be prepared to respond nimbly to internal or external changes.
An “agile” planning process aligns your company with its primary goal and three to five key initiatives. It seeks to communicate expectations, document progress, identify employee strengths and weaknesses and create organizational flexibility to make strategic decisions rapidly. Ensuring that your employees understand what your company is trying to achieve and how his or her performance contributes to the organization's core mission will focus them on your company's most important goals and initiatives.
Without good alignment, execution gaps are inevitable. With everyone aligned toward the same objectives, your company can execute strategy faster, with more flexibility and adaptability. Get your leadership teams and employees aligned with key goals and initiatives—as part of an “agile” planning process that strengthens leadership, enhances agility and makes closing execution gaps and execution a matter of habit.
One way you can increase your company's alignment is by creating a performance based culture. To learn more about this important strategy download our ebook "Firm First: The Shift to a Performance Based Culture."
