Executive Alignment
 It's often been said that when it comes to
business strategy the hardest part isn't the analysis and planning. It's the
execution.
The reasons are many. For one thing, people in companies are often
unclear, confused or just plain ignorant about what the strategy is, or what
the key strategic goals are. Even when the strategy has been well
communicated and is widely understood commitment to it may vary greatly from
one person to another or be lacking altogether. Sometimes, the best
strategic intentions simply evaporate in the heat of battle.
Why Does It Matter?
Organizations are means for achieving results that individuals acting
alone cannot achieve. To be more than a set of disconnected individuals, an
organization must attain some degree of alignment among its members
regarding:
- The strategic goals it is committed to pursuing
- The methods the organization intends to use to achieve those goals
When alignment is weak, people wind up working at cross-purposes and
actions become less effective. Morale and productivity diminish over time
and the organization becomes competitively vulnerable. But when alignment is
strong, people feel a clear and shared sense of purpose, energy and
inspiration run high, and both individual and team effectiveness increase.
To decide on a meaningful strategy that people will wholeheartedly
implement, leaders must learn where alignment is strong and where it is
variable or weak. That's where we come in.
How We Work
Our Executive Alignment Process begins with one-on-one executive team
interviews. We ask team members to identify strategic goals and the
factors-both external and internal to the organization-that hinder or
facilitate the achievement of those goals.
Then a survey is created that:
- Determines which goals are widely held among group members and which
are not
- Quantifies individual commitment to strategic goals
- Identifies the conditions that are required for effective
implementation of the strategy
- Measures how well executive team members work together
Once the survey has been administered to team members and the results
have been analyzed, we facilitate an executive team feedback meeting that is
designed to:
- Identify areas of high, low and variable commitment to strategic goals
- Rally the team around areas of strong commitment
- Explore the underlying causes of variable commitment to strategic
goals
- Assess the team's willingness to work to increase alignment
The Executive Alignment Process is not just for executive groups and
strategy implementation. It can be used with all levels of an organization
and for any situation that requires a group to take a complex set of
actions. Moreover, it is very useful in bringing different organizations
together in mergers or acquisitions, and has even been used to forge
stronger alliances between executives in provider organizations and their
counterparts in client or customer organizations.
For more information about our Executive Alignment process call
978-283-5403 or send an email to info@performancemeasures.com.
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