The Value of Alignment
Alignment is a competitive advantage regardless of your industry or size.
Organizations that are aligned, understand and benefit from the connection between strategy, goals and purpose to sustained growth and performance. At the foundation of this, is aligning an organization’s culture, its structure and the capabilities of leaders and employees.
All organizations are formed in alignment. Yet, along the way, this alignment can begin to fade. There are multiple inflection points that contribute to this:
Change in strategy
New leadership
Competitive landscape evolves and shifts
Workforce changes
What are the results of these turning points?
Unclear focus leads to decreased employee engagement
Ways of working lack clarity and efficiency
Gaps in needed leader and employee capabilities
Collaboration and innovation suffer
Change is transformative. Change is positive. But as your organization changes, there needs to be a continuous focus on alignment. Alignment for today - and alignment for the future.
Culture is the foundation
Culture is about the how. Culture is how work gets done, how your employees interact with each other and how your teams show up - whether that’s in person or virtually. Culture is a shared set of values, beliefs and norms of behavior. Organizational cultures are important because they align effort with meaning and purpose.
There are clear advantages for organizations that have a strong and aligned culture. Organizational culture is important because it:
Increases employee engagement
Attracts and retains talent
Positively influences job performance
Supports your internal and external brand identity
Promotes collaboration and innovation
Regardless of how your organization is structure, there is not one department that “owns” culture. While all employees shape culture, leaders hold an important role of recognizing, modeling and coaching the values of the organization and the expected behaviors needed for success.
How do you reinforce culture?
Ensure that there are clear values and behavioral expectations established for your employees
Embed your values within your organization as much as possible - this includes connecting it to training programs, performance management, the hiring process and onboarding of new employees
Support both leaders and employees in their understanding of how to model, recognize and coach desired behaviors
Continuously evaluate the extent to which your employees feel connected to the culture though formal and informal surveying
Culture is the foundation of an aligned organization. With focus and intention, all organizations can create a positive - and aligned - organizational culture.
Structure Supports strategy
Organization design is the process of structuring how to do the work needed to effectively achieve an organization’s strategy - whether that’s to increase profits, expand product lines or amplify the social mission.
Organization design includes looking at and evaluating the following:
The strategy of the organization
The current systems and processes
The work of each team
The capabilities needed to get the work done
When thinking about organization design, it’s important to start with strategy - then move to structure. Without a full understanding of your current strategy (and where you want to go), you can’t wisely determine the right structure or design.
It may be tempting to start designing a new structure and filling in the boxes with people you have in mind. But that’s not the best approach for future proofing. As you begin the org design process, take the time to diagnosis where you currently are at to help identity the gaps in achieving your strategy. To get started, consider the following questions:
How is value currently created? How can you build upon it in the future?
What capabilities are critical for delivering on your purpose, aspirations and strategy?
How are you current processes helping or hindering your ability to achieve your strategy?
How would you describe the current capabilities of your team? Are there gaps?
These questions offer a starting point as you think about redesigning your current structure.
Organization design can offer transformative results. And to best leverage the benefits, collaboration is needed. Increase the value of org design efforts by engaging in discussions with your leaders and employees to ensure there is a full understanding of where you are - and where you need to go.